Smithsonian Associates: The Exquisite Enigma of Maurice Ravel, Lecture 2 – “I never look back. I do not want to repeat myself.”

“Music should be the beautiful, fragile wing of the soul. It should enchant, caress, and disturb.”
 —Maurice Ravel

The music of Ravel brings a unique form of magnetism, delicacy, passion, and a frisson of disquiet to our concert experience. Beneath his shimmering sound canvases lie an extraordinary craft and fanatical precision that underpins every silken phrase and melody. Concert pianist and speaker Rachel Franklin celebrates Ravel’s 150th birthday by exploring a wide range of his works from such greatly loved masterpieces as Daphnis et Chloé and La Valse to solo display works like Tzigane that dazzle with their beauty and technical brilliance.

British-born Franklin has been a featured speaker for organizations including the Library of Congress and NPR, exploring intersections among classical and jazz music, film scores, and the fine arts.

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Following devastating experiences at the front during the Great War, Ravel used irony, jazz, cabaret and other modern popular styles to extend his language and express his evolving aesthetic. Whatever style he chose to explore, his music remained utterly individual, both intensely sophisticated and profoundly moving. Listen to selections from his opera L’enfant et les sortilèges, piano concertos for one and both hands, and works that directly reflect the tragic war years, Le Tombeau de Couperin and La Valse.