Guess I should do some shameless self-promotion for my piano recital:
RCMS Recital
Friday 11th May, 6:30 pm
Robinson College Chapel
RAVEL
Le Tombeau de Couperin
I - Prélude
III - Forlane
V - Menuet
IV - Rigaudon
BRAHMS
Six Piano Pieces, Op. 118
No. 2 "Intermezzo"
DEBUSSY
Images (Book 1)
No. 1 "Reflets dans l'eau"
RAVEL
Jeux d'eau
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MAURICE RAVEL
Le Tombeau de Couperin
I - Prélude
III - Forlane
V - Menuet
IV - Rigaudon
Le Tombeau de Couperin is Ravel's neo-Baroque essay for the piano. The six movements are written in traditional forms (Prelude - Fugue - Forlane - Rigaudon - Menuet - Toccata) which build up the whole cycle to pay homage to the Baroque French keyboard suite. The work gained particular memorial association as Ravel dedicated each movement to friends who died in WWI.
Four movements were later orchestrated and I will be playing the piano version of these four in the order they are presented in the orchestral suite (and thereby avoiding the technically difficult "Toccata")
Here is an HD video of Angela Hewitt playing all six movements. Worth checking out.
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JOHANNES BRAHMS
Six Piano Pieces, Op. 118
No. 2 "Intermezzo"
The second "Intermezzo" from Brahms' late piano cycle Six Pieces for Piano, Op. 118 is one of the first pieces I was given to work on my pedalling techniques when I first came to the UK. Back in Year 10, it used to be one of the most boring things I had ever learnt and it was left unperformed. I picked it up again two years ago to mark the birth of my friend's first-born son because of its tender quality and the association has stuck since. The contrapuntal and harmonic writing is very adventurous.
It is actually surprisingly difficult to find a good recording (or one that I like) of this famous composition on YouTube. This is Ax's take on the piece. I picked this one mostly because of the tempo choice.
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CLAUDE DEBUSSY
Images (Book 1)
No. 1 "Reflets dans l'eau"
Debussy's "Reflets dans l'eau" (Reflections in the Water) from his first book of Images is a great example to illustrate why his music is often compared to "Impressionism" in visual art. Throughout the piece there might not be a substantial amount of melodic development but the decorative ideas, often by subtle switches amongst pentatonic, whole tone scales and augmented harmonies, beautifully conjure up an imagery of static or dynamic water.
Every recording of this piece is markedly different from one another because everyone has his/her own preference over timbres, rubatos and tempo in this piece and, of course, it greatly depends on the quality of the instrument itself. It should be interesting to try this out on the College Steinway (assuming it is in tune). In this clip, the legendary and meticulous Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli plays.
Much like the Brahms, I learnt this piece two years ago for a wedding which I ended up not being able to go so it has been left unperformed since. History repeats itself too often...
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MAURICE RAVEL
Jeux d'eau
The final piece of the programme is another water-inspired work, Jeux d'eau (literally "Water games" = Fountains), by Ravel, a piece he wrote as a student and was dedicated to his teacher Gabriel Fauré. The piece was also inspired by Liszt's work on the same subject ("Les jeux d'eau à la Villa d'Este" from Années de pèlerinage Book III) The work itself is in classical sonata form but the harmonies are nowhere as traditional. It has a sublime opening and a transcendental ending, and the piece is sumptuously pianistic throughout. I will let you work out why it is called "Fountains" ;-)
Again, recordings vary greatly in approach, from the introspective ones (Pierre-Laurent Aimard) to the very pianistic ones (Richter). This one is by Monique Haas, and I really like her pianistic touch.
