Im finishing up Reverie and wanted to choose two other piece by Debussy. I think two obvious choices would be Arabasque and/or Clair De Lune.So far I know:
Moonlight Sonata 1st movement
To A Wild Rose
Chopin Prelude no. 20

Thanks in advance.

Try Estampes #1, if you can play moonlight i think you can play this. Grab a hold of a Richter recording of this if you can.

How about a prelude? The Sunken Cathedral, or The Girl with the Flaxen hair maybe? Not too technically demanding.

Any of the pieces from the Children's Corner are excellent and I highly recommend the Doctor Gradus ad Parnassum from it. It provide an wonderful introduction and sort of etude for impressionist playing style.

I have and took a look at Doctor Gradus ad Parnassum and it looks kind of difficult.

Doctor Gradus is considerably easier than Clair de Lune, and a bit easier than the first Arabesque. The figuration on paper makes it look harder than it is.

Is First Arabesque difficult? My teacher flagged a few pieces for me to look at this week (20th century stuff as my repetoire is sorely lacking) She flagged first Arabesque and Serabande. I have played no Debussy at this point... other than sight reading through Le Petit Negre. I am leaning towards a piece by Villa-Lobos, but it sounds soo different than what I am used to playing.

neciebuggs:

The First Arabesque of Debussy is not difficult. There are a couple of spots in it, however, - as so often happens in Debussy - where the notes don't fall "nicely" into the hands. Those awkward moments aside, it's a lovely piece. I enjoy playing it regularly.

Regards,

I agree with BruceD. The 1st Arabesque is a joy to play and has many learning challenges that will help you with the Clair de lune as well as Debussy's other gorgeous piano music. GO FOR IT!

I would say that Estampes 1 is at least 5 years(probably more) beyond the 1st movement of the Moonlight Sonata 1st movement in terms of technical difficulty. And some movements of Children's Corner are technically easier than Clair de Lune but others are of equal or greater difficulty.

Estampes #1(Pagodas) is incredibly difficult to play, musically and technically. You need incredible array of touch at your disposal and very good ability of voicing, not to mention extremely precise pedalling techniques. Attempting this after Moonlight 1st movt is akin of driving a Formula 1 Car after you've just started learning how to drive a go-kart.

Yep, Dreamaurora and pianoloverus are right about "Pagodes"... why don't you try "Valse Romantique"? Not that difficult, very beautiful and it screams at you to toy around with the phrasing.

I'm trying to figure out whether to learn Clair De Lune, Gradus Ad Parnassum, Golliwoggs Cakewalk, or Prelude from Suite Bergamasque.
How do you think these pieces compare in technical difficulty? I think my fingers are too short for the prelude though :S

If you're going to learn anything from Suite Bergamasque, do the Passepied! Gorgeous piece.

Wow, didn't think it seemed that difficult to play. I confess I've never seen the sheetmusic. Richter made it seem easy. But he is Richter I suppose. I stand corrected!