Posts

Maurice Ravel -The Swiss Watchmaker

Maurice Ravel was born on March 7, 1875, in the small fishing village of Ciboure in the Basque region, near the Franco-Spanish border.  His father, Pierre-Joseph, was a Frenchman of Swiss descent. Pierre-Joseph, a distinguished engineer, met and fell in love with his future wife, a young and beautiful Basque, Marie Delouart, at the time she worked on the Spanish railways.  A few months after Maurice's birth, the family moved from Ciboure to Paris. The parents of Maurice Ravel, Pierre-Joseph Ravel and Marie Delouart. Maurice had a happy childhood. The parents encouraged their two children - Edouard was born in 1878 - to follow their vocation. Maurice's inclination was music. He started music lessons at the age of seven.  Unlike the parents of other composers, Pierre-Joseph viewed positively the prospect of a musical career and sent Maurice to the France's most important musical college, the Conservatoire de Paris in 1889. In the same year, the Paris Exhibition brought toget

Claude Debussy - The Two Arabesques (Deux arabesques), L. 66

Maurice Ravel - Piano Concerto in G major

Chopin - Nocturnes, Op.9

Claude Debussy and the Piano

Franz Liszt - Consolations in E Major and D flat Major

Claude Debussy - "Jardins sous la pluie" (Estampes)

Robert Schumann - Piano Concerto in A minor, Op. 54

César Franck - Symphonic Variations for piano and orchestra

Frédéric Chopin - Nocturnes, Op. 15

Franz Liszt - Valses Oublièes - No. 1

Chopin - Ballade No. 1 in G minor, Opus 23

Chopin - Étude Op. 10, No. 12 in C minor, "Revolutionary Étude"

Beethoven - Piano Sonata No. 14 in C-sharp minor, Quasi una fantasia, Op. 27, No. 2 (Moonlight Sonata)

Liszt - Piano Concerto No.1 in E-flat Major

Chopin - Nocturnes, Op. 32

Chopin - Waltzes, Op. 70

Beethoven - Piano Concerto No. 5 in E-flat major, Opus 73, “Emperor”

Beethoven - Für Elise

Gershwin - Three Preludes for Piano

Chopin - Waltzes Op. 64, No.3