Medieval through Jazz: Tradition & Innovation in Debussy's Images I. Bach@Home, Magdalena Baczewska

How do you pay tribute to the tradition while radically innovating at the same time? Claude Debussy offers answers in his 1905 cycle, Images. In this episode of Bach@Home, Pianist Magdalena Baczewska reveals how the composer employs compositional techniques from the Middle Ages (plainchant, organum) and the Renaissance (faux bourdon), and the Baroque (the style of sarabande), while revolutionizing the harmonic language, which will inspire generations of jazz musicians, among them pianist/composer Bill Evans.