Claude Debussy's orchestral works rank among the most beautiful and daring pieces of music ever written. Not an everyday combination that, but I suppose that's why his work has only increased in importance and prominence. One CD that never seems to get far from my player is my trusty old Naxos disc of performances of Prelude a l'apres-midi d'un faune, Nocturnes and La Mer by the BRT Philharmonic conducted by Alexander Rahbari. It just doesn't get old, probably because there is so much in the music - it seems to be entirely free both rhythmically and harmonically and yet every gesture is at the service of an underlying logic, which is frequently inspired by another art form. In the case of the Prelude, the poetry of Stephane Mallarme, and in the case of the Nocturnes, three Whistler paintings. There is some disagreement over whether Debussy liked the term impressionism to be applied to his music, but either way, there's no doubt that it has an overwhelming pictorial quality. Here's an interesting version of "Nuages", the first of the Nocturnes: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fljlEf9iCCM.