Miroirs: Ravel’s Scenes and Sketches

Written by Joseph John L. Verallo  |  October 9, 2025

Maurice Ravel’s Miroirs is a highly impressionistic collection of pieces, despite what subtle objections the composer would have had to the description. The label “impressionist” is quite apt. The five-movement suite resembles the visual poetry of his contemporaries, its unusual melodies drowned in harmonic dissonance mimicking the thick-stroked figures of a Monet and Renoir landscape. 

Each movement was dedicated to a member of Les Apaches, a circle of artists of which Ravel himself was a part. The group’s name, commonly translated as “the hooligans,” was taken from a popular term in Paris used to refer to street criminals, perhaps to emphasize an unruly but free-spirited passion for the arts. It’s unusual now to think of the neatly-combed, well-dressed French composer—dubbed a “Swiss watchmaker” by Stravinsky—as belonging to such a group. But you could also say this duality was somehow characteristic of his art: an evident polish that came with far-reaching musical exploration.

Ravel dedicated Miroirs’ first piece, “Noctuelles” (“night-moths”), to his friend the poet Léon-Paul Fargue, who was said, in one meeting, to have recited the lines: “In the shed, the night moths take off, in awkward flight, and circle around other beams.” You can hear Ravel’s clear intention to paint through sound the awkward insectan flutterings with his polyrhythmic chromaticism. 

“Oiseaux tristes” (“Sorrowful birds”), dedicated to the pianist Ricardo Viñes, is a curious title conjuring odd imagery: one doesn’t often associate melancholy with birds. In his Une esquisse autobiographique (An autobiographical sketch), Ravel discusses the piece, writing, “I evoke birds lost in the torpor of a very somber forest, during the hottest hours of summertime.” In this recording, the pianist Ming Xie emphasizes feelings of loneliness, taking his time with the solitary melodic voice that opens the piece before a hypnotic ostinato enters in the middle and bass registers. The piece’s middle section has a very erratic portion before returning to its initial melancholy.

“Une barque sur l’ocean” (“A Boat on the ocean”) opens with a simple motif that echoes alongside undulating arpeggios meant to evoke the sound of waves as a boat sails through. Occasionally, dissonances in the arpeggios create a tension that suggests unsteady waters, a storm perhaps. The piece ends, however, with a return to its opening motif, possibly indicating a safe arrival. 

“Alborada del gracioso” (“Morning song of the jester”) stands out from the others in the set with its rhythmic opening that contrasts with the arpeggios of “Une barque sur l’ocean.” You get the impression of something almost primeval, similar to Manuel de Falla’s “Ritual Fire Dance.” Dedicated to the music critic Michel-Dimitri Calvocoressi, the piece is an upbeat dance with flaring flourishes in the melody that mimic the strumming of a Spanish guitar. 

Ravel brings the listener back into a contemplative mood with “La vallée des cloches” (“The valley of bells”) and its soft but resonant drone reminiscent of Debussy. The piece was dedicated to his student, the pianist and composer Maurice Delage, who also experimented with sound and timbre. It is not as virtuosic as the previous four. Instead, you can see the intention leaned towards a fascination with sonority. Ravel allows each chord to reverberate uninterrupted before eventually dissipating into the air. 

Miroirs is a fascinating series of sketches and sonic landscapes. Ravel’s meticulous balance between absolute and programmatic music is evident: he does not stray too far into abstraction, ensuring his listener can still find pleasant melodies in the atmosphere he creates. 

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