Orchestral works by Ravel and Debussy:
Ravel illustrates fairy tales by Charles Perrault and others in his suite – written originally for piano four hands and subtitled cinq pièces enfantines [five children’s pieces] – Ma mère l’Oye [Mother Goose Tales];
Ravel: Ma mère l’Oye
00:00:00 Pavane de la Belle au bois dormant
[Sleeping Beauty’s Pavane]
00:01:38 Petit Poucet
[Tom Thumb]
00:05:12 Laideronnette, Impératrice des Pagodes
[The ugly little empress of the Pagodas]
00:09:16 Les entretiens de la Belle et de la Bête
[Dialogue of Beauty and the Beast]
00:13:52 Le jardin féerique
[The enchanted garden]
… and time travels to the baroque dance suite (original version, again, for piano) in his memorial for friends lost in the First World War, Le Tombeau de Couperin [The Tomb of Couperin].
Ravel: Le Tombeau de Couperin
Prélude 0:03
Forlane 3:30
Menuet 9:25
Rigaudon 14:15
Debussy’s Nocturnes originate, not from the music of John Field or Chopin, but from the poetry of Henri de Régnier and the paintings (Nocturnes) of James McNeill Whistler:
Debussy: Nocturnes
Nuages 0:43
Fêtes 7:48
Sirènes 14:36
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Pontarddulais!
The Art of Listening 