His compositions show signs of a very great development both in his ideals and his means of expression. An early group comprises a Nocturne, a _Suite Bergamasque_, and another suite called _Pour le piano_ which consists of a Prelude, Sarabande and Toccata. There are signs in nearly all these pieces of originality and some attempted departure from traditional commonplaces. The nocturne is hardly distinguished either in sentiment or in treatment of the piano. Only the section in 7/8 time is interesting. But in the _Suite Bergamasque_ one finds a Passepied and the well-known _Clair de lune_ which hint at the works to come, the former in its piquant scoring and rhythm, the latter in its harmonies and its employment of the lower and higher registers. The Toccata is original in harmony also, and well-scored for the pianoforte. But except in the _Clair de lune_ there is no trace of the delicate impressionism which has made his better known music unique. This comes out strongly in a second group of pieces in which one may include the _L’isle joyeuse_, the _Estampes_ and the first series of _Images_ including the _Reflets dans l’eau_ in which he seems to us to reach the height of this middle achievement. _L’isle joyeuse_ is a strange, wild piece, full of his characteristic harmonies, especially those founded upon the whole-tone scale. It is the longest of his pieces for the pianoforte, and is rather unsatisfactory in structure. Perhaps the monotony of key is to blame--for in spite of passages in whole-tone scales, the whole is very clearly in A major. Yet it must be said that this very sameness of key intensifies the early languor and the later Bacchanalian fury--is intoxicating in itself.