ABSTRACT
An important part of Maurice Ravel's compositional identity in ballet is bound up with themes of childhood fantasy and associated exoticism, illustrated by Ma Mere l'Oye as the main focus, and by L'Enfant et les sortileges as a subsidiary concern. Ravel's love of the fairytale has long been acknowledged, and his interest in confected exoticism, especially the chinoiserie of Ma Mere l'Oye, is evidenced by the picturesque yet wholly artificial 'salon chinois' that he created in the early 1920s at his home in Montfort-L'Amaury. Kylian's approach is compelling in its clean presentation of visual movement combined with sound; most importantly, his creative imagination is wholly sympathetic to and supportive of Ravel's aesthetic of childhood fantasy. Exoticism is most obviously embedded in the energetic and, at times, very forthright 'Laideronnette'. Mechanical mock-Chinese pentatonic figurations of semiquavers and quavers are supported by penta-tonic harmonization below, favouring gamelan-like fourths, fifths and major seconds.
