Ravel: Ma mere l'Oye

[gvans]

Maurice Ravel, a composition student of Gabriel Fauré's at the Paris Conservatoire, wrote his four hands piano suite, Mother Goose, for the charming Godebski children, ages 6 and 7. It proved too difficult for them to perform and was premiered in 1910 by young professionals from the conservatory. Although the movements--Pavane of Sleeping Beauty; Tom Thumb; Laideronette, Empress of the Pagodas; Conversation of Beauty and the Beast; Enchanted Garden--possess programmatic and whimsical titles, the depth and character of the music and its strange harmonies and controlled pathos have made the work a long-running favorite of concert pianists.

Note: Playing this suite is harder than it seems! We found it Mozartian, very transparent, very exposed.