Maurice Ravel's Volcanic Orchestration
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- Опубліковано 21 лют 2023
- "We are dancing on the edge of a volcano,” Maurice Ravel wrote in his notes, during the composition of La Valse between 1919 and 1920. It is one of several works which seems, in an extraordinarily rich and subtle way, to distill Ravel’s profoundly sensitive reaction to the horrors of the First World War, a conflict which he had experienced first hand, and in which a number of his friends had died. Ravel loved to create musical works out of the tropes of popular style, magnifying and exaggerating their unique characteristics, and driving these stylistic characteristics to a state of overwhelming intensity . For many years, he had intended to write a tribute to Johann Strauss II. He was fascinated by the charisma and flamboyance of the Viennese waltz and wrote to a friend, “you know my intense attraction to these wonderful rhythms and that I dearly value the joie de vivre expressed in this dance.” As early as 1906, Ravel had drafted a symphonic poem entitled “Vienne,” but only after his release from military service in 1918 did he return to his sketches, possibly realising that a waltz spinning out of control and ending in catastrophe might be the most apt way to respond creatively to the horrors through which he had recently lived. The work may also have been influenced by a short story entitled ‘The Masque of the Red Death’ (1842) by Edgar Allen Poe, one of Ravel’s favourite authors. The composer wrote a vivid description of his music: “Through whirling clouds, waltzing couples may be faintly distinguished. The clouds gradually scatter: one sees an immense hall filled with a swirling throng. The stage is gradually illuminated. The light of the chandeliers reaches its peak at the fortissimo. An imperial court, about 1855.”
In 1920, Serge Diaghilev approached Ravel to ask if La Valse might be featured on the same program as Stravinsky’s Pulcinella. Ravel played the finished composition to Diaghilev, Stravinsky and Poulenc in a version for two-pianos in 1921. Poulenc described the occasion: 'I saw Diaghilev didn’t like it and was going to say ‘No.’ When Ravel had got to the end, Diaghilev said something which I think is very true. He said, "Ravel, it’s a masterpiece…but it’s not a ballet…It’s the portrait of a ballet…It’s the painting of a ballet." The extraordinary thing about it was that Stravinsky said NOT ONE WORD! I was twenty-two and, as you can imagine, was absolutely flabbergasted. Ravel proceeded to give me a lesson in modesty which has lasted me all my life: he picked up his music quite quietly and, without worrying about what we all thought of it, calmly left the room.’'
Possibly sensing that the hyper-Romantic sensibility at the core of his score was not quite in line with contemporary fashion, Ravel became somewhat evasive about its symbolic content, writing in 1922, “while some discover an attempt at parody, indeed caricature, others categorically see a tragic allusion in it…this dance may seem tragic, like any other emotion pushed to the extreme, but one should only see in it what the music expresses: an ascending progression of sonority”. In subsequent years, La Valse has been choreographed by Bronislava Nijinska (1929), George Balanchine (1951) and Frederick Ashton (1958) but is now considered, first and foremost, one of the most imaginative, virtuosic and terrifying orchestral creations of the 20th century.
The quotation above comes from My Friends and Myself by Francis Poulenc, in conversation with Stéphane Audel, translated by James Harding.
MUSICAL EXCERPTS USED IN THIS VIDEO
Maurice Ravel: La Valse
Orchestra Philharmonique de Radio France
Myung-Whun Chung, conductor
The complete performance can be heard here: • Maurice Ravel La Valse
Leonard Bernstein conducts the score from memory in 1978 here:
• Ravel: La Valse / Bern...
Yuja Wang’s thrilling performance of Ravel’s piano version can be heard here:
• Yuja Wang plays Ravel ...
Glenn Gould introduces and plays La Valse in 1974:
• Glenn Gould - Ravel, L...
Other videos about Ravel, on this channel, include:
1. A short film about Ravel’s piano writing in Ondine from his Gaspard de La Nuit:
• Maurice Ravel's Stunni...
2. A short film about Ravel’s piano writing and subsequent orchestration of the prelude from Le Tombeau de Couperin
• Maurice Ravel's Miracu...
3. An excerpt of La Valse played by Matthew King:
• A Waltz for 10k
#Lavalse #Ravel #musicprofessor
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Edited by Ian Coulter ( www.iancoultermusic.com )
Produced and directed by Ian Coulter & Matthew King
Even his handwriting was very stylish.
So true.
new windows script font : Ravel
Everything about him was stylish. There is no single photo of his where he isn't well-dressed. A true dandy.
Ravel definitely killed the waltz with that quadruplet at the end.
One of the greatest pieces of all time, I think! La Valse is a masterpiece in deconstructing tradition in a beautifully chaotic way. Ravel's sense of beauty is so strong that it turns in upon itself and becomes rather grotesque. And the orchestration! Gosh, there's little I wouldn't do to become a master at that level.
Beautiful description. Thank you.
@@MarkSlaterMusic What I mean is that... well, there is indeed very little I wouldn't do. I'm a composer! I've been working, studying, inquiring, and (importantly!) imagining very intently over the past two years to develop my own voice in orchestration as well as in composition. And in some sense you are right--being able to say something with your music is beyond technique, and can be understood to be directly tied to each person. But I do have something to say, and I'm learning the skills to say it effectively :)
I'm not entirely sure what your comment intends to convey, but it seemed vaguely cynical and even accusatory. If that wasn't your goal, I apologize for my misinterpretation. But I have a lot of hope for the generation of budding composers--of which I am a part :)
@@MarkSlaterMusic Firstly, my friend, I have to say that I looked at your channel and I think your music is beautiful and well-crafted. Bravo to you!
Secondly, I'm obviously using hyperbole. I wouldn't do anything that would compromise my moral integrity or hurt anyone. Although I wouldn't cut off my arm, I have sacrificed eating and sleeping, grades in classes, even spending time with people I love, for the sake of writing music.
Thirdly... you don't know me. You don't know what I like. You don't know what I write, and you also have no idea whatsoever what I've been through. And that's okay. You have no real way to discern that. But--through all the darkness and ugliness in life, I've chosen to pursue beauty and meaning and complexity because I believe in a God who made things beautiful and meaningful and complex.
Lastly, I have hope because I *know* those composers of which I speak. Not all of them, certainly. But, like me, the few composers I have the privilege of knowing also understand how precarious the world is, and they believe the same as me: The world is dark and ugly often, yes. Which is why we have, all the more, an obligation to make it beautiful.
first time i hear it and the visual made it even better
im trippin hard the volcano i saw it bro lol
make me wanna meshuggah the fk out of my pathetic rock metal lol
Ah, to imagine it in one's head well enough to write out an orchestration. This isn't something that just any musician can do, even if the musician is very competent in other aspects of music. Kudos to all those who can. I've gone the other way and converted from orchestrations to piano (keyboard is my bailiwick), but it's not going to ever be the same.
Yes, this is a very vigorous, wild, soaring, crashing piece. The orchestra is fairly commanded to go mad. If this is Ravel's reflection on WWI, one wonders how he would have reflected the atom bomb.
I know there are people that think this style of music unsatisfactory, but in my opinion, it really is high level.
I can't imagine who these people would be!?
I don’t even know how to describe how good this piece is
The solo piano version Ravel wrote is also amazing, a big learn
I've been playing it rather a lot recently!
@@themusicprofessor it’s really great! Very underrated
A masterpiece that has such a nostalgic and apocaliptic feeling, simply gorgeous and horrifying
This piece is one of the most beautiful examples of orchestration ever. It has something dramatic, but also extremely charismatic…so hard to explain but way too easy to fall in love with. Simply gorgeus. That man was a genius.
Strange how the First World War almost terrified people into making masterpieces. Classical romance encountering face of the Modern world. As terrifying as it was beautiful.
Yes, it's a complex topic because a lot of extraordinary masterpieces were written in the years immediately before WW1. Certainly, in Ravel's case, the war cast an extraordinary shadow over that final decade of his brilliant but tragically short composing life.
great art always comes out of adversity.
@@themusicprofessoryet he fought tooth and nail to get into war and ministry of defense allowed him in 1915 - same as Ralph Vaughan Williams he volunteered in 1914.
Due to their attained status both could have avoided the experience, yet in the end they saw, heard and felt what it all looks like and according to some musicologists they both developed PTSD that stayed with them to the end.
Interestingly they never left any record, a testimony put to paper or spoken word to friends about their experiences.
Their expressive language called music did change reflecting their inner change.
Yet they fought to get into the frontline because patriotic feelings, sense of duty and shame if they stay behind were too great.
I wouldn't mind 80 years of pre-1914 war traumatized-less Ravel & RVW.
How childish, in the end, is the human nature, experienced laborer, who cannot choose, wants out and the educated person, who can choose, wants in.
Imagine a Mahler symphony written after WW1. 😮
The love the tone colors and how he mixed each part together. Love the glissandos, hymiola, trems on springs, arpeggios, chromatic brass, etc.
This video reminds me that I love Ravel and how much I love Ravel and why. Two virtuosos here: Ravel and the producer of this video. THANK YOU.
Thank you! That is a really encouraging.
Absolute gem! How is this piece not better known? I think I've never been so impressed by Ravel, really has a very nostalgic quality
This piece is actually quite well-known, tbf
My music teacher and I were just talking about Ravel (especially Daphnis et Chloë) and how much of a phenomenal orchestrator he was - this wonderful video just goes to prove why.
If harmony and instruments be the paint of a composer, then Ravel is a mighty fine artist.
I have long admired Ravel's work but somehow had not heard this until now. Devastatingly mad in the best way possible
Instantly my favorite orchestral music!
Every time I listen to this piece I just marvel. Ravel is simply genius, so well crafted, i can’t even express what I feel. Depicts the birth and then complete musical devastation of his own waltz. Orchestrated to perfection. It’s mind blowing
excellent combination of music, information, and a little humor
Thank you!
La Valse is a revelation. My favorite since childhood!
Pfff, the edition behind this video is mesmerizing. This is how music should be taught at school. Brilliant video!
There are few things as thrilling as genius explaining genius; illustrating it so it can't be contested. You've done it, and for that we're very grateful. We always wondered what the hell was going on in that weird, troubled, wonderful, and alluring work, and now we know. Ravel had great courage and integrity to persevere in the face of criticism. Waves of it. 😃
Thank you so much. Comments like yours make it all worthwhile! Much appreciated.
Hooly fuck I've never heard this piece before - It's magnificent... I didn't know Ravel wrote things like this.
More please, these are great.
Wonderful showcase of this piece like always. Also, congrats on 10k. I’m glad that this channel is getting the attention it deserves.
Thank you so much!
Yes, and its so universally likeable (i think). If one were to show this to someone not interested in classical music, I think they might enjoy it just as much as enthuasiasts would!
@@Wuozlinga That's very kind
Well said!
Incredible video with one of my favourite pieces!
That mesh of sound is just GOOOOOORGEOUS!
Wow. The sound of the world around you turning from beauty to chaos in moments. Genius.
4:19 this is a great recording. The percussive blasts are phenomenal, and that bass drum has such a good character
This performance is outstanding!
Percussion is having funnnn!
Simply lovely
just found this channel, just want to say this is amazing content giving specific parts of the various songs and pieces the attention they deserve, and I look forward to more of your amazing videos!
Thank you for the encouragement!
@@themusicprofessor Thank *you* for these vids! It helps me (and others) appreciate the music more!
You've made the cool video of the GREATE MASTERPIECE! And this music is very cinematographic, with closed eyes we can imagine/see everything in this thriller/horror.
Yes, it is in a sense the film score par excellence.
What a thrilling piece of music.
Ravel was indeed the Master of orchestration! He could take any composer's piece and turn it into a mammoth orchestral Masterpiece!
Wooooo intense! I'm awake now, cheers :)
I haven't commented on this channel in a long time and, wow! I don't regret coming back to see more beautiful music with captions written for commentary.
Your support is always appreciated!
@@themusicprofessor You are welcome! I was busy at school as usual, so I couldn't really do much, but at least I know this is worth the wait!
I also enjoyed the comedic value interjected in some sections of the video. It was very humorous, almost like some of Marc-André Hamelin's compositions.
Vídeo fantástico! Excelente abordagem sobre esse gênio que é Ravel, fico muito grato por poder consumir um conteúdo de tal estirpe de alta qualidade.
Muito obrigado pelo seu comentário encorajador.
Your content is great!
Thank you!
*_simply glorious ..._*
Wonderful
New subscriber here! I love the way you edit your videos with the visuals, colors, and humor.
You analysis of Ravel's music has been fantastic on this channel! He is my favorite composer of all time.
His "La Valse" resembles longing for a better past after a bloody world war, and the beginning of the collapse of Western Civilization.
Keep up the good work! Can't wait for more!
Thank you so much. It's very encouraging to have feedback like this.
@@themusicprofessor Thanks for what you do. I can't wait for more Ravel videos!
My favourite performance, too!
Isn't it good!
A Japanese passing by uploading videos of sheet music.
The way you show the score, or the way you edit it, is wonderful. Maurice Ravel's music is wonderful from the beginning, but seeing this edited video will change the way you look at the score. thank you!
Thank you so much!
I can't help but offer my sincerest appreciation for your painstaking effort to match the music and the written score in such a creative way which is sooo much difficult to do. Having said that, Ravel wanted this to be a ballet, but for some reason, Diaghilev decided, uhm...nope, not ballet material.
Thank you. It does take some time! Diaghilev's relationship with Ravel was rather complicated. Ever alert to contemporary trends, I think he sensed (in 1920) that the score had an apocalyptic character that didn't entirely fit with what audiences wanted after the horrors of WW1. He also sensed that it was 'a portrait of a ballet' more than an actual ballet. I think he may have had a point - it's music of the soul and the imagination perhaps more than it is a ballet...
Gracias!
Great video! Ravel is a genius.
I was wondering if you'd like to do a video showcasing Petróuchka 😊. That would be fun.
I agree. I love Petrushka so yes it would be fun...if complicated!
I'd rather say, it's not analysis of orchestration...
I love and admire Ravel's music.
"Who needs heavy metal?" Haha! I often wonder...was there film music before Ravel? I suspect he wrote the book on it. He took all our cliches, teased us with them, turned them on their heads, and basically, said, "Hold my wine."
I wish there were more music teachers like you. As a professional trumpet player I can only say that I am very enthusiastic about this channel. I'm always happy when the new video comes out. 😊 I especially like how and what you use as the goal and message in each video. It is unique. You learn something new even though you already know a lot. 😅 Greetings from Serbia!
Thank you for your kind words. It's lovely to know that professional musicians enjoy our videos!
I love George Benjamin's comment about how chromatic scales 'infect the piece like a virus'
Yes. He's right.
tres bien
Ravel's La Valse my beloved
Cest formidable
Incredible. As a former University Music Major I always missed reading orchestral scores like this. We used to study "Rite of Spring" but that was more experimental than Ravels piece here. Was that "Valses"?
Thank you. Have a look at the Video description for details. The piece is 'La Valse'. Ravel also wrote another fabuolous waltz piece called 'Valses Nobles et Sentimentales'.
1:30 That oboe tune is actually built in a hemiola rhythm: dotted quarter note, eighth note, dotted quarter note, eighth note, dotted quarter note, eighth note
Yes indeed. There are hemiolas all over La Valse!
I always wanted to do a performance of the piano version of this to a film projection of dance and wwi clips.
Impressive, I appreciate your work in this video. The sad fact is that Ravel composed his waltz in this way (which make it unique and dramatic) because of the First World War.
He did, but it's a wonderful example of how to turn the horrors of life into art.
*WOW*
Pure genius
4:20 Eh, ese es el volcán de Colima. Saludos desde Colima. Aquí un gran fan de Ravel!
That's so cool!
An excellent video. I suspect John Adams got some ideas from this, for this Chairman Dances
No question!
Please do more ravel!
We will!
More of Ravel Please :D
Something about Daphnis et cloe or Miroirs, Jeuxd D'eau
There will definitely be more Ravel in the future!
New listener to classical music. Does the beginning remind anyone else of the opening of Mahler's 9th?
I can see what you mean: the key is the same and both pieces start with a Viennese lilt. The scoring is similar too. (But don't forget that Ravel's La Valse doesn't actually start where our video begins: there's an amazing ghostly introduction which is not very similar to Mahler at all).
Great version. Pedro Heras-Casado has a recording on UA-cam with the Frankfurt Radio Symphony orchestra that sends shivers down my spine every time. I recommend it to everyone here. Warm Greetings.
Nice and very well done video on Ravel's best orchestral piece !
But beware, your Vienna looks a lot like Salzburg ;)
Thank you. I fear you are right - I think we may have confused two beautiful Austrian cities with rivers and green roofed churches... (impossible to fix now sadly)
Back in January I attended a concert where Ravel's Daphnis et Chloe and Rhapsodie Espagnole were played, and hearing Ravel's orchestration live was akin to having a profound religious experience to me.
Yes. I agree. Hearing Ravel's orchestration live is one of the best things there is!
😍😍😍😍 mi corazón ♥️
Those final clashing chords are so shocking that it seems like bombs and grenades in the the battle field.
Jean Martinon's interpretation of La Valse with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra is my reference recording. He balances the beauty and horror perfectly. Here's a link: ua-cam.com/video/DP27ZIrHccg/v-deo.html
Alt title: When Ravel meets rite of spring
Hey. I had write a concerto for viola, do you can see a bit of him? I am new in music world hahb
I'm just grateful he didn't have to live to see World War 2
I wish he had written more orchestral pieces 😮
Ravel didn't compose enough music, but everything he did compose was a masterpiece.
Vienna waltz beautifully Stravinsky-ized
I love how even the calm Viennese waltz at the beginning is accompanied by a highly chromatic "wind" of arpeggios in an octuplet, often feeling like two beats of 4 up and 4 down, which is about as apprehensive as you could possibly be to conform to a 3/4 waltz rhythm. And while lots of waltzes have hemiolas, it's almost as if every melody in this piece was designed with hemiola in mind, as if the instruments are barely acknowledging the time signature.
And the final figure at the end, while in the manuscript and piano version are notated as 4 eighth notes, the orchestral score and any performance has those 4 notes as a tuplet over an entire 3/4 bar. You cannot hear 3/4 at all in those 4 notes. It's over. The waltz is DEAD. We're in 4 now. The end.
Thank you. Very interesting comment!
A few years ago I heard it in the 70th anniversary conert of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra....and it got the apoalyptic quality as well as I have ever heard it. The world going from delicately civilized to monstrously chaotic...
If you don't understand that, then you are historically illiterate.
Ravel was a brilliant and very clever composer There is little beauty and stylishness here and where it does exist it is in the service of lRONY from the very beginig we sense that ther is something very wrong then there is terror and soon horror then turmoil and finally chaos
I think everything Ravel does is beautiful and stylish. But this is indeed ironic and very very dark.
I'm really enjoying your videos. Particularly ones like this about music from the first 20 years of the 20th century - a period in music that fascinates me. If you could do something in the future about Schoenberg's music it would be very interesting. I find some of his early works (Verklarte Nacht, Pelleas und Melissande and Gurre-Lieder) to contain some of the most gorgeous, lush and emotion-inducing music I know of, then literally a handful of years later he wrote music that I (and countless others) just don't understand and leaves me cold. Why did he do that? Did he still want the public to enjoy his works? Did he care? After laying down some digestible and beautiful early works did he just want to complete an intellectual misson without caring if anyone would join him? Did he want to be famous for being difficult? Did he actively seek a legacy that lasts longer than one arising from further production of "conventional" music?
Thank you. Yes. The early years of the 20th century are some of the richest in the history of Western classical music. Schoenberg is an interesting case. If he had died in 1908, he would certainly be viewed as one of the great late Romantic composers, and it's sad, in a way, that he isn't normally seen in those terms, and these marvellous early pieces aren't as well known as they should be. I'd say he was a composer with an extraordinary sense of self-evolution: the transitional works like the first chamber symphony, and the 2nd string quartet, are fascinating, and then he was deeply scarred, psychologically, by the circumstances of his first wife's affair with the painter, Richard Gerstl, and Gerstl's subsequent suicide in 1908. Immediately after these events, his work took on a sharply expressionistic character. What he saw as 'emanicipation of dissonance' was framed in his mind as a historical necessity, and he bravely forged ahead with what he felt was a sort of artistic destiny. The orchestral pieces Op 16 are really astonishing pieces. So are the weird operatic projects, Ewartung and Die Glücklich Hand, and the tiny piano pieces op 19. Pierrot Lunaire, also a strange piece, is a tour de force of invention and instrumental brilliance. Stravinsky and Ravel were absolutely blown over by it at the time (incidentally, Ravel admired Schoenberg all his life). With the 'invention' of 12-tonality in the 1920s, I think problems start to emerge. He saw himself - and his position in musical history - in rather grandiose terms, and his approach to composing became increasingly academic. He was a brilliant creative artist all his life, and late pieces like the orchestral variations and 'Moses and Aron' and 'Ode to Napoleon' are fascinating pieces, but the vocabulary of dodecaphony is, I think, too arcane, and too emotionally limited, for a wide audience. His late works are admired, and of interest to Schoenberg specialists, musicologists etc. but not loved.
@@themusicprofessor Many thanks for taking time to answer in detail. I have since given some proper attention to several listens to Chamber Symphony No. 1 and the Orchestral Pieces Op. 16. The Chamber symphony is growing on me - I rather like it now and I can hear why you describe it as transitional. I had some previous familiarity with the Orchestral Pieces and I am finding that much repeated listening is required to make some sence of them - they are so dense and complex. I won't turn my attentions to Ewartung and Pierrot Luniaire for a while yet - from my slight familiarity with them I know I will struggle, but I shall try in due course. Schonberg has given me two of the three most memorable live music experiences in my life (Gurrelieder with Philharmonia/Salonen, Gurrelieder with Elder/Halle/BBC Philharmonic) so I feel I owe him the courtesy of perseverence with some of his later music! The other of my top three memorables was Rachmaninoff's 3rd concerto played by an 80+ year old Shura Cherkassky around 1992 - he was utterly phenomenal and somehow microphones and cameras never captured the live magic he created.
Wow! Bravo for persevering. I think what first switched me onto Schoenberg (many years ago now!) was playing the little piano pieces Op 19 as a teenager - I had a rather progressive piano teacher - and I had also read Stravinsky's Conversations with Robert Craft, in which he had listed what he then considered (in the mid 1950s) to be Schoenberg's indispensable works, among them Pierrot Lunaire and the Op 16 orchestral pieces (also I think the serenade and orchestral variations). I got to know the wonderful early works later on. And I got to admire Rachmaninov much later (as a teenager, I thought he was sentimental and populist, and completely missed his obvious genius!) So we all come to discover music at different stages. As far as the voyage into Schoenberg is concerned, it's a long journey! Gurrelieder, which used to be considered (from the modernist perspective) an 'apprentice piece' is now rightfully taking its place as a central masterpiece in his output. You're right that the first chamber symphony takes quite a few listens in order to make sense (and don't forget even Gustav Mahler said that he found it very difficult to understand!) And I also think that live performance is very important, in order to really 'get' some of those expressionist pieces of his. Anyway, good luck with the ongoing journey!
Where/how does a layperson (with love for music and long-time experience with making music and basic music theory) learn composition? It’s not hard to find fairly good instrument teachers, but how can I fulfil my dream of being able to express myself through the language of music? (Referring to composition in the classical tradition)
Well, it is possible to get composition tuition. There are capable tutors out there. Feel free to contact me about this if you want to discuss further: www.matthewkingcomposer.com/form__map
I was so surprised that I had heard those ending bars before. Turns out Philip Sparke intentionally borrowed this ending in his piece The Unknown Journey
Apparently Mr. Sparke "chose the title as the piece seemed to create its own momentum as it developed; as it reaches its seemingly inevitable conclusion it gradually transmogrifies into the closing bars of Ravel’s La Valse, a piece which unsurpassably characterises the idea of unstoppable momentum" which (with all due respect) is a posh way of say he nicked Ravel's ending because it was better than anything he could come up with himself!
@@themusicprofessor Yes I also stumbled upon this description. But it's a great piece, I played it a few years ago and enjoyed it very much!
Siempre he pensado que los gongs al final son como las bombas de la primera guerra mundial, siempre he interpretado esta obra como la destrucción que trae la guerra a la sociedad
No hay duda de que varios de los trabajos posteriores de Ravel se refieren directamente a los horrores de la Primera Guerra Mundial, ¡aunque siempre fue muy reacio a admitirlo!
lot of absinthe and LSD around in Paris when ravel wrote this. It’s a very psychedelic piece of music
That's exactly what I thought. It's beautiful but I got really uncomfortable listening to it from flashbacks. Psychs creep me out!
Come on, LSD was discovered after Ravel was dead and only became popular in the 60s.
@@Bilmonis it could be other psychedelics
@@loren8888 Not in the 20s, not even magic mushrooms. Possibly a handful of persons were lucky enough to obtain mescaline, ayahuasca or magic mushrooms coming from Central America. It was absolutely not popular in France.
Well yes, but I think the waltz harmonies and rhythms are already quite trippy. And then Ravel just magnifies these elements by 1000%. But isn't all great art a bit trippy since it tends to be visionary, and intense and ground breaking and full of colour and often quite subversive etc. etc.?
oh, that good old devil's waltz😂
3:59 Wasn't there also a chromatic baseline at 1:18? I don't see why this one is of more significance.
4:02 Doesn't this just shift the emphasis from the first beat to the second beat of the measure? The accented notes still occur every 3 beats.
Another favourite Ravel piece, and wonderfully researched as usual! Yuja Wang's performance of La Valse is wonderful, but it was Glenn Gould's transcription and astonishing performance of La Valse that first made me love it. And the hyperintelligent and very articulate Gould naturally had some interesting things to say about both Ravel and the piece, in addition to playing it of course. Sometimes I doubt that Gould was human, his capabilities were just so extraordinary. ua-cam.com/video/KR2ECgtxYVw/v-deo.html
Thank you. Yes, the Gould video is fascinating. I've now added it to the selection of performances in the video description.
Is there a link to the original score?
Pierre Boulez's recording with the Berlin Philharmonic can be heard here with the digitised score:
ua-cam.com/video/qoeE1dn0Jk4/v-deo.html
this is post nuclear survival radio shit right there xD
Bravo. This is gorgeous analysis. Do you have synesthesia?
We both do yes!
@@themusicprofessor i think, this is great) Do you have consistent synesthesia, according to the colors of the rainbow, or randomly?
@@themusicprofessor there are 2 people in your team?)
@@AndiAngvil Yes. See the bottom of the video description for more info!
@@AndiAngvil my (Ian's) synesthesia is pretty random, though it's consistently the same colour for each note
His mother tongue was Basque!
God! Cant be heard note by note it must be enjoyed section by section or phrase by phrase. If not piece by piece!
It is hard for me not to hear this as a commentary on the wasteful tragedy that was WWI. Flush with so many new war "toys" the great powers jumped on the chance of a little outing in August 1914 only to tear themselves apart like the music in this piece.
Yes, Ravel himself was always reticent about drawing a close analogy, but the music itself seems to confirm that the imperialistic hubris and complacency of the era, as well as the horror and devastation, are all reflected in Ravel's mirror!
volcano
“It reminds one of dear old Vienna” - shows a picture of Salzburg instead -
Yes, the comment was made by an old 19th century romantic who is now losing his memory
0:28 this is Salzburg. Not Vienna.....
Parmi tous ces commentaires anglo-saxons, il faut bien qu'un français donne son point de vue sur l'interprétation de l'orchestre de Radio France sous la direction de Myung-Whun Chung ?
Et bien, elle est tout simplement la meilleure que je connaisse.
A son époque, Maurice Ravel était très aimé du public anglais, et malheureusement beaucoup moins du public français...
Peut-être, pour toutes sortes de raisons complexes, les artistes français ne sont-ils pas toujours bien accueillis par le public français au départ.
Belioz est un autre cas marquant, encore peu apprécié du public français !
Please if you are talking about Vienna, dont show a photo of Salzburg!!!
Apologies. A Mozartean blunder.
would you please not show salzburg when talking about Vienna, this will make the viennese mad
My apologies