There is undoubtedly something fresh and innocent about Debussy''s piano music and none more so than this, the first of his Arabesques for solo piano: for all his deft and brilliant manipulation of old keys and new found modes, the essence of Debussy''s huge appeal remains the simple sense of delight he captures as he ripples through a host of innovations and new found techniques. Hagenauer understands this and lets Debussy''s orientally influenced phrases wash over the listener while the melodies gently flirt their coyly exotic, sweet but not insubstantial charms.
