Alborada del Gracioso

Originally the fourth piece of the piano cycle Miroirs (1904-05), orchestrated by Ravel in 1918. The title means roughly "the jester's morning song", and the music imitates the strumming of Spanish guitars and the clatter of castanets. The central section is an ornamented recitative given to the bassoon. In the piano original the rapid repeated notes are the work's most notorious technical hurdle.