Maurice Ravel Alborada del gracioso

I have found very nice interpretation of Alborada del gracioso by Marie-Joseph Jude. You can listen it right here.

Alborada del gracioso is the forth part of Ravel's cycle Mirrors, written in 1905.
The Mirrors contain 5 parts:
1. Night Moths ("Noctuelles"),
2. Sad Birds ("Oiseaux tristes"),
3. A Boat on the Ocean ("Une barque sur l'ocean"),
4. The Comedian's Aubade ("Alborada del gracioso"),
5. The Valley of Bells ("La vallee des cloches")

The forth part was orchestrated by Ravel. The orchestral version of Alborada del gracioso you can listen in the interpretation of the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Valery Gergiev.


The sound of orchestra version is really terrific, isn't it? Timbres of different orchestral groups make this piece more distinct and vivid. It became more understandable for me how some frases should be played. After I had listen orchestral version, I decided to play piano version by myself.

If you also would like to try, you can download Ravel's Alborada del gracioso piano version for free.