Overture Magazine - 2018-19 Season BSO_Overture_JanFeb_19 | Page 32

RAVEL BOLERO
19 th -century musicians. The greatest
pianist of his — and perhaps of any —
time, he was also an accomplished
conductor and a daring composer who
pushed the technique of piano playing
and the elements of musical construction
beyond anything imagined before.
Surprisingly, Liszt did not create his
concerto works until after he had retired
from his dazzling career as a touring
virtuoso. Settling in Weimar from 1848 to
1860, he devoted much of his time there
to prolific composition. The First Piano
Concerto dates from between 1848 and
1853 and was premiered in Weimar by Liszt
in February 1855 with Hector Berlioz on
the podium.
The First Piano Concerto demonstrates
Liszt’s ceaseless exploration of new sound
colors both for the piano and the orchestra
with an emphasis on the heroic abilities
of the pianist as both technician and
dramatist. In layout, it is four compact
movements—dramatic opening, singing
slow movement, pert scherzo and energetic
finale— stitched together without pause.
Highlights to listen for include the stormy
opening theme in the strings that forms the
basis for the first movement and recurs as
a motto theme later; the piano’s rhapsodic
flights of fancy in response; the lovely
lyrical theme for solo clarinet and piano;
and the beautiful slow movement with
two bewitching themes: a brief scherzo of
sparkling fireflies assisted by a busy triangle
and the return of the opening motto
theme. The finale thriftily transforms the
slow movement’s delicate themes into a
forceful conclusion.
Instrumentation: Two flutes, piccolo, two
oboes, two clarinets, two bassoons, two horns,
two trumpets, three trombones, timpani,
the piece that won him an international
reputation. Until then, he had been
known primarily as a composer for
piano with an experimental ear for color.
When he finally turned that ear to the
variegated sound world of the orchestra,
he swiftly became one of the greatest
orchestrators of the 20 th century.
Like Bolero, Rapsodie espagnole belongs
among Ravel’s many Spanish-flavored
works. His birthplace, Ciboure, was only
ten miles from the Spanish border and
his mother was of Basque origin, so it is
not surprising that he should join such
other French composers as Debussy,
Bizet and Chabrier in exploring this
neighboring culture.
Rhythm and color shape the Rapsodie.
Its first movement, “Prélude à la nuit,”
opens with a descending motive by muted
strings; its four-note pattern contradicts
the three-beat meter, blurring the bar line.
It swells in and out of the foreground of
this movement and recurs prominently
in the second and fourth movements as
well. Against it, Ravel projects a nocturnal
atmosphere of diaphanous instrumental
colors with a melody for divided strings.
“Malagueña” immediately follows
—a dance from Málaga in southern
Spain. Guitar-like plucked strings,
castanets, muted trumpet and a Moorish-
flavored English horn solo conjure
the Mediterranean atmosphere. The
“Habanera,” a dance adopted from Cuba,
presents its characteristic rhythm in
various instruments. Finally, Ravel lets out
all the stops in “Feria,” a dazzling portrait
of a Spanish street festival. A languid
middle section suggests a break for siesta
and brings back the descending motive
and the voluptuous string melody of
“Prélude à la nuit.”
percussion and strings.
RAPSODIE ESPAGNOLE
BOLERO
Maurice Ravel
Born in Ciboure, France, March 7, 1875;
died in Paris, France, December 28, 1937
Composed in 1907, Rapsodie espagnole was
Ravel’s first major orchestral work and
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two themes of exotic Arabic coloration
and built from them a 15-minute piece of
hypnotic power. Starting with just a snare
drum, plucked low strings and a solo flute,
it builds the longest, most inexorable and
most cathartic crescendo in classical music.
Bolero was composed in 1928 as a short
ballet for Ida Rubinstein, a fascinatingly
sensual dancer and Ravel’s close friend.
During a vacation that summer on the
Spanish border, he played the undulating
theme of Bolero on the piano for a friend.
“Don’t you think this theme has an insistent
quality?” he asked. “I’m going to try and
repeat it a number of times without any
development, gradually increasing the
orchestra as best I can.”
Ravel achieved this goal with ease.
A snare drum taps the unvarying bolero
rhythm throughout, but it is enhanced
by a changing ensemble of wind and
eventually string instruments. An equally
varied palette of instruments—strings,
harp, even brass—imitate the strumming
of a guitar marking out the three beats.
The two melodies—sung by various solo
wind instruments; exotic combinations
like two piccolos, horn and celesta; and
eventually the full orchestra—alternate
over constant C-major harmonies.
The ballet scenario takes place in a
smoky Spanish cafe where a group of men
are avidly watching a beautiful woman
dance provocatively on a tabletop. At the
cataclysmic conclusion, their lust has been
so enflamed that knives are drawn and a
bloody battle ensues.
Rapsodie espagnole—instrumentation:
Two flutes, two piccolos, two oboes, English
horn, two clarinets, bass clarinet, four bassoons,
four horns, three trumpets, three trombones,
tuba, timpani, percussion, two harps, celesta
and strings.
“I’ve written only one masterpiece—
Bolero,” said Ravel. “Unfortunately, there’s
no music in it.” Ravel was speaking tongue
in cheek here. He was astonished that a
piece he called “an experiment in a very
special and limited direction” should
become the most popular of all his works.
For with Bolero he took one propulsive
rhythm —loosely based on the three-beat
Spanish dance of the same name—and
Bolero—instrumentation: Two flutes, two
piccolos, two oboes including oboe d'amore,
English horn, two clarinets, bass clarinet, E-flat
clarinet, two bassoons, contrabassoon, two
saxophones, four horns, four trumpets, three
trombones, tuba, timpani, percussion, harp,
celesta and strings.
Notes by Janet E. Bedell, © 2019