# Once Upon the Internet: The Piano Music of Maurice Ravel



## itywltmt

En français








Earlier this month on my Friday Blog and Podcast, I provided a sample of orchestral and piano music by *Maurice Ravel *to commemorate the 75th annioversary of his passing. This instalment of _Once Upon the Internet_ considers some of his piano music, as downloaded years ago from the original MP3.COM.

Although Ravel has often been compared to *Claude Debussy*, it is fair to say that Ravel was more of a classicist than his great contemporary, being more influenced by the concertos of *Mozart *and* Saint-Saëns *than by *Wagner*, whose music he disliked. He was also drawn to jazz and music from Spain and Russia. A fastidious worker, he honed his works to perfection, leading Stravinsky to talk about "Ravel the Swiss Watchmaker".

The works I chose for this playlist fall under two categories: works that were exclusively written for the piano (amongst which _Gaspard de la nuit_ stands out) and works that weree transcribed for piano or later orchestrated by Ravel. Ravel was a superb orchestrator, who spent much of his time orchestrating piano works by himself (examnples here are _Pavane pour une infante défunte _and _Rapsodie Espagnole_)and others, notably Mussorgsky (Pictures of an Exhibition ).

PLAYLIST​
*Maurice RAVEL (1875-1937)*

_Pavane pour une infante défunte_, pour piano, MR 19
Alla Nosova, piano

_Jeux d'eau_, pour piano, MR 30
Francine Kay, piano

_Sonatine _pour piano, MR 40
Bronika Kushkuley, piano

_Rapsodie espagnole_, MR 54
(First version, for two pianos, 1907)
Corrado Greco & Luca Schieppati, piano duet

_La valse_, MR 72
(Piano transcription by Ravel, 1920)
Andrew Schwartz, piano
Downloaded from MP3.COM, 21 dec 2001

_Gaspard de la nuit_, pour piano, MR 55
Suzanne Bradbury, piano
Downloaded from MP3.COM, 21 nov 2001

Playlist URL: http://archive.org/details/ThePianoMusicOfMauriceRavel

*November 23 2012, "I Think You Will Love This Music Too" will feature a new podcast "In Memorian: Glenn Gould" at its Pod-O-Matic Channel. Read more November 23 on the ITYWLTMT Blogspot blog.*


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