Ravel, Maurice - Five O'Clock Foxtrot; Bolero; Pavane for a Dead Princess; La valse - Simon, Geoffrey

Ravel grew up in Paris during the Belle Époque, about thirty years before 1914, when Paris was the undisputed artistic center of the world. At the end of the 19th century, he began his studies at the Paris Conservatory. He was a highly talented young man, and one by one his early compositions began to show real mastery of design and execution—before the end of the 19th century, he had produced such confident works as Habenera, Menuet antique, several fine songs, and Pavane pour une infante defunte.