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Joseph-Maurice Ravel (March 7, 1875 - December 28, 1937) was a French composer and pianist of the impressionistic period, known especially for the subtlety, richness and poignancy of his music. His piano music, chamber music, vocal music and orchestral music have become staples of the concert repertoire. Ravel's piano compositions, such as Jeux d'eau , Miroirs and Gaspard de la Nuit , demand considerable virtuosity from the performer, and his orchestral music, including Daphnis et Chloé and his arrangement of Modest Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition , uses tonal color and variety of sound and instrumentation very effectively. To the general public, Ravel is probably best known for his orchestral work, Boléro , which he considered trivial and once described as "a piece for orchestra without music." According to SACEM, Ravel's estate earns more royalties than that of any other French musician. Most of Ravel's works will not enter the public domain until 2015.
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