NOTATIO

An interesting sighting from the first edition of Ravel’s Scarbo. According one report, the composer wanted the passage to evaporate into thin air. As a result of this notation, I think the following music enters as if from nowhere, which is Scarbo's modus operandi. I think Ravel came up with an excellent way to show this. Needless to say, later editors have not refrained from adding the “missing” rests.