Probably best known for his orchestration of Pictures at an Exhibition. Also well known in piano circles for his Gaspard de la Nuit Suite. First movement has a beautiful melody and such wonderful texture writing. 2nd movement is supposed to create in music a man hanging by his neck. You can almost smell the decomposing body, see the body hanging in the shadows as the sun sets, hear the silence, and of course hear the bells in the distance which ring throughout the composition in Bflat hundreds of times. Also the repeating Bflat also creates the image of the man swaying by the rope. The third movement of the suite Ravel set out to writing the most difficult composition ever for piano, surpassing anything written by Chopin, and specificially Liszt and Balakirev's Islamey. Pay close attention to the peculiar ending to this piece. Also listen to Ravel's Mother Goose Suite where he shows his influence from the music of Indonesia (Ravel, Debussy, and Godowsky all wrote music influenced by Indonesian Gamelon music).