Berlin based composer Roman Rofalski’s take on the music of Maurice Ravel is simultaneously a radical deconstruction, an expansion of the source text and an opportunity to view the composer’s oeuvre from an unexpected angle. Ravel’s compositions o ff ered a bridge of sorts between 19th century classical music and later modernist forms such as jazz and improvised music. Rofalski’s music explores this continuity, using piano, synthesizers and digital processing techniques to transform four Ravel pieces through contemporary approaches. Familiar melodies are wreathed in shimmering digital textures, spin out into intense improvisations, or unfold to reveal hidden pathways. Finally, as we reach the notoriously complex, cascading piano passages of “Ondine,” the harmonies unfold in waves before a series of twitchy snare raps punch holes through the song’s fabric.
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