Tradition and Progress

Preserving tradition or renewing convention? Claude Debussy and Ernő Dohnányi offered different answers to this question, yet both gave rise to beautiful music.

The Hungarian composer’s Sextet, written in 1935, preserves the rich world of Romanticism, and one rarely hears such a beautiful, almost symphonic sonority as that created by the colorful ensemble of clarinet, horn, and piano. In his youthful String Quartet, Debussy chose the path of transcending tradition: forms become loosened, the sound world transforms, and the music becomes elusive and intangible.

Photo: © Máté Steirer