Claude Debussy's Arabesque No. 1 is inspired by the elegant ballet position of the same name and the sweeping curves of Arabic architecture.
Composer's Artistic Vision
Maurice Ravel's Pavane pour une infante défunte expresses a yearning nostalgia for the cultures and ideals of historic Spain, inspired by 17th-century court paintings by Diego Velázquez.
Composition History
Maurice Ravel's Le Tombeau de Couperin is a memorial to friends and two brothers who died fighting in the First World War.
Compositional Technique
Jean-Philippe Rameau's Gavotte and its variations are notable for combining elegant lyricism with virtuosic bravura, employing a wide variety of keyboard techniques.
Composer Biography
Reynaldo Hahn, a native Spanish speaker, fled Venezuela for France at age three and later became a prominent figure in the Parisian classical music world.
Composition History
Maurice Ravel's La Valse was originally a choreographic poem for orchestra, later transcribed for two pianos, and finally for one piano.
Composer's Artistic Vision
Ravel's Le Tombeau de Couperin, while invoking François Couperin, generally pays homage to the Baroque keyboard suite by adopting its dance suite form.
You might also enjoy...
Debussy: Complete Piano Works
Hommage à Debussy: Works for Piano CD 1
Debussy Piano Edition
Ravel & de Falla: Piano Works
Debussy Klavierwerke (Elo)
Debussy: Complete Music for Piano Solo
Ravel: Piano Music, Vol. 2
Maurice Ravel: Complete works for solo piano
Debussy: Early Piano Works
Ravel: Gaspard de la nuit; Pavane; Valses nobles et sentimentales
