Performed by the Dunedin Symphony Orchestra conducted by Simon Over, Dunedin Town Hall, 6 October 2016.
Ravel as ambulance driver, 1916 Photo: Public Domain
Ravel started work on this composition before the First World War started – it was originally a suite of dances for solo piano modelled on his baroque forebears.
His war service as an ambulance driver interrupted its completion and when he returned to it, it became not only a commemoration of François Couperin but also of several of his friends who had died in the conflagration.
Having completed the piano suite, he orchestrated four of the movements for orchestra.
Recorded by RNZ Concert
Producer: Tim Dodd; Engineer: Darryl Stack
