Belle Chen embarks on Australian tour of Ravel inspired album Ravel in the Forest

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Pianist and composer Belle Chen returns to Australia this month with Ravel in the Forest, the album she created after years of living with Maurice Ravel’s music. Drawing on memories of performing his orchestral works with the Queensland Youth Orchestra, Chen heard fragments of Ravel surface as she improvised – echoes that became a bridge between her musical past and her current creative practice. Two years after the album’s release, its pieces continue to change in performance, meaning Australian audiences may hear versions that have evolved considerably since the tour began in 2024. Chen speaks with us about Ravel, rainforests, and why the piano remains her most honest means of expression.

Belle ChenPhoto by Harry Cornish — Photo credit: Harry Cornish

Bonjour Belle, you’re about to embark on an Australian tour with your album Ravel in the Forest, which you both composed and perform. What is it about Maurice Ravel’s musical language or world that initially sparked the inspiration for this specific album?

Bonjour! Maurice Ravel is a composer and performer that has had an incredibly significant impact on my own creative journey – both as a performer and as a composer. When I was younger, I trained in classical piano performance, and I was always in awe of how Ravel was able to make the piano sound like an orchestra (especially in pieces such as La Valse). I also spent a few years playing in QYO, and became very familiar with his orchestral works. I remember being mesmerised by the colourful and imaginative way he’d orchestrate (again, the orchestration of same piece La Valse is a great example, as well as his orchestration of Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition).

When I was designing “Ravel in the Forest,” I started hearing echoes of motifs in my mind from his work bouncing around, first through improvisation. It appeared almost like echoes of my past, when I’d spend a lot of time with his music. In a way this album is a bridge that links my past to my current creative mind. It’s like many lived moments, all condensed into one.

When I was younger, I trained in classical piano performance, and I was always in awe of how Ravel was able to make the piano sound like an orchestra (especially in pieces such as La Valse).

Do you remember the first time you heard Ravel? Which composition was it, and what was that initial emotional or sensory experience like for you?

Yes, the first time I heard Ravel was also the first time I played it. It was ‘Prelude’. I was choosing pieces for the piano exam and absolutely fell in love with this piece. How it is so sparse, yet so much emotion is condensed through the harmonic movement and choice of notes in the melody.

It is interesting, because sometimes a piece continues to grow, morph, and evolve at live shows. Some of the pieces you’ll hear on the Australian tour will sound remarkably different to what they may sound like at the beginning of the tour (back in 2024).

Ravel in the Forest is such an intricate, layered body of work. From the initial spark of the idea to the final master, how long was the composition and recording journey for this album?

From memory, it took well over 2 years from the point of inspiration to delivering the masters (aka setting the music free into the world). From the point of release, I continued to tour the album (this is the 2nd year of touring the album). It is interesting, because sometimes a piece continues to grow, morph, and evolve at live shows. Some of the pieces you’ll hear on the Australian tour will sound remarkably different to what they may sound like at the beginning of the tour (back in 2024).

Belle Chen Photo credit: Harry Cornish — Photo credit: Harry Cornish

Some of your tracks feel deeply cinematic—it is incredibly easy to conjure up vivid film scenes while listening to them. When you sit down to create, do you begin with a specific visual story, a core emotion, or is it triggered by something else entirely?

I always start with a feeling, usually the feeling is a deep-seated emotion that is a little too complex to put into words. From that point, I begin experimenting and improvising on different instruments to find what best convey this feeling organically. Sometimes I find it quickly, and sometimes a piece may not find itself until many years later.

I always start with a feeling, usually the feeling is a deep-seated emotion that is a little too complex to put into words

Let’s take a step back into your history. How did the piano first enter your life, and did you grow up in a household surrounded by music and musicians?

I was the first musician in my family, so there was no nostalgic story about discovering the family’s instruments or anything like that. When I was 5, my Mum enrolled me in short piano classes because it was a common thing to do. I remember as a kid, I was very drawn to the size of the piano. It looked gigantic through the eyes of a 5-year-old. I was intrigued by it, but it wasn’t until my teenage years when I became aware what the instrument meant for me.

There is a big difference between enjoying an instrument and committing your life to it. Was there a specific “point of no return” or a defining moment when you decided to pursue the piano as a lifelong career?

Yes, I will continue from the question above. I moved around a lot growing up and it was hard to keep friends. For me, piano was the only constant, and it became (to this day), the most meaningful and honest way for me to process what is happening around me and to communicate honestly things that cannot be easily described in words.

For me, piano was the only constant, and it became (to this day), the most meaningful and honest way for me to process what is happening around me and to communicate honestly things that cannot be easily described in words.

Your upcoming Australian concerts will feature just you and a grand piano. The album itself is so rich with atmospheric field recordings, like bird calls and running water. How do these solo acoustic performances recontextualise the music, and how do you conjure those natural environments using only the keys?

Aha! I’ll let you in on a secret… there is actually no field recording in the album! I take your comment as a compliment. All the sounds evocative of nature were created using synthesisers and electric piano. I decided on this approach for this particular album because I wanted to create a world that is imaginative and conjured, and almost surreal – where each sound feels familiar but it also a bit strange.

I wanted to create a world that is imaginative and conjured, and almost surreal – where each sound feels familiar but it also a bit strange.

For the Australian tour, I will be performing with a synthesiser and electric piano, in the same way that I performed for the UK and European solo shows. I’m really looking forward to it because I haven’t played in Australia for a very long time.

You spent several formative years living and studying music in Brisbane before making the move to London. How does it feel to bring Ravel in the Forest back to Australian soil? Does performing here feel like a homecoming for your music?

I am a bit nervous, actually. I grew up in Brisbane yet it was in London where I really found myself as a person. I’m excited to come back to perform, but in a way also a little nervous, because it feels like I’m about to look into the eyes of my old self through a mirror. The first show is for Melbourne International Jazz Festival on the 20th October, so I guess I’ll find out what it will actually feel then.

Australia has such a distinct, vibrant natural soundscape—from the unique bird calls to the vastness of the bush. Did any specific sensory memories of the Australian landscape influence the ‘forest’ you created in this album, even sub-consciously?

Yes, the seeds of this album planted itself when I spent time in rainforests near Maleny and also near Mt. Tambourin, and the seeds blossomed into the album after I returned to the UK. It is a story that I tell at every concert on the tour so far. Come to a concert to find out more!

the seeds of this album planted itself when I spent time in rainforests near Maleny and also near Mt. Tambourin, and the seeds blossomed into the album after I returned to the UK

When you perform Ravel in the Forest live, do you take the audience on the exact same sequential journey as the album tracklist, or do you rearrange the narrative flow for the stage

No, it is much more organic in the live show. I take an improvisatory approach through major scenes when I perform live.

Because your work beautifully blurs the lines between classical, electronic, ambient, and jazz, it defies easy categorisation. If you had to describe the core essence of your music to someone who has never heard it, what words would you use?

I’m not sure there’s an easy way to answer that. Maybe the best analogy is that feeling when joy, sweetness, sadness, and vulnerability somehow exist all at once. There are so many subtle shades to what we experience, and they rarely exist in isolation. That’s what my music feels like to me.

Maybe the best analogy is that feeling when joy, sweetness, sadness, and vulnerability somehow exist all at once. There are so many subtle shades to what we experience, and they rarely exist in isolation. That’s what my music feels like to me.

Ultimately, what do you hope Australian audiences will experience internally during the concert, and what thoughts or feelings do you hope they take home with them into the night?

I think each person may have a different experience during the concert, depending on their life story and what is currently happening in their lives.

Why should people come see your concerts?

There are currently around 8.3 billion people in the world. Every time I walk on-stage, I’m ever so grateful to everyone in the room, because the chance of having the exact same people all together in the room again is almost zero. When I perform, so much of it is also reflective of the people in the room. It is a shared experience, unique to that time and place, likely never to be repeated in the same way ever again.

Anything you would like to add?

Thank you so much for this interview. Looking forward to meeting you soon!

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We thank Belle Chen for this interview and look forward to seeing her show later this month.