Introducing Maurice Ravel’s Famous and Representative Works

BoleroMaurice Ravel

Maurice Ravel – Bolero

The most well-known piece among Ravel’s works.

Composed in 1928 as a ballet, it is an orchestral piece about 15 minutes long.

It is a unique work in which the same rhythm continues throughout, there are only two melodies, and the dynamics consist of a single crescendo from beginning to end.

Although it might seem monotonous, the variations in instrumentation create striking changes in timbre, making it a masterpiece.

Le Tombeau de CouperinMaurice Ravel

Ravel | Le tombeau de Couperin – Zoltan Fejérvari

A suite of six pieces composed by Ravel between 1914 and 1917.

It embodies a tribute to friends who died in World War I.

While adopting the Baroque-era suite form, it is reinterpreted with Ravel’s own modern sensibility and technique.

Each movement is dedicated to a specific individual and expresses feelings of loss and remembrance, yet the music is light and at times even humorous.

From this emerges a sense of strength to overcome sorrow and a trust in the return of life.

In 1919, an orchestral version featuring four selected movements was published.

Do listen to both the solo piano version and the orchestral version.

Rapsodie espagnoleMaurice Ravel

Maurice Ravel – Rapsodie Espagnole

An orchestral work from 1907.

Ravel, whose mother was from Spain and who was exposed to Spanish folk songs in his childhood, incorporated elements of Spanish music into many of his works.

This piece consists of Prelude to the Night, Malagueña, Habanera, and Feria.

Of these, only Habanera is an orchestral arrangement of a piece originally composed in 1895 for two pianos.

Gaspard of the NightMaurice Ravel

Maurice Ravel – Gaspard de la nuit

A suite for solo piano, composed in 1908.

It consists of Ondine, Le Gibet, and Scarbo, each inspired by poems from Aloysius Bertrand’s posthumous collection.

Among them, Scarbo is known as a particularly difficult piece.

The performer is the French pianist Jean-Efflam Bavouzet, born in 1962, who has recorded Ravel’s complete piano works.

Scheherazade OvertureMaurice Ravel

Maurice Ravel – Shéhérazade, ouverture de féerie

This early orchestral work by Ravel was inspired by his fascination with Scheherazade, the heroine of the Arabian Nights.

With its distinctive harmony and orchestration, it exemplifies Ravel’s impressionistic musical style.

The delicate sense of color and the way he conjures fantastical scenes through combinations of instruments foreshadow techniques found in his later works.

As an early testament to Ravel’s musical talent and innovation, it still holds an important place today.

It’s also a recommended piece for those interested in the mystical world of the East.

String Quartet in F majorMaurice Ravel

Maurice Ravel: String Quartet in F major LIVE at Wigmore Hall

Completed in 1903.

It was dedicated to Gabriel Fauré, who was both Ravel’s teacher and friend.

Although it premiered in 1904, Debussy—another Impressionist composer—had published his own string quartet a decade earlier, and Ravel’s work was strongly conscious of that precedent.

String quartets were generally considered a difficult genre, one that composers typically avoided tackling in their youth, so Ravel’s decision to take it on at age 28 was exceptional.

It went on to be a great success, even earning praise from Debussy himself.

A noble and sentimental waltzMaurice Ravel

Maurice Ravel – Valses nobles et sentimentales (1911)

Composed in 1911, this is a collection of eight waltzes.

It was written for solo piano, but an orchestral version was released the following year.

The eight pieces span a range of tempos, from the slow lent to the lively vif.

The performance is by Louis Lortie, a French-Canadian pianist born in 1959, whose core repertoire includes Ravel alongside Chopin and Beethoven.