Welcome to the Ether Game Weekly Podcast! We've put on our warmest mittens this week, because we're looking at the coldest pieces in classical music in a show we're calling "Frostbite"! To get you started (or for those of you who just cannot wait for Tuesday nights), you can sharpen your skills with our podcast selection. Remember to keep your ears out for a portion of Tuesday night's Teaser selection. And don't forget to tune into the full show on Tuesday, December 20th at 8:00pm for a chance to win a prize!

Claude Debussy (1862–1918): PRÉLUDES, BOOK I: Des pas sur la neige ("Footprints In The Snow")

Jean-Yves Thibaudet, piano. Debussy: Preludes Book 1 and 2 (London)

One can't help but feel the loneliness of chilly walk on a winter's day when listening to Debussy's Footprints in the Snow. The tune presents itself like a Monet painting. An incessant, prodding and rising two-note theme against a sparse background creates the feeling of solitude in the midst of desolation. Footprints in the Snow comes from Debussy's first book of piano preludes, composed in the winter of 1909 into 1910. Debussy also did something unusual when assigning the title to these preludes. So as to not prematurely impress the performer with an image, he adopted the odd practice of putting the titles at the end of each piece.