Sigh is a short work for violin and piano inspired by Ravel’s bluesy Violin Sonata—a piece I’ve played countless times, one that seamlessly fuses French elegance with the sounds of 1920s American jazz. Using the same pitches that open his sonata, I let them take on new life, echoing his harmonic colors while finding my own voice within. The piece takes its title from a poem by Stéphane Mallarmé, whose poetry, like Ravel’s music, is both fleeting and luminous. Rather than a direct homage, Sigh is a dialogue across time, absorbing Ravel’s refined elegance and allowing it to dissolve into something more volatile, more uncertain. As we celebrate 150 years since Ravel’s birth, I hope this piece captures a fragment of his magical world—its shimmer, its mystery, and the way his music still sighs through ours.

Sigh received its world premiere in January 2024 at the Kravis Center in West Palm Beach, performed by Stella Chen and myself, and tonight marks its West Coast premiere. -Michael Stephen Brown