Jeux d'eau

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Maurice Ravel, Jeux d'eau , beginning (first edition)

Jeux d'eau (French for "water games") is a five-minute piano piece that Maurice Ravel composed in 1901.

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Ravel headed the composition with a quote from Henri de Régnier : Dieu fluvial riant de l'eau qui le chatouille , for example a river god who laughs because the water tickles him .

It stands at the beginning of a series of important piano works by this composer and shows in its core the characteristics of Ravel's piano style, some of which were revolutionary at the time: its typical harmony , pronounced use of technical specialties such as playing two keys with one thumb, interlocking hands, chord trills and glissandos as well as a representation of the sound spectrum of the modern concert grand that even surpasses Franz Liszt's work , including by utilizing the extreme registers.

Ravel dedicated the piece to his prominent teacher with the words "À mon cher maître Gabriel Fauré ."

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