Lyrics

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Biography

A French composer known for melodic and tonal invention. Giving the lie to the idea that turn-of-the-century musical trends were necessarily elite impressionism or "decadent" (whatever that may mean), Ravel's music always speaks directly to the heart in a subtle rhythmic sense through great melody, harmonic richness, and iridescent orchestration. (The art of stacking partials in Ravel's Boléro and in the work of Ives predate harmonic synthesis in electronic music by half a century.) Ravel's ballet Daphnis et Chloé, with its gently sustained, wordless vocal chorus amidst heaven-on-earth sound-painting, is probably the finest synthesis of his aesthetic.

Discography