“À la manière de Ravel” (2025) (“In the Style of Ravel”) was inspired by the 150th anniversary of Ravel’s birthday, and particularly by his two miniatures “À la manière de Borodine” and “À la manière de Chabrier.” I wanted to create a pastiche that relates to Ravel’s stylistic world, while quoting various melodies and other small fragments from his compositions. Considering Ravel’s extremely refined sense of form and his imaginative sense of harmonic color, it proved to be a daunting project. In all, there are five references to Ravel pieces (you may wish to try your hand at identifying them), and one by Chopin: the opening melody, taken from his Mazurka in F-sharp minor op. 6 no. 1 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p65g0Qst2CI). That mazurka rhythm relates to my recent compositions, the Waltz from SMTD Piano Department’s Chopin project (see Valse melancolique – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1DlIYXa45MA) and also with my recent Mazurka In Memoriam Karol Szymanowski. Ravel certainly knew Chopin’s music well as a pianist, but his smoother rhythmic sensibility takes this music in a rather different direction, until later in the piece the ideas are combined together. The piece is modeled on the Menuet from Le Tombeau de Couperin. It was composed for a Westfield Center for Historical Keyboard Studies conference session “Album Leaves and Dedications,” and is dedicated to my friend, pianist Madeleine Forte (LINK), an exceptional Ravel interpreter, on her 87th birthday.