Classical Music | Piano Music

Recorded on 08/22/2006, uploaded on 01/24/2009

Musician's or Publisher's Notes

In 1900, Maurice Ravel joined a group of young, like-minded musicians, artists and writer called Les Apaches. The group met regularly at the homes of Paul Sordes and Tristan Klingsor, and came to include such other prominent names as Igor Stravinsky and Manuel de Falla. Les Apaches, which obviously refers to the Native American tribe, also had the additional meaning of “hooligans” in French and was coined by Ricardo Viñes to describe the group as “artistic outcasts.” Viñes would premiere several of Ravel’s piano works, including his Miroirs, which the composer dedicated each of its five movements to a member of Les Apaches.

Miroirs was composed during 1904-05 and given its premiere in 1906. Meaning “Reflections,” the work demonstrates the development of Ravel’s technique as a composer of piano music, which had first leapt into maturity in his 1901 piece, Jeux d’eau. Ravel’s treatment of the vast possibilities of the piano was simultaneously inspired by the florid style of Franz Liszt and the most profound advancement in piano technique since that great virtuoso’s time. This style came to be a cornerstone of French Impressionism and even influenced Ravel’s older contemporary, Claude Debussy.

The first piece of Miroirs is “Nocturelles” and dedicated to the poet Leon-Paul Fargue. Ravel was more influenced by the traditions of classical music that preceded him than many of his contemporaries, and these elements can often be found in his music, albeit interpreted and applied in new and imaginative ways. An undulating compound meter is present throughout much of the piece, reminiscent of one of the key features of the Chopin nocturne. Yet, here in Ravel’s interpretation, this underlying rhythm is pitted against contrasting duple rhythms, irregular meters, and of course, the work’s overall skittish tempo that is far faster than any Chopin would have utilized. Combined with Ravel’s highly chromatic musical language, Nocturelles is marked by a feeling of mystery and colored with the dusky hues of eventide. A slower episode emerges during the course of the piece, turning the mood towards a brief period of solemnity, and features a repeated-note motif that sounds like the distant tolling of a bell. Following this brief respite, the energetic music of the beginning is reprised and leads the listener to the movement’s effervescent conclusion.    Joseph DuBose

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Noctuelle, from Miroirs            Maurice Ravel

Miroirs is Maurice Ravel's first great large scale suite for piano, written in 1905 and premiered in Paris by Ricardo Viñes in 1906.  Although Ravel hated the term "Impressionist"-as did Debussy-Miroirs is a model of the impressionist style, including ethereal harmonies and evocative titles which leave much to the imagination.  The composer said that the suite "forms a collection of pieces for the piano which mark a considerable change in my harmonic evolution."  Indeed, audiences had trouble following some of the movements at first, but it has since become a staple of the piano repertoire. 

I have chosen three movements to perform today:  Noctuelles (Night Moths) contains skittering figurations throughout which almost give the impression of a continuous cadenza.  These are contrasted in the middle section by lyrical repose, but never quite leave the texture completely.  Une barque sur l'océan (A Boat on the Ocean) is in my opinion the most breathtaking of the cycle.  It is a masterful wash of arpeggios and harmonic progressions building to a graduated climax, and painting a clear picture of a boat at sea.  Alborada del gracioso (Morning Song of the Jester) was certainly written with Ricardo Viñes' well-known virtuosity in mind, as Ravel employs fiendishly difficult techniques (such as repeated notes and double-note glissandi) in the outer sections.  These are contrasted by a middle section that employs the chanting techniques of the Spanish cante-hondo.   Spencer Myer

Courtesy of International Music Foundation.