Maurice Ravel (1875–1937) was a French composer noted for his orchestral color, piano works and contributions to early 20th-century impressionist music. His best-known pieces include Boléro, Rapsodie espagnole, La Valse and the ballet Daphnis et Chloé.

Born in France (Ciboure) to a Basque mother, Ravel is publicly known as a master orchestrator and a leading figure associated with musical impressionism. Boléro (1928–29) is his most famous single-motif orchestral work. Tzigane exists in versions for violin and piano/luthéal and for violin and orchestra.

Three DeBaser reviews celebrate Ravel as a master of orchestral color and descriptive music. Boléro is noted for its hypnotic simplicity and crescendo-driven form. Rhapsodie espagnole and Tzigane are praised for Spanish color and violin virtuosity respectively.

For:Classical-music listeners, orchestral enthusiasts, violinists, students of composition and music history

 At the heart of Ravel's exceptional descriptive ability is an almost absolute wisdom in orchestration, an inimitable mastery in making the most of the orchestra's so-called "colors", which are nothing more than the various timbres expressible by the instruments, with all their possible combinations.

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 "it is a dance of very moderate and constantly uniform motion, both in melody and harmony and rhythm. The only element of diversification is constituted by the crescendo of the orchestra".

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 We are in the presence of the performer's intimacy, shortly before the typical Ravelian timbral outburst of the entire orchestra.

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