L’Ondine, Op 101, published in 1900, is a little tone-picture of the eponymous water nymph – and of course very unlike Ravel’s tour de force of tenebrous virtuosity in
Gaspard de la nuit. Here an enchanting tune is borne upon a rippling accompaniment which develops into a middle section of glittering, veloce liquid arpeggios, whose watery motion eventually forms the coda of the piece.
from notes by Calum MacDonald © 1992
