Albert Roussel is a very unique name in French music and, dare I say, overall in classical. Despite lesser-known than Maurice Ravel – with whom he was close friends, – or Eric Satie, who was Roussel's student, his works – and, to lesser or even the same extent, personality – had been highly influental: admittedly, a group of composers Les Six, same as quite a few young composers of the beginning of the 20th century, were known to highly regard his oeuvre. Speaking of which, its diversity is startling: most notably, it includes impressionist and neoclassical periods, contains eastern motifs, brought by Roussel after traveling around the world – he at all served as a naval officer for about 7 years, – but draws upon classicism even so. Also, before his efforts, a common belief existed that French symphonic music isn't even possible, but Roussel proved musicologists wrong.
Here is his piano arrangement of his famous ballet, enjoy: Le Festin de l’Araignée (The Spider's Feast), Op.17. Below is the original version, for your listening pleasure:
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