CATALOGUE XXI 2025-ENG by Pierre-Jean Tribot

Maurice Ravel 2025 Ravel Edition

Programme 1st half 2025

“2025, the Year of Ravel”: for RAVEL EDITION, the collection dedicated to preserving and promoting the French composer’s musical legacy from Belgian publisher XXI Music Publishing, this milestone was but a distant goal back in 2018 when the very first volume devoted to Boléro was released. Yet, we knew it was a crucial step towards achieving our ambition of sharing his music with the world, and allowing it to be appreciated with all the brilliance it deserves. In celebration of 150 years since the composer’s birth, the RAVEL EDITION is thrilled to present an exciting programme for the first half of 2025. Other projects will be announced as this summer’s festivals and new orchestral seasons are released.

This first instalment reveals 4 key pillars that you will find recurring throughout the year:

- Unpublished works: whilst memorable and illustrious in so many ways, Ravel's oeuvre still has many unearthed facets to reveal. Upon the request of the New York Philharmonic, the RAVEL EDITION is delighted to present the world première of ‘Prélude et danse’ from Sémiramis, an early score whose manuscript has been kept at the Bibliothèque nationale de France since 2000. In conjunction with the New York Philharmonic’s “Ravel Boulez 2025” project, this score, which has never before been performed in public, will be unveiled in March of this year during the New York Philharmonic’s Ravel 2025 anniversary concert, conducted by the orchestra’s Music Director Designate Gustavo Dudamel.

- Now 16 volumes strong, revised editions are the quintessence of the RAVEL EDITION. 100 years since its creation, L'Enfant et les sortilèges now completes the list of titles available: the vocal and piano score has been available for purchase since Autumn 2024, whilst the orchestral score and individual parts will become available for rental (the full score also for purchase) in spring 2025.

- Orchestration was another of Ravel's core activities that undoubtedly contributed to his remarkable reputation. As a contemporary tribute to this distinctly personal art, the RAVEL EDITION is honoured to join forces with orchestras and festivals, supporting composers of our time in reimagining works that Ravel never orchestrated himself: Kenneth Hesketh, Professor of Orchestration at the Royal College of Music in London, orchestrated Sites auriculaires (1895-97) and Sonatine, while French composer Benjamin Attahir took on the challenge of orchestrating the ‘Fugue’ and ‘Toccata’ from Le Tombeau de Couperin.

- Finally, we delve even deeper into Maurice Ravel’s repertoire through our very own YouTube channel, offering exclusive yet freely accessibly content in the form of a video series entitled “Ravel Papier à musique”, new episodes of which will be released throughout the year. The RAVEL EDITION will also be re-releasing digital versions of several 78 rpm recordings performed by Ravel's contemporaries, the majority of which have, until now, never been re-published.

In honour of the Year of Ravel, the RAVEL EDITION is also strengthening its collaborations with partner orchestras around the world to further promote and enhance appreciation of the composer’s works, including the Suzhou Symphony Orchestra (China), the Orquestra Simfònica de Barcelona i Nacional de Catalunya (Spain), the New York Philharmonic (USA), the Seattle Symphony Orchestra (USA), the Orchestre national du Capitole de Toulouse (France), and the BBC Philharmonic (UK). We will also be continuing our partnership with the Festival Ravel de Saint-Jean-de-Luz.

This year will also see the release of new recordings performed from the RAVEL EDITION’s revised scores, starting with the next phase of the Orquestra Simfònica de Barcelona i Nacional de Catalunya’s Ravel project: 6 CDs released under its l'Auditori label, all conducted by Ludovic Morlot.

In celebration of another illustrious composer born in 1875, who was also a great friend of Ravel, the RAVEL EDITION is supporting the Ricardo Viñes Estate in honouring the Catalan pianist through festivities in Barcelona and across the world.

Partners

Seattle Symphony Orchestra https://www.seattlesymphony.org

New-York Philharmonic https://www.nyphil.org

BBC Philharmonic

https://www.bbc.co.uk/philharmonic

Festival Ravel

https://festivalravel.fr

Orchestre national du Capitole de Toulouse

https://onct.toulouse.fr

Suzhou Symphony Orchestra https://szsorch.com

Orquestra Simfònica de Barcelona i Nacional de Catalunya https://www.auditori.cat/en/artist/obc/

RAVEL EDITION volume XI

L’Enfant et les sortilèges

RAVEL EDITION volume XI (a)

ISNM : 9790803766531

The Vocal score (21x 30.5cm) has been available for sale since November 2024. This revised edition features two texts by François Dru and Arbie Orenstein as well as illustrations. The book is bound in hardback. Options are available for pianists and conductors (please contact us : sales@21-music.be).

RAVEL EDITION volume XI (b)

ISNM : 9790803766654

The orchestral score (PO) and separate parts (PS) will be released in spring 2025. For copyright reasons, this revised edition is not available in France, Spain and Mexico.

New issues 2025

”Prélude

et danse” from Sémiramis

Unpublished - World premiere by the New York Philharmonic conducted by Gustavo Dudamel on 13 March 2024 at David Geffen Hall

First edition RAVEL EDITION Volume XVI

ISNM : 9790803766463

One might say that the fate of Ravel’s Sémiramis is akin to the destiny of humankind controlled by the Moirai in Greek mythology, its very existence “hanging by a thread”, or rather, hanging by one single line. Because without the handwritten entry in the diary of Catalan pianist Ricardo Viñes (1875-1943), the composer’s childhood best friend, we would not be able to even begin to determine the historiography of this juvenile work, preserved as a manuscript in Ravel’s home until it was acquired by the Bibliotèque nationale de France in June 2000. Viñes, who had a photographic memory and would meticulously record the day’s activities in his notebook, reported on 7 April 1902 that he had gone to the Paris Conservatoire in the morning to “hear Ravel’s Cantata Sémiramis, which the orchestra studied, rehearsed and played, conducted by Taffanel.”

He goes on to divulge that the composer’s family, his professor Gabriel Fauré and fellow students also attended this play-through. Now, a researcher’s initial reflex when looking for traces and commentaries on an event like this is to rush to the archives of the abundance of artistic press of the time. But our excitement was swiftly eclipsed by frustration: there was nothing about this performance at the Conservatoire in any newspapers. Yet Ravel was clearly already a prominent figure on the Parisian scene. Two days earlier, Viñes had indeed premièred Jeux d’eau for piano: a performance that received high praise from journalists. Yet on the “1902” page in Paul Taffanel’s (1844-1908) diary, which is held at the Bibliothèque nationale in Paris, there is no trace, no mention whatsoever of Sémiramis by Ravel.

Nor is there anything in the Conservatoire’s archives, located in the National Archives. In 1975 in his cardinal work on Ravel, Arbie Orenstein was the first to ever allude to this youthful opus, considering it a “student assignment”. Faced with an almost complete void of any proof that this work ever existed, we return to the words of Viñes, who clearly specifies “in the morning”. What sort of public concert takes place in a conservatory classroom on a weekday morning? Rather than a public performance, it now seems logical that these pages, written on a date still impossible to pinpoint, based on a former libretto set for the 1900 Prix de Rome competition, were performed during an orchestral class, like a sort of laboratory experiment: one of the rare private moments during which a young composer could hear his work performed by an orchestra.

And only now, 123 years later, is it thanks to the initiative of the New York Philharmonic and Gustavo Dudamel that Sémiramis has finally made it out of the confined walls of a classroom to those of a real life concert hall. An opportunity to sample the orchestral talents of a very young composer, who was at the time so clearly enchanted by the oriental undertones of Rimsky-Korsakov, Borodin and Balakirev.

François Dru • Editorial Director of RAVEL EDITION

(Reproducing

Ravel in Perspective: 21st-century orchestrations

Maurice Ravel practised the art of orchestration, bringing to the orchestra scores by other composers such as Mussorgsky, Chopin, Chabrier, Schumann and Debussy. As contemporary mirrors, two contemporary composers, Kenneth Hesketh and Benjamin Attahir, have developed orchestrations as part of the Ravel 2025 year.

Les Sites Auriculaires, orchestration by Kenneth Hesketh

RAVEL EDITION Volume XIII - ISNM: 9790803766661

This orchestration was commissioned by the BBC Philharmonic, the Orchestre national du Capitole de Toulouse and the Ravel Festival. The world premiere was given on 11 January 2025 by the BBC Philharmonic conducted by Mark Wigglesworth.

The Orchestral Score (OS) is currently available for sale. The orchestral material (PS) is available for hire.

Sonatine, orchestration by Kenneth Hesketh RAVEL EDITION Volume XV - ISNM: 9790803766746

The world premiere of this new orchestration, developed as part of the Ravel Year 2025, was given at Manchester's MediaCity on 26 September 2024 by the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Paul Daniel.

The Orchestral Score (OS) is currently available for sale. The orchestral material (PS) is available for hire.

“Toccata” and “Fugue” from The Tombeau de Couperin

RAVEL EDITION Volume XIV - ISNM: 9790803766524

French composer Benjamin Attahir has orchestrated the two movements of Le Tombeau de Couperin that Ravl did not orchestrate. This orchestration, commissioned by the Mozarteum Orchester Salzburg, will be premiered during the 2025-2026 season.

RAVEL EDITION: Youtube Channel

The RAVEL EDITION has its own freely accessible YouTube channel dedicated to unveiling fascinating research into the composer and his works.

Our exclusive video series “Ravel Papier à musique” takes viewers on a journey into the heart of the composer’s manuscripts, supported by documentary films (Quatuor pour instruments à cordes, Tzigane), archival commentaries and exclusive interviews.

To date, the channel has over 20 videos produced in collaboration with esteemed artists and musicologists (including George Benjamin, John Wilson, Ludovic Morlot, Kenneth Hesketh and Bertrand Chamayou). New content will be added to the channel throughout the year.

Click HERE ...

Historic recordings: Playing Ravel

The RAVEL EDITION is proud to unveil a collection of recordings by performers of Ravel’s era, most of which have been specially transferred from 78 rpm format and rereleased digitally for the very first time.

With : Paul Minssart, Lucie Caffaret, Lucien Schwartz, Lucien Petitjean, Jean Fournier, Jean Fournet, Francis Touche, Marcel Darrieux.

Release: Spring 2025

List of published scores from RAVEL EDITION

●. Books

RAVEL EDITION, Volume 1: Bolero

A 9,45 × 13,39 in volume of 212 pages. Sewn binding. 4 oz (120 grams) papers. Illustrations: 22 photos (mostly unpublished). Facsimile reproductions of the 1928 manuscripts, unreleased details of the 1928 orchestral manuscript, letters of Maurice Ravel, historical scores (Maurice Ravel and Piero Coppola) and photos (Ida Rubinstein Ballet Company, Coppola’s recording session…). 104 pages of scores

BALLET VERSION 1928 (unpublished) / CONCERT VERSION 1929

Texts and Critical apparatus available in French/English

ISMN : 9790803766005

RAVEL EDITION, Volume 2: Concerto pour piano

One 24.5x34 cm volume, comprising 272 pages. Square back stitched, printed on premium 120 gsm ivory paper. 154 pages worth of parts and scores.

The composer’s Reduction for Two Pianos with the performance markings added by Maurice Ravel and Marguerite Long (new 2019 reduction of the Piano 2 part by Jean-Pascal Beintus). A Critical Apparatus (40 pages), presenting all the documentation used to produce this 2019 edition. Bilingual publication (French-English).

ISMN : 9790803766012

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