This uniquely cross-sectional approach to culture combines great art with great music, and examines the connections between the two. Each piece of music from the carefully chosen selection takes on a new dimension and provides a musical context to the work of leading painters and sculptors. This fascinating series, with a colour booklet including a chronology of the principal artistic and political developments of the period, broadens our view of the music itself.

Claude Monet (1840-1926) was at the forefront of the Impressionist revolution in painting. Together with a small group of like-minded friends, he scandalised the critics by devising a new way of representing the world in all its bewildering variety of light and shadow. Here, the world of Monet is given a musical perspective with a carefully chosen selection of pieces by the finest composers of his time.

We may enjoy here some of the greatest moments in musical and artistic development in the late nineteenth century, as Impressionism was emerging triumphant. On this audio, Monet's incredible foresight and breathtaking depictions of natural beauty are musically complemented by such landmarks as Debussy's graceful Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune and Bizet's daring masterpiece Carmen.