Saturday, 7 March 2009

Saturday Morning Minuet

A little something for Ravel's birthday (born 1875). A lovely piece... I used to stumble through this myself years ago, when I was at the height of my very limited pianistic powers. The suite Le Tombeau de Couperin - each piece in memory of a friend killed in the Great War - was criticised by some for being insufficiently sombre for the occasion. To which Ravel replied to the effect that 'Les morts sont assez tristes dans leur silence eternel.' Indeed.
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1 comment:

  1. mahlerman7 March 2009 at 11:15

    Although lumped in with Debussy as the embodiment of musical impressionism, Ravel always thought of himself as a classicist, and that belief emerges in almost everything he wrote, Le Tombeau included. What is more difficult to square is the extraordinary sensuality of this music, materializing from the pen of a man who appeared to have no intimate personal relationships, at least none that have ever been documented

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