Ravel even employs subterfuges “to play tricks on his audience, to make them take a bassoon for horn or the harmonics on a bass for notes from a flute”. In this regard, we can particularly appreciate the daring that inspired him to use the open strings of the basses in the Piano Concerto for the Left Hand.
#Maurice ravel compositions full
And what would become the abandoned opera project, La Cloche engloutie, in which Ravel had planned to make full use of “the beautiful symphony of belts, whistles and massive hammer blows” to enrich his orchestral palette? The composer’s expertise is distinguished all the more by his treatment he reserves for the strings there is a multiplicity of trills, glissandi harmonics, pizzicato arpeggios and double stops. This quest for colors is found in the first movement of the concerto even where the wonderful cadence of the harp, as Jules van Ackere has noted, stops at a high point, harmonized with the strings, partly in double and triple stops, some of which in harmonics a sound that is made even more original by the intervention of a trill on the triangle. We also note the use of an exceptionally varied percussion and many original if not never before heard instrumental effects which richly appear in many scores: the sarrusophone without a mouthpiece in L ’ Heure espagnole, which must “be used as a small trumpet” the snare drum for which Ravel sometimes prescribed “hit it on the wood” “ pr è s de la table” (close to the soundboard) for the harp the frequent use of the tooth tremolo on the flute or the trombone, which “yawns” a glissando in the Concerto in G. Not to mention the choice of the saxophone in the Vieux ch â teau and the tuba in Bydlo ( Pictures at an Exhibition), a choice that was widely commented on. We find the same taste in the treatment of the orchestra and in the use of instruments hitherto untapped: the luthéal piano in Tzigane, L ’ Enfant et les Sortil è ges and the melody R ê ves, the wind machine, the slide flute, the rattle, the cheese grater and whip in L ’ Enfant et les Sortil è ges. “If we must talk about Ravel’s legacy, it lies in this concern of his… his predilection for the rarity of the tonalities and their accompaniments, which was not very common among his contemporaries, with the exception of Debussy, of course, and later Stravinsky, as musicians of the Vienna school”. It is true that Ravel’s orchestral mastery can be put down to the importance he attaches to the concept of the tone. And this relates to his gift as an orchestrator”.
In the eyes of Pierre Boulez, “that which is uniquely Ravel, is the genius of the outline, which makes it impossible to forget his themes. Manuel de Falla admired his melodic phrasing, “as French by the feeling as by this entirely unique physiognomy due to a predilection for certain intervals whereby the keyboard invites us to take delight”. It has been said, rightly, that in Ravel it is impossible to separate the melody, harmony and rhythm, since these elements are so tightly intertwined in his work. And the repetitive formulas of the Bolero foreshadow minimalist music, which no one’s ears could miss.
For confirmation of this, simply listen to Jeux d ’ eau, a work which revolutionized piano technique, L ’ Heure espagnole whose quasi parlando style is quite innovative or L ’ Enfant et les Sortil è ges, where the influence of jazz and bel canto admirably combine perfectly with the distinctly “French” recitative. However, hidden behind this archaic aesthetic is the modernity of Ravel’s language. From the outset we stand before the perfect work of a master craftsman. In this exercise of “putting himself in the someone else’s shoes”, Ravel willingly bends to the rule and incorporates the virtues of the music that characterize the eighteenth century: the clean lines, architectural clarity, the sense of proportion, the transparency and the grace of the style. A form that lends itself to being reshaped and which the author constantly made new thanks to his ingenious mind. Is there any need for mentioning what everyone already knows? Such as Maurice Ravel’s style demonstrates a commitment to the classical form that contributes to the charm and elegance of his music.
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