Maurice Ravel (1875 - 1937)
Mother Goose Suite
Prelude
Spinning Wheel Dance and Scene
Pavane of the Sleeping Beauty
Conversation of Beauty and the Beast
Tom Thumb
Empress of the Pagodas
The Fairy Garden

The origins of the Mother Goose tales are lost in the mists of prehistory. They first came to general notice in the anthology published in 1697 by Charles Perrault Stories and Tales of Olden times, with Morals. This includes the stories of The Sleeping Beauty and Hop o' my Thumb, as well as Puss in Boots, Red Riding Hood and Cinderella. The story of Beauty and the Beast appeared rather later, in a collection of 1757, but the final story - The Ugly Little Girl, Empress of the Pagodas - is contemporary with the Perrault anthology.

Like many of Ravel's orchestral works, his Mother Goose was originally written for piano. It was written in 1908 as a set of five piano duets for Mimie and Jean, the talented children of a friend. The first public performance of the piano duet version was given in Paris in 1910 by two girls, Jeanne Leleu and Genevieve Durony, both aged ten! The following year Ravel transformed the pieces into a ballet, adding a prelude, a new opening scene, and interludes to connect the separate numbers. The complete ballet was first performed in Paris on 28th January, 1912.

Mother Goose is in Ravel's most magical style, offering both great charm and deep emotion. Ravel wrote that "the idea of evoking in these pieces the poetry of childhood naturally led me to simplify my style and to refine my means of expression", and it is the matching of the constrained style and expression that makes this work such a masterpiece. The orchestra used is not large - indeed the brass section is represented by only two horns. The sections of the ballet follow each other without obvious breaks.

The prelude opens with muted fanfares, suggesting enchanted things to come. The first two sections depict the Sleeping Beauty. The conversations of Beauty and the Beast are depicted by a graceful waltz, in which the Beast is easily recognised by the deep notes of the Contrabassoon. Tom Thumb left a trail of breadcrumbs to guide him on his return from the woods, but the birds ate the crumbs and now he is lost. The wandering accompaniment depicts his journey, and the calls of the birds are clearly audible. The Ugly little girl, Empress of the Pagodas is in a Javanese Gamelan style, naively oriental. The Fairy Garden depicts the awakening of the Sleeping Beauty by Prince Charming, in a hymn of great beauty, which works up to a joyous fanfare of celebration.