Maurice Ravel - Boléro

La Valse - Ma Mère L’oye -
Pavane Pour Une Infante Défunte - Bolero

Berliner Sinfonie-Orchester - Günther Herbig

Maurice Ravel (born in Ciboure in 1875; died in Paris in 1937) stands alongside Claude Debussy as one of the two most iconic composers of French music at the start of our century.

Two of Ravel’s most popular works, La Valse and Bolero, remain in large-ensemble repertoire today. Along with concert performances, there has been no lack of attempts to create different choreographic interpretations of the works.

La Valse was commissioned in 1919 by Sergei Diaghilev for his Ballets Russes. Ravel was open to the commission, as the requested topic ‘Vienna and its Waltzes’ allowed him to draw on an idea of his from 1906, when he had planned to compose a symphonic poem about the city of Vienna.

Ma mère l’Oye (Mother Goose) is a five-part suite based on five popular fairy stories. Ravel wrote it in 1908 as a composition for piano four hands. He later scaled up the work, added instrumentation and finally fully orchestrated the delightful suite in 1912. Every piece in the suite glows with the happiness of a carefree childhood.

Pavane de la Belle au bois dormant depicts the slumbering and then awakening Sleeping Beauty – a melancholic and finely nuanced introduction to the following pieces.

Petit Poucet describes the fears and bewilderment of little Tom Thumb as he ventures into the forest, being so careful as he goes to lay a trail of breadcrumbs so that he can find his way home again. But the crumbs are eaten by the birds, and Tom Thumb loses his way.

Laideronnette, Impératrice des Pagodes reigns as Empress of the Pagodas, using black magic to transform her rivals. Using Oriental motifs and tonalities, Ravel creates a piece of rare charm, evokes the exoticism of the Orient and conjures up the splendour of a magnificent palace.

Les entretiens de la Belle et de la Bete depicts “Beauty’s conversation with the Beast”. The girl’s charm is characterised by a light and airy waltz full of atmosphere and great tenderness, while the terrifying Beast is represented by threatening harmonies played on low woodwinds. The honest love of the (enchanted) monster wins Beauty’s heart and leads to the release of the prince from his spell. Ravel symbolises the process of recognition very simply by interweaving both motifs.

Le Jardin féerique conjures up the beauty of a magic garden. Freed from all evil taint, the suite comes to a rich, harmonious conclusion, and all live happily ever after.

Pavane pour une infante défunte is dedicated to “the memory of an Infanta”. This formal title honours a Spanish princess entirely of Ravel’s own imagination: “à Madame la Princesse E de Polignac”. The Spanish setting inspired the choice to write a pavane, which is a slow round dance from 16th and 17th century Spain.

Bolero – an incomparable work that made the composer a household name around the world.

Bolero and La Valse occupy a special place in the large orchestral repertoire of our time. A performance of these works is not only a touchstone of skill for all conductors, but also proof of the ability of any orchestra.

Johannes Reuther (Original LP sleeve notes, 1979)
Translation: Laura Ball for JMB Translations