Claude Debussy - Arabesque No. 1 ( one hour )

My girlfriend gets mad at me because i tell her all the time how much i love Debussy.

I’ll never forget once while dining at The Dillard House, in Dillard, Georgia, the piano player came to the tables to ask for a request. I looked over his menu of tunes and saw only top 40 hits of days past: Barry Manilow, The Bee Gees et al. I snidely asked if he knew DuBussy Arabesque. He glanced at me w furrowed brow and remarked, “ That’s rich!” He went to his seat and began to play in a dining room full of talking guests and loud children enjoying the scenery. After about 2 or 3 chords the whole room fell silent. Suddenly, children stopped everything, looked at the parents, pushed away from their meals and went to stand beside the piano player. I glanced around the previously boisterous room to see many, all of the diners, looking around, intent in a memory, seemingly remembering a fonder time in their lives. Many couples embraced hands. Teenagers who were engrossed in their phones looked up and listened. Others, like me, moved to tears. It was spectacular!

It is crazy to think that people waited years and spent small fortunes on listening to certain pieces of classical music maybe two or three times in their entire lives, and that the lower classes probably never heard any at all. And yet here we are, able to listen to the entire repository of human composition with a few flicks of the finger whenever we please.

I discovered Arabesque no.1 last year, and since then I have entered a universe from which I don't want to leave.

It must be wonderful to create such a beautiful legacy for the world. Here we are, 130 years later, still appreciating this jewel.

When I was a teenager in Chicago in the 1950s, there was a late-night radio host who played the classics. Jay Andres, of WGN I believe. His theme music that announced the show each evening was the first section of Debussy's Arabesque No.1. I stayed up just to listen to his theme. I didn't know what it was at the time, only that it was enchanting. It was many years later that I identified the piece. Now I play it myself, and it will always be one of my favorites.

This music is like a magic carpet. You can fly in your mind, in your soul, and see how beautiful is life when you feel your heart in armony and peace.

This brings back happy memories from my childhood, 60 years ago. My father played it, his students did. Then I took it for granted. Now it brings me to tears.

When I hear Debussy, I walk through the garden of heaven!

One of, if not THE BEST, piece Debussy ever wrote!

Im 65 and im just hearing this music by Debussy for the first time WOW!!! its never to late......

Forget COVID , I felt the summer soft breeze like ANGELS touching and healing my whole being , DEBUSSY is HEAVEN sent !

This song makes me happy that there are still people in the world that are willing to spend years and years of piano classes to play this song.

I like writing to this with rain and a quiet moment to myself.

Ahhh, Debussy! How I so love your compositions. Everytime I hear your music, my imagination brings me to another time and space. Music truly is the language of the soul.

This piece always makes me want to cry for no reason its so beautiful.

Debussy has been the sound my baby listens to before sleeping for a long while. Pure genius, merci Claude!

I have heard hundreds of versions of this and I must say this is the best one. Near perfect, but the best.

The escalating and forward looking motion with incredible harmonies have always made me happy with Debussy´s music.

A dream full of emotions made with 10 fingers on a piano. Thank you !