Good Debussy to start on?

[scherzo123]

Hi, does anybody have any suggestions for Debussy pieces that are challenging for my level from these suites/books?

Images
Preludes
Estampes
Etudes

Any suggestions would be very much appreciated. 

[nanabush]

Any of the Images would be good; my favorites are "cloches a travers les feuilles", "et la lune descend sur le temple qui fut" and "reflets dans l'eau"

Preludes; "le vent dans la plaine", "collines d'anacapri", "ce qu'a vu le vent d'ouest", "les fees sont d'exquises danseuses", and obviously "feux d'artifice"

Estampes; ALL OF THEM! PLAY THIS SET NOW

Etudes; not AS familiar with all of them, but I've worked on the Chromatic Study and had to play Arpeges Composes for a jury.  Both were very exciting, but the arpeggio study is by far my favorite of the set

...generally, all of these sets have pieces at your level... maybe a few of the etudes might seem tricky, but if you are actually playing La Campanella, the difficulty would be more from his writing/harmonic style than from raw technical hurdles.

[fftransform]

If you have the technique to play those sorts of pieces, then choose the one that you like the most.  All of those pieces are too major to be used merely to "ease in" to Debussy.  Try Reverie or the Arabesques.  Or one of the easier preludes.

[stiefel]

The first Debussy piece I ever played was Pagodes from Estampes, and that was a great decision.

[scherzo123]

Etudes; not AS familiar with all of them, but I've worked on the Chromatic Study and had to play Arpeges Composes for a jury.  Both were very exciting, but the arpeggio study is by far my favorite of the set

Yes! I love the etude on the arpeggios! Can you please share your experience with it? Thanks! 

[kitty on the keys]

Thanks for starting this topic. I took a look at the etudes....the chromatic and the 8 fingers look like a nice project.

Pour le Piano     Prelude or Sarabande
Ballade
Reverie
Walse...plues que lente?
childrens corner suite

Kitty on the Keys

[nanabush]

Hey ya the arpeggio study is great!  At first you are kind of unsure what to do with the seemingly weird harmonies.  The arpeggios really just sound like there are some wrong notes when you first go through them  ; but one of the things is trying to bring out all of these awesome sonorities, all the while working out some pretty beastly arpeggios.

There are a few tricky spots (page two probably gave me the most trouble technically), some arpeggiations that are just plain awkward.  Some spots (pages 3-4) are rhythmically difficult to read... so many fast notes with abrupt rests, tons of expressive markings, reallllllly requires focus.  The beginning of page 5 (henle) with the sweeping motions is my favorite part; then you get a small recap... the piece just fizzles out with more tricky harmonies then a really cool suspended 4th arpeggio into Ab major at the end. 

It probably took about a month to get all of the notes comfortable, but I'd still like to go back and keep polishing some spots.  It's not a very straightforward etude... it's super eccentric and is really similar to a bunch of his preludes, so you need to create a bunch of moods throughout the piece.

[scherzo123]

Thanks nanubush! 

Thanks for starting this topic. I took a look at the etudes....the chromatic and the 8 fingers look like a nice project.

I've been thinking about the chromatic study too! I've also been thinking of feux d'artifice and the repeated note study (Debussy). Nanubush, which one is easier in your opinion? Feux d'artifice or Etude No.11? Thanks again!

[nanabush]

I think some of the left hand passagework in Feux d'Artifice is pretty crazy, and it has a lot of REALLY dissonant stuff (sound effects, sparkles, whatever it is), and I don't think that hammering through it will create an effect remotely close to what he had in mind.

I'd probably say Arpeges Composees is slightly easier... it has a lot of points to breathe, and it isn't a 'fast virtuoso' etude.  Feux d'Artifice has tons of 'composite arpeggios', but they are all extremely fast and are pretty damn disjunct in some spots.

I'm not a HUGE fan of Feux d'Artifice (I think it's neat, but personally I think he's got way more interesting preludes), but if you are interested in really working your butt off with some crazy passages, go for it! 

[redbaron]

La cathedral engloutie - a good study in tonal balance and gargantuan chords. Helps if you have big hands.