The Last Century

During the First World War Maurice Ravel composed his piano suite Le Tombeau de Couperin. The work was an homage to the French harpsichord suite of the Baroque, and to the composer François Couperin in particular.

The idea of a tombeau – literally a ‘memorial stone’ – also appealed to later composers. Several of them created such a ‘stone’ for Ravel. In this edition of The Last Century we present three examples: by the Australian composer Arthur Benjamin, the Flemish composer Piet Swerts, and the Dutch composer Rudolf Escher.

Playlist

1. Maurice Ravel – Le Tombeau de Couperin (version for piano) – movement 1: Prélude (1917)
   Robert Casadesus, piano

2. Arthur Benjamin – Le Tombeau de Ravel – Valse-Caprice (1957)
   Michael Collins, clarinet / Michael McHale, piano

3. Piet Swerts – Le Tombeau de Ravel (2009)
   Mariano Garcia, soprano saxophone / Aniana Jaime Latre, piano

4. Rudolf Escher – Le Tombeau de Ravel (1952)
   Jacques Zoon, flute / Bart Schneemann, oboe / Ronald Hoogeveen, violin / Zoltan Benyacs, viola / Dmitri Ferschtman, cello / Glen Wilson, harpsichord

5. Maurice Ravel – Le Tombeau de Couperin (version for orchestra) – movement 4: Rigaudon (1919)
   Les Siècles conducted by François-Xavier Roth

Cover of the first edition of the piano version of Le Tombeau de Couperin, designed by Ravel himself.