Still, attaching any -ist or -ism to Debussy is to reduce him to a fraction of his real significance. Would you do that to Flaubert, Baudelaire, Rimbaud, Zola? No fewer ideas exist within Debussy, but his language happens to be that of music...
The continual dumbing-down of Debussy - the all-too-widespread view of him as pretty impressionist, fine colourist, hot lover, etc - does not even begin to scratch the surface of his life and work, let alone his intelligence, his wide cultural references, his continual willingness to explore and experiment and move forward. His sophistication of thought, language, structure, finesse, texture, instrumentation and sheer imagination is second to none.
Meanwhile, our changing times are highlighted in fine fashion by a glimpse of this 1965 movie by Ken Russell, The Debussy Film. I doubt anyone would make a film like this now, yet there's a charm and a vividness about its vision that might just be irresistible, given half a chance. See it here: http://youtu.be/KsdAIYmSHAg.
And my top ten Debussy recordings? Difficult, but here's a selection...:
La Mer - Berliner Philharmoniker/Simon Rattle
Etudes pour piano - Mitsuko Uchida
Images pour piano - Zoltan Kocsis
Preludes pour piano, complete - Krystian Zimerman
Pelleas et Melisande, complete opera, DVD - Welsh National Opera/Pierre Boulez, directed by Peter Stein
String Quartet - Quatuor Ebene
Violin Sonata - Philippe Graffin (violin) and Claire Desert (piano) (in the disc that inspired my Hungarian Dances...)
3 Nocturnes, Prelude a l'apres-midi d'un faune, etc - various, conducted by Pierre Boulez
Children's Corner - Alfred Cortot
Songs - 'Clair de lune' (Verlaine) et al - Natalie Dessay (soprano), Philippe Cassard (piano)