In the midst of political tensions and constant oppression at the time, Shostakovich – whose musical voice was being choked by Stalin and his regime – wrote these 24 astonishingly individual, and for the most part, seemingly frivolous, cheeky preludes. There’s an underlying sense of irony beneath much of the writing, with only a small handful of the preludes displaying any true darkness. When one imagines what life was really like for him, it’s easy to see how composing such humorous music could be both a satirical political statement and an escape from reality. As humans, we have a unique ability to escape from real life by creating other worlds with our imagination through various art forms. While Shostakovich was forced to write music that was worlds away from what he was experiencing, Ravel simply loved to escape to the world of imagination through the eyes of children. He is said to have preferred the company of children to that of adults, and through children’s fairytales, he brings to life stories of imaginary worlds through his colourful writing in Ma Mère l’Oye.