“Have you played the Images ...? Without undue vanity, I believe that these three pieces can hold their own and will assume a place in the piano literature ... to the left of Schumann or to the right of Chopin ... as you like it.” Thus wrote Debussy in a letter to his publisher and friend Jacques Durand in 1905. Debussy’s prophecy was to become true. The pieces have become a fixed part of piano repertoire. Incidentally: for the slow movement Hommage à Rameau Debussy, an innovator who was still aware of tradition, was inspired by a performance of Castor et Pollux in 1903.

Ernst-Günter Heinemann (Editor)

Hans-Martin Theopold (Fingering)

François Lesure (Preface)