The Genius of Ravel's Mother Goose Ballet

Even music as magical, as effortless, as "light" as this enchanting ballet has some remarkably impressive formal elements holding its six diverse sections together. In this chat, we discover one of the ways that Ravel applied his genius to the task of turning what started out as a little suite of piano pieces into a cohesive larger work. It's amazing.
Musical Examples courtesy of Naxos Records

[@ellenmmartin]

Everything Ravel composed is still in repertoire! That's a sign of a particular kind of genius.

[@melodymaker135]

Ravel is an underrated monster and “Mother Goose” is glorious. I love “Le Tombeau de Couperin” even more… the piano version is great but the orchestral even better

[@dennischiapello3879]

Monster, or did you mean master? 🤔

[@rileysdad1923]

I was going to comment the same thing, and also mention Le Tombeau de Couperin. I don't understand why that suit is not universally adored.

[@melodymaker135]

@@dennischiapello3879 You must pardon my use of the sort of rock and roll lingo that’s common in my social circle. Not a typo, but ‘monster’ meaning master or overpowering great one 😉

[@melodymaker135]

@@rileysdad1923 Especially the Paul Paray/ Mercury Living Presence version!

[@dennischiapello3879]

@@melodymaker135 Then you must pardon my powdered wig! 🤗

[@mancal5829]

These little talks make me fall in love with classic pieces you thought you knew, all over again. Beauty feeds the soul.

[@laurentco]

Is there anything more glorious than that finale? Well, O.K., there are, but it definitely is wonderful!

[@jackdolphy8965]

I have enjoyed repeat listenings to many of your installments Dave. ‘However!’ this one is the one I have returned to most often. I’ve been a deep listener of Ravel for well over 50 years now. And you sir I Thank You for filling a huge hole in my adventures with Ravel by giving me the gift of this glorious work. Ever many thanks 🙏🏼

[@DavesClassicalGuide]

Thanks for listening!

[@francoisjoubert6867]

This can be a very interesting series too - the genius of Schubert’s xxxx or Verdi’s Otello or …, the list is endless!

[@DavesClassicalGuide]

Hmmm. I hadn't thought about that, but you're right.

[@chrisgately4358]

Forty years ago, while studying to become a Master Carilloneur in Douai, France, my friend Frank DellaPenna was given an assignment to reduce and arrange the piano version of Ravel's "Mother Goose Suite" for the carillon. Twenty years later, I recorded his version of the piece for carillon and MIDI orchestra for his "Spirit Of The Bells" CD. It's been a crowd pleaser at his concerts.

[@sprezzatura8755]

Extraordinary piece of music.

[@carlconnor5173]

David, I couldn’t explain why I’ve marveled at Mother Goose. Well, you just did!

[@grantparsons6205]

I share your love of this work, Dave. I was introduced to it as a child & it's been close to my heart all my life. The orchestral colours in the Cluytens PCO recording are quite magical; in all their Ravel performances, in fact.

[@OuterGalaxyLounge]

It's such a masterwork. Great timing on this talk, as I'd been listening to several of my recordings of it lately. It never gets old.

[@fcamiola]

One of my fav pieces ever. My fav version is still Sir Neville Mariner/Academy St Martin's, however it is just the suite. Le Tombeau is also THE GREATEST from this same recording. Desert island stuff. Ravel is life.

[@daviddavenport9350]

I LOVE Mother Goose....have been fortunate to play and conduct the Suite several times.....it is gorgeous....I opined to a friend once that Ravel might have been the very best composer of the 20th C.......Stravinsky had a very high opinion of Ravel....l'Enfant is one of the most amazing works of the Century as well....

[@ericleiter6179]

Yes, yes I think you are on to something doing a whole series out of this idea...I thought this was a great chat, and I always love when you play music examples ( I know it's not easy to get away with), but what a great way to, as you said, reinvigorate one's appreciation of the great composers and their works in a series like this, great video!!!

[@victormarinviloria633]

Thank you for enlighten us, David!

[@MegaVicar]

Fantastic! I've long enjoyed this piece, and that detail about the end being written first makes it more miraculous. I marvel at the combination of craftsmanship and beauty in many of the 20th century French composers.

[@michaelmurray8742]

A great little chat Dave. Thank you. I shall listen to it with fresh ears and appreciation next time.

[@retohofmann5878]

Great, great way of showing us (me) the magic of classical music by the way!

[@donaldhouse9736]

Thanks for bringing this rondo structure to Ma mère l'Oye to our attention! I wonder if Pictures at a Exhibition sparked this idea in Ravel?

[@cerchiamusic]

I have always noticed a certain similarity in the endings of both Mother Goose ballet and the opera The Enchanted Child. Certain turns of phrases and over all atmosphere. I love both works!

[@edu21100]

I have to say, one of my favourites performance of Mother Goose is the one of the Ravel Album of TOMITA. I love that one, it is unique and the way he uses the synthesizer makes me feel the Mother Goose in a different but great way.

[@fyvewytches]

I’m going to see this performed along with the Pavanne for a Dead Princess and the wonderful Jongen Symphonie Concertante in Liège in a couple of weeks. I’m really looking forward to hearing this!

[@daviddavenport9350]

Bravo about the end.....it is the motive turned into church bells ringing out..."and they lived happily ever after"...........

[@retohofmann5878]

09:28 Beautiful!!! Didn't know it, thanks a lot!

[@melodymaker135]

That gentle repeating motif that David points up reminds me a little of a much more Frenchy cousin of the opening and closing of Copland’s “Billy the Kid”

[@AlexMadorsky]

Some of the great contrabassoon writing of all time for those of us interested in that sort of thing.

[@dennischiapello3879]

A great talk, spurring me to pull out my recording and actually listen to it. But I want to salute the piano version of that ending, which--with its simple triads and measured glissandi--captures a child's imagination. At least, that is, for the child on the piano bench. The other version is for adults.

[@bbailey7818]

Dave, since you said Cakrizans told you an album would be acceptable to him as the surviving work of a composer, this Naxos coupling is ideal for Ravel.

[@Vandalarius]

Have you heard the new volume 2 of Ravel's orchestral works by Trevino and the Basque National Orchestra? It has Mother Goose in it and I think it's an excellent performance.

[@DavesClassicalGuide]

Agreed.

[@julianholman7379]

I'm struck by a similarity between the jardin feerique and the pine forest in the Nutcracker (?)

[@DavesClassicalGuide]

Seen one, seen 'em all I guess.

[@johnbyrd3168]

I love Dutoit’s Decca and Boulez’ DG recording. Any recording top these two?

[@DavesClassicalGuide]

Martinon or Cluytens or Ozawa...not "top" but equally fine. I find Dutoit to be inferior to all of them. Those pauses in the "The Fairy Garden" are just awful.

[@johnbyrd3168]

@@DavesClassicalGuide Cheers, Dave. I love martinon’s recording of Lalo’s Namouma with the LPO.

[@lunaray1986]

Do we know when Ravel first became familiar with Pictures at an Exhibition?

[@taraznzoro]

Please complete your Haydn crusade 😢

[@DavesClassicalGuide]

Patience is a virtue. I'm working on it.

[@robertdandre94101]

without wanting to contradict you, I prefer the original version for piano four hands .... more intimate, more in the tone of fairy tales, more in the world of children ..... that ravel wanted to make it a ballet , is correct, but for me the pages which intersperse the pieces of the original version remain for me interludes or even filling .... certainly I am not a musicologist for whom the musical formulas remain important .... and if I have missing something, I'm left with my first loves ..... recording of walter and beatriz klein (vox) remains my reference

[@DavesClassicalGuide]

Fair enough! I think they are two different things.

[@dennischiapello3879]

I'm also a great lover of the original suite, and I've not gotten very familiar with the orchestral expansion. What you say about the piano suite being more in the world of children is sort of what I was aiming at in my earlier comment. Also, the coloristic effects Ravel manages to put into fairly simple piano writing is ingenious. The atmosphere is no less compelling than that of Gaspard de la Nuit!