DESCRIPTION:
Maurice Ravel - "Scarbo," from Gaspard de la Nuit, 1908-1909.

Performed by Jean-Yves Thibaudet.

Gaspard de la nuit is a three-"poem" suite, each work based on a poem by Aloysius Bertrand. This piece, "Scarbo," is a devilishly difficult piece depicting a ghost of a dwarf dancing in the dark, frightening all who see him. The piece was written to rival Balakirev's "Islamey" in terms of difficulty. "Scarbo" combines the pristine elegance and beauty of "Ondine" with the dark morbidity of "Le Gibet" to bring the suite to a unified close. One of Ravel's most well-known piano pieces, Gaspard de la Nuit will continue to live on in the elite solo piano repertoire.

Oh! How often I have heard and seen him, Scarbo, when at midnight the moon shines in the sky like a silver shield on a blue banner strewn with golden bees!
How often I have heard his laughter booming in the shadow of my alcove and the grating of his nails on the silk curtain of my bed!
How often I have seen him come down from the ceiling, pirouetting on one foot and rolling through the room like the spindle fallen from the distaff of a witch.
Did I then believe he vanished? The dwarf would grow bigger between the moon and me like the bell tower of a gothic cathedral, a little golden bell swinging on his pointed cap!
But soon his body would turn blue, diaphanous like the wax of a taper, his face would grow pale like the wax of a candle stub—and suddenly he would fade away.