Performance Practices: Impressionistic Music

This film is part of a series that chronicles the history of piano music through various expressions, from Baroque to Modernism. In this episode, the film follows the trends of Impressionism. Hosts Dr. Maurice Rinson, a music historian, and Stewart Gordon, a keyboard professor, give insight into the piano music of the Impressionistic era. The music was in tune with the reigning philosophies in art and literature, which expressed a love of nature, and a certain freedom of style. In music, as in other art forms, this expressed itself in flowing melodies and a lightness of mood.