Noctuelle ("Night Moths") from Miroirs ("Mirrors")
In 1905, Maurice Ravel, near the exact midpoint
of his life, wrote Miroirs. In that music, he looked back to youthful
and lasting piano successes, but looked ahead to the brilliant Impressionist
works that make his music riveting. Miroirs preceded any of
Debussy's epochal piano works, and claim attention for Ravel as pioneer,
innovator and even magician. He wrote at the time that these pieces "…mark a
rather considerable change in my harmonic evolution." He could also have
mentioned the new complexity of his rhythms and the extraordinary subtlety of
the virtuosic music he had written.
Looking forward and backward is an image apt for Ravel. Miroirs is
a classical piece, a gloss on the austerity of the 18th century, yet its
expanded tonality colors the music with exotic shades, and the virtuosity it
demands sharply limits the number of pianists able to explore it. In other
works, he found inspiration in older music, yet he was early identified as a
flaming modernist.
The five sections of Miroirs describe imagined scenes. The first, "Night
Moths," softly articulates the capricious movement of moths. Noctuelle was dedicated to Léon-Paul Fargue, a French poet.
Classical Music | Piano Music
Maurice Ravel
Noctuelle, from Miroirs Play
Recorded on 12/29/2010, uploaded on 05/27/2011
Musician's or Publisher's Notes
Noctuelle ("Night Moths") from Miroirs ("Mirrors")
In 1905, Maurice Ravel, near the exact midpoint of his life, wrote Miroirs. In that music, he looked back to youthful and lasting piano successes, but looked ahead to the brilliant Impressionist works that make his music riveting. Miroirs preceded any of Debussy's epochal piano works, and claim attention for Ravel as pioneer, innovator and even magician. He wrote at the time that these pieces "…mark a rather considerable change in my harmonic evolution." He could also have mentioned the new complexity of his rhythms and the extraordinary subtlety of the virtuosic music he had written.Looking forward and backward is an image apt for Ravel. Miroirs is a classical piece, a gloss on the austerity of the 18th century, yet its expanded tonality colors the music with exotic shades, and the virtuosity it demands sharply limits the number of pianists able to explore it. In other works, he found inspiration in older music, yet he was early identified as a flaming modernist.
The five sections of Miroirs describe imagined scenes. The first, "Night Moths," softly articulates the capricious movement of moths. Noctuelle was dedicated to Léon-Paul Fargue, a French poet.
More music by Maurice Ravel
Une barque sur l'ocean, from Mirours
Pièce en Forme de Habanera
Cinq Mélodies Populaires Grecques
Gaspard de la Nuit - Ondine
Gaspard de la Nuit - Le Gibet
Gaspard de la Nuit - Scarbo
Alborada del Gracioso, from Miroirs
Blues, from Sonata for violin and piano
Berceuse sur le nom de Gabriel Faure
Noctuelles from Miroirs
Performances by same musician(s)
Alborada del Gracioso, from Miroirs
La vallée des cloches, from Miroirs
Waltz on Themes of Gounod's "Faust"
Miroirs
Oiseaux tristes, from Miroirs
Une barque sur l'océan, from Miroirs
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