Favorite (and hardest?) Debussy Prelude?

[liszt-and-the-galops]

What are your favorite Debussy Preludes and which ones do you think are the hardest?

IMO
Best: Can't decide
Hardest: Feux D'artifice

[transitional]

Best: Les collines d'Anacapri
Hardest: Feux d'artifice (I'd be surprised if this actually gets disputed)
Easiest: La cathedrale engloutie

[lostinidlewonder]

The easiest is clearly Des pas sur la neige (Footprints in the Snow) or La fille aux cheveux de lin (The Girl with the Flaxen Hair) which is slighly harder. Hardest likely Feux d'artifice (Fireworks) or Ce qu'a vu le vent d'Ouest (What the West Wind Saw). La terrasse des audiences du clair de lune(The Terrace of Moonlit Audiences) has quite difficult expressive requirements, the shifting harmonies and textures require a very mature interpretative approach. I don't have any real favorites but I do like the musical imagery of La cathedrale engloutie (The Sunken Cathedral).

[lelle]

It's hard to pick the best but I generally like Book 1 more than Book 2, and La cathedrale engloutie is really cool, so I'll go with that one

Other contenders are
The Girl with the Flaxen Hair
Danseuses de Delphes
Voiles