D flat major, and a perfect 5th is quietly sounded in the bass register of the piano, like a pebble

dropped into a still pool. And as the reflections in the water refract and distort while ripples disturb
the surface, so a series of chords rises and falls above the sustained bass note, with three tenor
notes floating in the middle of the texture.

Debussy’s Reflets dans l’eau, from Images I, is almost a lesson in how to translate water into music,
not in the sense of fountains or the sea, but rather swirling eddies, sparkling ripples, glistening
droplets. It is about shades of colour, nuance, and the play of light.

That’s not a very analytical description, but this impressionistic marvel defies conventional analysis.
Restrained in dynamics, only a very few bars request f or ff for a surging climax, after which all
subsides. While studying this piece with Roy Shepherd, who studied it with Cortot, there were
certain arpeggiated octaves towards the end which I was told to arpeggiate down rather than up,
and one chord was given an added note which I was assured had been sanctioned by the composer…

The second Image, Hommage à Rameau, was possibly inspired by Rameau’s opera, Castor et Pollux.
A modern revival of the first two acts was performed in Paris in 1903; Debussy was in the audience,
and wrote a review. He was also one of the editors for Rameau’s complete works, published
by Durand.

Lent et Grave, dans le style d’une Sarabande mais sans rigueur, the opening modal melody turns
back the aural clock. Triplets give flow, double dotted quavers give a rhythmic edge, and changing
metres gently wrong-foot this non-diatonic Sarabande, with three low G sharps signalling the end of
the first section.

Above that pedal point, the harmony grows ever more adventurous, calling for handfuls of double
sharps; at the au Mouvt a new ostinato figure enters in the bass, soon adopted in the RH as well, and
the harmonic foundation moves to a low D. Above it, En Animant, the Sarabande begins to sway
dangerously, rocking back and forth with syncopated chords above the LH’s stabilising ostinato
figure. The harmonic anchor moves again, and then resettles as the ff climax is reached, garnished
by a six octave flourish across the white keys.

The final section reminds us of the opening material, but then an unexpected, magical harmonic shift
moves us to a C sharp major chord and beyond as the music prepares to cadence. Descending
chords bring us finally to rest in the home key of G sharp minor.

Mouvement – now there’s an appropriate title for this third Image, which buzzes constantly, like a
hovering insect. Animé, avec une légèreté fantasque mais précise, the pulse is set, pp, and then –
plus pp – the RH starts the whirring triplets which last throughout, the hands trying to nudge each
other out of the way as the pulse switches back and forth between them. The challenge is to keep it
all quiet until the relief of a sudden foutburst, the pulsating quavers now leaping an octave,
sometimes replaced by snatches of fanfare-style melody.

Until now, the music has been in the fairly benign region of C major, but that couldn’t last, could it …
Suddenly the hands plunge into contrary motion triplets laced with accidentals, creating excursions
to far-off, luscious tonal fields, the melody projected by the RH 5th finger. And all ppp…
And then the acrobatics begin, the melody shared in chords between the hands, surrounded by
perilous leaping octave intervals, above and below. En augmentanttowards the climax, a dim.
molto – and a return to the pulsating whirring heard at the start, which gradually whirrs out of
earshot at the end.

Images I date from 1904-1905; equally rewarding are the three pieces of Images II, especially the
mercurial Poissons d’or.