These ten impressionistic "histories" (stories), obviously influenced by the Debussy Préludes, provide charming, original musical images.

"La meneuse de tortues d'or..." (The leader of the golden tortoises...) has a lovely Dorian mode melody played in a slightly animated tempo with a "doux et mélancolique" (sweet and melancholy) feeling. The music perfectly describes a slow moving creature ("tortue" is also French slang for any sentient variety of "slowpoke") going about its business unhurriedly. There are simple transpositions and in the bridging passages, made of lazily cycling patterns, simple substitute chords provide timbral changes.

"Le petit âne blanc..." (The little white donkey...) moves its almost pentatonic melody above a steady staccato bass on the black keys. Interspersed among the melody are little off-key figures that sound like tiny "hee-haws" or may depict little stumbles from unsure footing. When the middle section becomes "soudain très gai" (suddenly very gay), there is no doubt that the dissonances are intended as brash "hee-haws."

"Le vieux mendiant..." (The old beggar man...) is played slowly and "tristement accablé" (deeply sad). The melody itself is actually major, like the memory of a happier time, and is harmonized with a neutral bass chord. It is after the repetition of the melody that a really sympathetic feeling is expressed by an A major harmonization; this is a subtly surprising, effective, and well-prepared moment.

"A giddy girl..." (an English title), played "in the style of a sentimental English romance," at first depicts the girl's laugh with staccato, salon music-style chords. However, there is a subtle mood shift, for which no name exists, when the music repeats with impressionist harmonies (e.g. B minor to C ninth with an augmented eleven).

"Dans la maison triste" (In the sad house) presents a mini-story but what this narrative is about is elusive. The first part consists of that kind of "lent et plaintif" (slow and plaintive) chromaticism heard in a '40s romantic mystery film score. The next part switches to "doux et berceur" (sweetly and soothing, like a lullaby) Ravel-like harmonies. The last part is very odd: one intermittent staccato note over a slow, deep bass melody, a mystery with no solution.

"Le palais abandonné..." (The deserted palace...) contrasts a "noble" chorale-like progression with floating impressionist harmonies.

"Bajo la mesa..." (Below the mesa...) is a flashy Spanish dance in 5/4 time and Phrygian mode with spectacular guitar technique imitations.

"La cage de cristal..." (The crystal cage...) is a lovely piece with staccato crystalline chords accompanying a childlike melody.

"La marchande d'eau fraîche..." (The woman who sells fresh water...) unfolds staccato patterns made of contrary fourths alternating between the hands and simple melodies which do suggest the flow of water.

"Le cortège de Balkis..." (Balkis procession) is a piece of imaginative orientalia, partly like a march with a skipping rhythm and partly like a "subtle and nonchalant dance."

© All Music Guide