Miroirs No. 2: Oiseaux Tristes

A five-movement suite originally written by Maurice Ravel (1875-1937) for solo piano, MIROIRS ("Mirrors") was written between 1904 and 1905, with each movement dedicated to a fellow member of the French avant-garde artist group Les Apaches. Ravel later orchestrated both the third movement called "Une barque sur l'océan" ("A Boat on the Ocean" - dedicated to Paul Sordes) and the fourth movement named "Alborada del gracioso" ("The Jester's Aubade" - dedicated to Michel-Dimitri Calvocoressi) himself. Ernesto Halffter later orchestrated the fifth movement ("La vallée des cloches" - "The Valley of the Bells" - dedicated to Maurice Delage), as did Percy Grainger, while Felix Günther scored movement two ("Oiseaux tristes" - "Sad Birds" - dedicated to Ricardo Viñes). Orchestrations of movement one ("Noctuelles" - "Moths" - dedicated to Léon-Paul Fargue) are more recent. This orchestration of "Oiseaux Triste" (Sad Birds) has been arranged by Felix Guenther and edited by Joseph Mady. Guenther has offered various options in instrumentation to permit flexibility for smaller ensembles. Instrumentation: Small Orchestra: 1.0.1.0: 3Sax(AAT): 0.2.0.0: Perc(1): Str (7 Pts:5/5/4/4-7-6-5 in set); Grand Orchestra: 2.2.2.2: 3Sax(AAT): 2.2.0.0: Perc(1): Hp: Str (7 Pts:5/5/4/4-7-6-5 in set).