Tuesday 19 April 2011

A Musical Synesthesia Experience

Maurice Ravel - "Daphnis et Chloë - Suite No.2" ('Daybreak')

This is a great example of French impressionist music. The synesthesia experiences this piece of music evokes in me is that of a sound picture in where waves from the sea are lapping to the shore while I watch a summer sunrise and experiencing the first breezes of the morning across my face.

It occasionally happens that a great work is better known by excerpts. Such has been the fate of Maurice Ravel's Daphnis et Chloe every since its creation. While occasionally performed as a ballet, it is usually heard in concert, represented by its final three numbers: "Lever du jour" (Daybreak), "Pantomime" and "Danse generale." Ravel himself designated these excerpts as Suite No. 2 after the score's completion in 1912.  MORE

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The Hurdy-Gurdy Player (Le Joueur de Vielle) at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Did you know that the hurdy-gurdy is a string instrument tha...