The subject of my thesis was to record Maurice Ravel’s piano suite Gaspard de la Nuit, and to get to know better his life and music. I played a lot of Ravel during years spent in France and his music became close to me. After years of intensive work with the suite, Gaspard de la Nuit was recorded in the University of Applied Sciences of Jyväskylä during two recording sessions.

I tried to obtain a deeper understanding of Maurice Ravel as a person and as an artist. The composer’s life events are well known, but his life less so – Ravel’s image is quite mysterious. I tried to build a picture about him, which would help to get closer to his personality.

In order to do that, I examined Ravel’s letters, articles and interviews. Unlike many other composers, a lot of sources related to Ravel are available. In addition to that, I included statements from great pianists such as Alfred Cortot and Ivo Pogorelich.

As a conclusion, the most important features of Ravel’s music are dance, elegance and fairy-tale subjects. To perform well his music, the performer must have imagination, an impeccable sense of style and control several sound layers at the same time. I’ll also join my recording of Gaspard de la Nuit to this thesis. I hope that the reader would get inspired of Ravel’s colorful life and like to know better his music.