Ravel: Miroirs, Gaspard de la nuit & Pavane pour une infante défunte

Featuring

Ragna Schirmer
Maurice Ravel

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Composer Biography

Maurice Ravel, the composer, grew up surrounded by mechanical toys and his engineer father's inventions, which may have influenced his love for clear structures in music.

Composer Biography

Ravel suffered from debilitating symptoms like headaches, motor failures, and memory lapses, possibly due to a degenerative brain disease or infection, which he tried to overcome by working.

Performer Biography

Pianist Ragna Schirmer has won the International Johann-Sebastian-Bach-Competition Leipzig twice, a unique achievement in the competition's history.

Composer's Artistic Vision

Ravel described his music as 'the love of my life,' retreating into an obsessive relationship with it after abandoning aspirations of becoming a professional pianist.

Performer Biography

Ragna Schirmer's tutor, Bernard Ringeisen, was a student of Marguerite Long, who was a friend and student of Maurice Ravel himself.

Composition History

The piano cycles 'Miroirs' (1904/05) and 'Gaspard de la nuit' (1908) are among Ravel's world-famous pieces, with 'Gaspard de la nuit' based on poems by Aloysius Bertrand.

Compositional Technique

Ravel's music is often mathematically constructed, with phrases repeating in specific numerical patterns, such as nine, seven, five, three, then one time.