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Track List

1 Le tombeau de Couperin: I. Prélude 03:01
    by Maurice Ravel
2 Le tombeau de Couperin: II. Fugue 04:23
    by Maurice Ravel
3 Le tombeau de Couperin: III. Forlane 06:30
    by Maurice Ravel
4 Le tombeau de Couperin: IV. Rigaudon 03:31
    by Maurice Ravel
5 Le tombeau de Couperin: V. Menuet 05:06
    by Maurice Ravel
6 Le tombeau de Couperin: VI. Toccata 04:32
    by Maurice Ravel
7 1re Gymnopédie: Lent et douloureux 03:10
    by Erik Satie
8 2e Gymnopédie: Lent et triste 02:44
    by Erik Satie
9 3e Gymnopédie: Lent et grave 02:40
    by Erik Satie
10 Sarabande No 1 in A flat Major 04:44
    by Erik Satie
11 Sarabande No 2 in D sharp Minor 04:18
    by Erik Satie
12 Sarabande No 3 in B flat Minor 03:57
    by Erik Satie
13 1re Gnossienne 03:39
    by Erik Satie
14 2e Gnossienne 01:40
    by Erik Satie
15 3e Gnossienne 02:45
    by Erik Satie
16 4e Gnossienne 03:43
    by Erik Satie
17 5e Gnossienne 03:45
    by Erik Satie
18 Le Piccadilly (Piano Roll) 01:44
    by Erik Satie
19 Jeux d'eau (Piano Roll) 05:00
    by Maurice Ravel

Total Time: 70:52

About Maurice Ravel - Erik Satie - Piano Music

This album is restored from recordings of piano music by Maurice Ravel and Erik Satie. The first 17 tracks are played by Manuel Ignacio de Íñigo on piano, the last two are played back from a piano roll.

Le Tombeau de Couperin (The Tomb of Couperin) is a suite for solo piano by Maurice Ravel, composed between 1914 and 1917. The work consists of six movements, based on the movements of a traditional Baroque suite. Each movement is dedicated to the memory of a friend of the composer, or, in one case, two brothers, who died fighting in World War I. In 1919, Ravel also produced an orchestral version of the work, omitting two of the original movements.

The word tombeau is a musical term that was popular from the 17th century and means “a piece written as a memorial.” The Couperin referred to in the title, from a family of musicians whose prominence lasted for about two centuries, is thought to be François Couperin “the Great” (1668–1733). Ravel stated that his intention was to pay homage more generally to the sensibilities of the French Baroque keyboard suite, rather than specifically to imitate or honor Couperin himself. This is reflected in the work’s structure, which follows the model of a Baroque dance suite. As a preparatory exercise, Ravel had transcribed a forlane, an Italian folk dance, from the fourth suite of Couperin’s Concerts royaux, and this piece provided a structural model for Ravel’s Forlane. The other movements are similarly based on Baroque forms, with the Toccata taking the form of a perpetuum mobile reminiscent of Alessandro Scarlatti. Ravel also revived Baroque practices through his distinctive use of ornamentation and modal harmony. Neoclassicism emerges alongside these elements in Ravel’s distinctly twentieth-century chromatic melodies and piquant harmonies, particularly in the dissonant Forlane.

The Gymnopédies, or Trois Gymnopédies (Three Nude Dances), are three piano compositions by Erik Satie. He completed the set by 2 April 1888, although the pieces were initially published individually. The first and third were published in 1888, while the second was not published until 1895. The melodies employ deliberate but mild dissonances against the harmony, creating a piquant and melancholy effect that corresponds with the performance instructions: to play each piece “painfully” (douloureux), “sadly” (triste), or “gravely” (grave). The opening bars of Gymnopédie No. 1 consist of an alternating progression of two major seventh chords, the first on the subdominant, G, and the second on the tonic, D.

The Sarabandes are three dances for solo piano composed by Erik Satie in 1887. Together with the famous Gymnopédies (1888), they are regarded as his first important works and as the pieces on which his reputation as a harmonic innovator and precursor of modern French music, beginning with Debussy, principally rests. The Sarabandes also played a key role in Satie’s belated “discovery” by the French musical establishment in the 1910s, helping to set the stage for his subsequent international fame. French composer and critic Alexis Roland-Manuel wrote in 1916 that the Sarabandes represented “a milestone in the evolution of our music,” describing them as pieces of unprecedented harmonic technique, born of an entirely new aesthetic and creating a unique atmosphere and a sonorous magic of complete originality.

The Gnossiennes are a group of piano compositions by Erik Satie dating from the late 19th century. The works are largely written in free time, without time signatures or bar divisions, and are highly experimental in their treatment of form, rhythm and chordal structure. The word was invented by Satie, although the term itself had existed in French literature before his use of it. The first three Gnossiennes were composed around 1890 and first published in 1893. A revision before their publication in 1893 is not unlikely; the second Gnossienne may even have been composed that year, as its manuscript is dated “April 1893.” The solo piano versions of the first three Gnossiennes are without time signatures or bar lines, a characteristic associated with free time.

Jeux d’eau is a work for solo piano by Maurice Ravel, composed in 1901 and given its first public performance the following year. The title has been variously translated as “Fountains,” “Playing Water,” or, literally, “Water Games.” At the time of its composition, Ravel was a student of Gabriel Fauré, to whom the work is dedicated. Jeux d’eau is a single-movement work that typically lasts between four and a half and six minutes in performance. It has a claim to being the first example of Impressionism in piano music. The piece is known for its virtuosic, fluid and highly evocative character and is considered one of Ravel’s important works for piano. Its fast, shimmering and cascading piano figurations are intended to evoke the sound of flowing water. The overall atmosphere is one of lightness, playfulness and sensuality, and the piece is often described as a musical depiction of the joy and beauty of nature. Jeux d’eau is regarded as an example of Ravel’s distinctive style, characterized by clarity, precision and sensitivity to color and texture.

Credits

Manuel Ignacio de Íñigo - piano