{ Program Notes
view. This is a series of variations, which
differ from conventional variations in that
they do not vary any one common theme.
Each variation seizes upon some feature
of the preceding one and develops it,
introducing … some counter-features upon
which the next variation seizes. …
“The Seven Stages. The variation form
continues for another set of seven, in which
the characters go on an inner symbolic
journey … leading back to a point of comfort and security. The four try every means,
going singly and in pairs, exchanging
partners, and always missing the objective.
When they awaken from this dreamodyssey, they are closely united through a
common experience (and through alcohol)
and begin to function as one organism.
This set of variations begins to show activity and drive and leads to a hectic, though
inconclusive, close.”
Part II:
“The Dirge is sung by the four as they sit
in a cab en route to the girl’s apartment
for a nightcap. They mourn the loss of the
‘colossal Dad,’ the great leader who can
alway give the right orders, find the right
solution, shoulder the mass responsibility, and satisfy the universal need for a
father-symbol. This section employs, in
a harmonic way, a twelve-tone row out
of which the main theme evolves. There
is a contrasting middle section of almost
Brahmsian romanticism, in which can
be felt the self-indulgent aspect of this
strangely pompous lamentation.
“The Masque finds the group in the girl’s
apartment, weary, guilty, determined to
have a party, each one afraid of spoiling the
others’ fun by admitting that he should be
home in bed. This is a scherzo for piano
and percussion alone … The party ends in
anticlimax and the dispersal of the actors
… Thus a kind of separation of the self
from the guilt of escapist living has been
effected, and the protagonist is free again to
examine what is left beneath the emptiness.
“The Epilogue. What is left, it turns out,
is faith. The trumpet intrudes its statement
of ‘something pure’ upon the dying pianino
[upright piano in the orchestra]; the strings
answer in a melancholy reminiscent of the
Prologue … All at once, the strings accept
20 O v ertur e |
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the situation in a sudden statement of the
newly recognized faith … The way is open,
but at the conclusion, is still stretching long
before the [protagonist].”
Instrumentation: Three flutes, piccolo, two
oboes, English horn, two clarinets, bass
clarinet, two bassoons, contrabassoon, four
horns, three trumpets, three trombones, tuba,
timpani, percussion and strings.
An elegant demonstration
of this belief, the Concerto
in G was enormously
successful at its premiere in
Paris on January 14, 1932.
Piano Concerto in G Major
Daphnis et Chloé Suite No. 2
Maurice Ravel
Born in Ciboure, Basses-Pyrenées,
France, March 7, 1875; died in Paris,
December 28, 1937
Maurice Ravel was a masterful composer for both the orchestra and the piano.
Strangely he did not combine these sonorities until quite late in his career, when he
wrote two remarkable concertos: the Concerto for the Left Hand and the Concerto
in G Major for both hands.
The impetus for the Concerto in G was
Ravel’s need for a work to show off his
performing skills during a North American
tour in 1928, but this painstakingly slow
creator did not manage to launch the concerto before his boat left. It was finally written between 1929 and 1931. Opposed to
the heavy Teutonic approach of Beethoven
and Brahms, Ravel declared: “The music
of a concerto should, in my opinion, be
light-hearted and brilliant, and not aim at
profundity or at dramatic effects.”
An elegant demonstration of this belief,
the Concerto in G was enormously successful at its premiere in Paris on January 14, 1932. Its first movement mixes a
timeless exoticism, arrayed in Ravel’s most
sparkling orchestral hues, with a percussive, jazz-driven 20th-century pace. The
opening is arresting: the crack of a whip
sets off dazzling, bell-like music with the
pianist playing white keys in the right hand
against clashing black keys in the left. The
piccolo whirls through a piquant melody,
inspired by the folk melodies of Ravel’s native Basque country. Then the tempo slows
to a bluesy mood, with wailing clarinet
and muted trumpet melodies that George
Gershwin himself might have penned.
Jazz takes a rest during the delicately
beautiful slow movement, which is in the
antique style of the composer’s famous
Pavane for a Dead Pr [