Debussy, La Mer / Seong-Jin Cho : Hors les murs

You don't need to see what you're setting to music. While Saint-Saëns was in Luxor at the time of his Fifth Piano Concerto, aptly named "l'Égyptien", Claude Debussy lingered in Burgundy when he sketched out La Mer: the filter of memories is better than everyday reality, especially to erect a sound poem of this scope, an abstract symphony in three movements that goes so far as to capture the elusive.