In 1900, Maurice Ravel joined a group of young, like-minded musicians, artists and writer called Les Apaches. The group met regularly at the homes of Paul Sordes and Tristan Klingsor, and came to include such other prominent names as Igor Stravinsky and Manuel de Falla. Les Apaches, which obviously refers to the Native American tribe, also had the additional meaning of “hooligans” in French and was coined by Ricardo Viñes to describe the group as “artistic outcasts.” Viñes would premiere several of Ravel’s piano works, including his Miroirs, which the composer dedicated each of its five movements to a member of Les Apaches.
Miroirs was composed during 1904-05 and given its premiere in 1906. Meaning “Reflections,” the work demonstrates the development of Ravel’s technique as a composer of piano music, which had first leapt into maturity in his 1901 piece, Jeux d’eau. Ravel’s treatment of the vast possibilities of the piano was simultaneously inspired by the florid style of Franz Liszt and the most profound advancement in piano technique since that great virtuoso’s time. This style came to be a cornerstone of French Impressionism and even influenced Ravel’s older contemporary, Claude Debussy.
“Une barque sur l’ocean” (“A Boat on the Ocean”) is the third piece of Miroirs and was dedicated to the painter Paul Sordes. The lengthiest and quite possibly the most technically demanding piece in the suite, it is a piece of shimmering beauty and one of most evocative depictions of the ocean to ever be penned. Ravel later orchestrated the piece, along with the following one (“Alborada del gracioso”). A single motif heard from the outset, with an inherent fluidity as it changes naturally between duple and compound meter, is the musical germ from which the entire movement springs. Beneath this ostinato-like motif are rippling arpeggios that conjure in the mind the waves of the ocean as they gently rock the boat back and forth. From this beginning, the music expands—the underpinning of arpeggios, which are hardly broken throughout the entire course of the movement, expand to greater depths and dimensions, eventually encompassing both hands, and provide a rich background against which the principal motif undergoes various transformations. Following this motif as it traverses the background of arpeggios, the listener witnesses the course of the boat as it traverses the great expanse of the ocean. Quietly, however, the piece comes to a close as if we behold the ship slowly disappearing over the horizon. Joseph DuBose
Une barque sur l'océan ("A boat on the Ocean") - Dedicated to Paul Sordes, the piece recounts a small boat as it sails upon the waves of the ocean. Arpeggiated sections as well as sweeping melodies imitate the flow of ocean currents.
Classical Music | Piano Music
Maurice Ravel
Une barque sur l'océan, from Miroirs Play
Recorded on 06/25/2010, uploaded on 06/25/2010
Musician's or Publisher's Notes
In 1900, Maurice Ravel joined a group of young, like-minded musicians, artists and writer called Les Apaches. The group met regularly at the homes of Paul Sordes and Tristan Klingsor, and came to include such other prominent names as Igor Stravinsky and Manuel de Falla. Les Apaches, which obviously refers to the Native American tribe, also had the additional meaning of “hooligans” in French and was coined by Ricardo Viñes to describe the group as “artistic outcasts.” Viñes would premiere several of Ravel’s piano works, including his Miroirs, which the composer dedicated each of its five movements to a member of Les Apaches.
Miroirs was composed during 1904-05 and given its premiere in 1906. Meaning “Reflections,” the work demonstrates the development of Ravel’s technique as a composer of piano music, which had first leapt into maturity in his 1901 piece, Jeux d’eau. Ravel’s treatment of the vast possibilities of the piano was simultaneously inspired by the florid style of Franz Liszt and the most profound advancement in piano technique since that great virtuoso’s time. This style came to be a cornerstone of French Impressionism and even influenced Ravel’s older contemporary, Claude Debussy.
“Une barque sur l’ocean” (“A Boat on the Ocean”) is the third piece of Miroirs and was dedicated to the painter Paul Sordes. The lengthiest and quite possibly the most technically demanding piece in the suite, it is a piece of shimmering beauty and one of most evocative depictions of the ocean to ever be penned. Ravel later orchestrated the piece, along with the following one (“Alborada del gracioso”). A single motif heard from the outset, with an inherent fluidity as it changes naturally between duple and compound meter, is the musical germ from which the entire movement springs. Beneath this ostinato-like motif are rippling arpeggios that conjure in the mind the waves of the ocean as they gently rock the boat back and forth. From this beginning, the music expands—the underpinning of arpeggios, which are hardly broken throughout the entire course of the movement, expand to greater depths and dimensions, eventually encompassing both hands, and provide a rich background against which the principal motif undergoes various transformations. Following this motif as it traverses the background of arpeggios, the listener witnesses the course of the boat as it traverses the great expanse of the ocean. Quietly, however, the piece comes to a close as if we behold the ship slowly disappearing over the horizon. Joseph DuBose
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Miroirs, or "Reflections" is a suite for solo piano written by French impressionist composer Maurice Ravel between 1904 and 1905.
More music by Maurice Ravel
La Valse
Berceuse sur le nom de Gabriel Faure
Noctuelles from Miroirs
Daphnis and Chloé, Suite No. 2
Une barque sur l'océan, from Miroirs
Alborada del Gracioso, from Miroirs
Pièce en Forme de Habanera
Cinq Mélodies Populaires Grecques
Rhapsodie espagnole
Concerto No. 2 in D Major for Piano and Orchestra
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