Ravel - Piece en forme de Habanera
The first thing to mention about this piece is that it is not an Habanera. What Ravel appears to be doing is presenting an impression of the Spanish dance in a hazy and pensive daydream. There are moments when elements of the music coalesce and the focus sharpens but these are only moments. Carmen it is not. Only hints of the strong rhythmic thrust which normally drive the dance remain, sometimes split across a wide register, which weakens the pulse. The disruption Ravel causes to the traditional Cuban/Spanish Habanera is possibly in the harmony which is unusual with enjoyable moments of tension. The influence of Ravel's mother on the piece is quite likely, her Basque-Spanish heritage may have sparked an interest in Hispanic styles in her devoted son. It may also be that the advent of World Fairs which Ravel attended gave him the cosmopolitan outlook that more and more early 20th century composers adopted. This in turn led him to experiment with musical forms from other cultures in a manner which was novel for the time and in Ravel's case remains fairly sophisticated even to modern ears.