Miroirs

Each of the five movements in Miroirs carries a title evoking a natural image: moths in nocturnal flight, sad birds in a forest, a small boat on the ocean, a jester's morning song, and a valley of bells. Ravel wrote the suite between 1904 and 1905, dedicating each piece to a fellow member of Les Apaches, the Parisian circle of avant-garde artists he belonged to. The harmonic language pushed noticeably beyond what Ravel had written before, and many listeners hear the suite as the point where his mature voice fully arrives.

What to listen for

In the fourth movement, Alborada del gracioso, the writing imitates the sound of a Spanish guitar through rapid repeated-note figures and sharp staccato passages in the piano. Watch for the central slow section, where the texture drops to a bare, low-register melody, before the fast material returns with added intensity. The third movement, Une barque sur l'océan, opens with a dual time signature of 2/4 and 6/8 simultaneously, so the rhythm feels like it is pulling in two directions at once before gradually building into larger wave-like surges.

Recommended rendition

Samson François's Ravel recordings for EMI have been frequently cited as among the most idiomatic French piano playing on record, capturing both the rhythmic precision and improvisatory ease of the Alborada.

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