The idea of compiling Debussy's works from 1903 to 1907 originally stemmed from a personal, pianistic discovery-a hunch, perhaps. At the time, I had been playing "Reflections in the Water," "Gardens in the
rain ,"and the second book of Images, as well as the 1904 triptych Isle joyeuse-From a book of sketches Masques for several years. As a pianist, I sensed a common thread among these pieces, a unity pervading this period in Debussy's oeuvre for piano. Before I could intellectualize it, it was a feeling "under my fingers."
This initial and essentially physical approach was the catalyst for every thing that followed. I started to study the rest of the pieces in this period.