Rêves de Jeux Mécaniques

"Possibly the most imaginative use of video I've seen in the past twelve months." - Audience member

Ravel is best known for Bolero. But most people don't know he loved mechanical wind-up toys and had a vast collection of them. In this filmed performance made for screen, we enter Ravel's imagination, where toys come alive in the dead of night.

Darragh Morgan and Tim Gill give a powerful, intimate performance of Maurice Ravel's Sonata for Violin and Cello.

Directed by Jonathan Berman.

24 minutes long.

Watch the trailer

Awards and recognition

This film won a Silver Medal Award for Outstanding Achievement at the Global Music Awards (2021). It was also selected as a finalist in the International Music Video Awards and semi-finalist in the Munich Music Video Awards (2021).

More about the film

Rêves de Jeux Mécaniques, or 'Dreams of Mechanical Play' was filmed in a former cardboard factory in east London in the dead of night. We needed to avoid noise from the overground train station next door, and wanted to capture the eery, surreal mood of a space in disuse.

The music was recorded in complete takes to ensure a feeling of freshness akin to a live performance.

This filmed performance is part of Found Spaces, a series of 4 concert-films that embraces the creativity and flexibility of classical musicians. We  gathered a group of brilliant musicians, videographers and artists to create visually exciting performances that couldn't happen in a traditional concert hall or with an in-person audience. These are performances in a digital format for an artistic reason and to create an exciting new audience experience, not just because the COVID-19 pandemic has closed concert halls around the world.

An original production by Greengage.