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To: sitetest

I have tried and tried to enjoy Ravel’s music, but I just can’t; I guess it’s too modern for me. Thanks for the ping, anyway.


5 posted on 02/01/2009 12:17:19 PM PST by MrsPatriot (How many more corrupt politicians will the Rep party allow into our government?)
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To: MrsPatriot

Ravel is pretty easy to take compared to some of Mahler and Debussy.


8 posted on 02/01/2009 12:22:57 PM PST by Borges
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To: MrsPatriot
I have tried and tried to enjoy Ravel’s music, but I just can’t; I guess it’s too modern for me. Thanks for the ping, anyway.

Well, if you like the orchestra version of Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition that is in large part due to Ravel's superb orchestration. I am not a huge Ravel fan, and consider him quite a minor composer, but I do like a few of his pieces.

If you find him too modern, I recommend a suite called Le Tombeau de Couperin, which is probably my favorite Ravel piece. Also, Pavane pour une infante defunte is pretty classical sounding.

More modern, but still nice are Alborada del gracioso amd Rhapsodie Espagnole. I never cared for Bolero. One of the boringest things ever written as music. Ravel intended it to be ballet music. However, it is often performed at orchestra concerts where its repetitiveness is quite apparent. I once had a choreographer describe how she would stage Bolero. It would be the arrival of a desert caravan, beginning with a few personages, and ending with the entire caravan filling up the stage at the end. Performed that way, it would work.

17 posted on 02/01/2009 1:03:28 PM PST by Sans-Culotte
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