Maurice Ravel

Sonatine, op. 40

Encouraged by a friend, Maurice Ravel (1875-1937) wrote the 1st movement of his Sonatine for piano, M. 40, for a competition sponsored by the Weekly Critical Review magazine. The competition was later cancelled because the magazine had nearly fallen into bankruptcy, but by 1905, Ravel had added two more movements. Paule de Lestang gave the first performance on March 10, 1906, in Lyon. Notwithstanding an early dedication of the work to his teacher Gabriel Faure, Ravel later settled on his close friends Ida and Cipa Godebski. The work has been considered favorably by audiences and performers, and it was a work that Ravel continued to value, frequently performing it himself, though he chose to leave out the final movement due to its technical complexity. Movements: I. Modéré (F-sharp minor); II. Mouvement de menuet (D-flat major); III. Animé (F-sharp minor). This edition by Richard Dowling adds fingerings, suggests redistribution of notes between the hands to make certain complicated passages easier to play, added some additional pedaling suggestions, and adds some phrasing and articulation markings to recurring phrases for the sake of consistency.