Celebrating Today

[MylesBAstor]

The 141st birthday of France's arguably greatest composer Maurice Ravel!

Of his many works, his orchestral compositions and piano works stand out the most in my mind! Take your choice of which orchestral work is your favorite: Bolero (made famous thanks to classically trained pianist Dudley Moore!), Rapsodie Espagnole, La Valse, or my personal favorite Daphnis and Chloe. Of course there are the wonderful pieces he rearranged for orchestra such as Alborada del gracioso and Une barque sur l'ocean, (Miroirs), Valses nobles et sentimentales, Ma mère l'Oye, Tzigane (originally for violin and piano) and Le tombeau de Couperin. Of his thirty piano works, few are better than Gaspard de la Nuit.

My favorite recording of Daphnis and Chloe:





For piano fans, check out this performance of Ravel's Sonatine by Ivan Moravec: (note this is the Athena reissue from the '90s)

[Ki Choi]

why is that the first thing that came to my mind was Bo Derek?

[allenh]

My wife and I heard Gaspard de la Nuit at the then Avery Fisher Hall. A great piece indeed. This time however, it was Ravel's piano work transcribed to orchestra. Before the piece started, Slatkin brought in a piano, played a passage, and then had the orchestra play the same passage. He did that for a few passages. It was a nice lesson on a great piece.