Played by Avan Yu at the 2018 Wallace International Piano Festival.
Avan Yu Photo: Irène Zandel
Ravel wrote 'Le Tombeau de Couperin' during the First World War. Each of its six movements is dedicated to a friend of his – or, in the case of one of the movements, to two brothers – who lost their lives in the war.
The word ‘tombeau’ indicates that it’s also a work in memorial to François Couperin, the great French baroque composer. But Ravel indicated that his intention was to pay homage to French baroque music in general.
And as to the general light-heartedness of the music, he said "The dead are sad enough, in their eternal silence.”
Recorded by RNZ Concert, 12 July 2018
Engineer: Rangi Powick
Producer: Tim Dodd
