Maurice Ravel: Piano Concerto in G Major Maurice Ravel (1875-1937) Between 1929 and 1932, Maurice Ravel worked concurrently on two piano concertos: the first in D major for left hand alone, commissioned by Paul Wittgenstein, a pianist who had lost his right arm in the First World War (and brother to Ludwig, the philosopher). Next, Ravel completed the Piano Concerto in G Major, which is arguably the lighter of the two pieces, despite being written for twice the number of fingers. ‘The outer movements are quick, zany, jazz inspired. But they frame a slow movement of profound lyricism and radical simplicity: a middle that almost seems at odds with what comes before and after. But the startling contrast is part of what gives this unique concerto its brilliance and wonder. ‘The first movement starts at the crack of a whip with a mechanical, toy-like tune in the flute and piccolo, The piano’s grand entry (after “warming up” with arpeggios and glissandi) arrives with the sultry second theme. These two ideas make up much of the movement, recurring between jazzier episodes, light-hearted and exuberant. ‘The Adagio assai finds the piano unfurling a seemingly endless, lonesome melody against a constant waltz pulse in the left hand. The piano is alone for over one quarter of the movement, before growing unease blooms into an orchestral texture, The middle is troubled, with ascending lines in the orchestra set sharply against descending patterns in the piano. ‘This reaches a climax, and then the English horn enters with the original melody, while the piano decorates on a warm bed of strings. The soloist is taken back into the fold, now in company and no longer alone. ‘The finale snaps back to the spirit of the first movement—it's a brilliant romp, with misplaced accents and nimble athletics. Ravel began writing the concerto back in Europe the year after his successfull American tour, perhaps with the idea of making a return trip with it. But ultimately the 1932 premiere went to the French pianist Marguerite Long, with Ravel conducting the Orchestre Lamoureux in Paris. They toured Europe with the concerto to great acclaim, and in the end Ravel never returned to America. © Benjamin PesetskyNikolai Rimsky-Korsakov: Scheherazade, Op. 35 Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov (1844-1908) ‘The fantastic collection of tales known as The Arabian Nights, or A Thousand and One Nights, has captivated readers for centuries. ‘The ancient stories, mostly of Arabic, Indian, or Persian origin, were first presented to European readers in an early 18th-century French translation by Antoine Galland. In the late 19th century, British explorer Sir Francis Richard Burton created a popular English-language version. To this day, the tales of Aladdin, Sinbad, and Ali Baba continue to weave their magical spell. Russian composer Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov created his Scheherazade, Symphonic Suite after “A Thousand and One Nights,” in the summer of 1888, During that same period, Rimsky- Korsakov also completed his brilliant Russian Easter Overture, Opus 36. The composer proudly acknowledged: “my orchestration had achieved a considerable degree of virtuosity and bright sonority.” The composer led the first performance of Scheherazade in St. Petersburg on November 3, 1888. Several musical themes recur throughout the work's four movements. However, Rimsky- Korsakov emphatically cautioned: In vain do people seek in my suite leading motives linked unbrokenly with ever the same poetic ideas and conceptions. On the contrary, in the majority of cases, all these seeming leitmotives are nothing but purely musical material or the given motives for symphonic development. ‘These given motives thread and spread over all the movements of the suite, alternating and intertwining each with the other. Appearing as they do each time under different illumination, depicting each time different traits and expressing different moods, the self-same motives and themes correspond each time to different images, actions and pictures. Nevertheless, the composer did acknowledge that the famous recurring violin solo, which makes its initial appearance at the beginning of the first movement, is symbolic of the heroine Scheherazade, “telling her wondrous tales to the stern sultan.” Asa preface to his score, Rimsky-Korsakov provided the following program for Scheherazade: ‘The Sultan Schahriar, convinced of the perfidy and faithlessness of women, vowed to execute each of his wives after the first night. But the Sultana Scheherazade saved her own life by interesting him in the tales she told him through 1001 nights. Impelled by curiosity, the Sultan continually put off her execution, and at last entirely abandoned his sanguinaryresolve. Many marvels did Scheherazade relate to him, citing the verses of poets and the words of songs, weaving tale into tale and story into story. ‘Throughout the work, a solo violin represents Scheherazade bewitching the Sultan with her intoxicating tales. The work is in four movements, each with a descriptive title. 1. The Sea and Sinbad's Ship IL. The Story of the Kalendar Prince IIL. The Young Prince and the Young Princess IV. The Festival of Baghdad—The Sea—The Ship Goes to Pieces Against a Rock Surmounted by a Bronze Warrior—Fest in Baghdad © Ken Meltzer Eugéne Ysaye: Sonata in E Major, Op. 27, No. 6 Eugéne Ysaye (1858-1931) Eugéne Ysaje was born in 1858 in Liege, Belgium to a musical family. His father Nicholas taught him to play violin at a young age. When he was seven years old, he was able to take a seat in his father’s orchestra. That same yearhe began studying at the Conservatoire, by the me he was thirteen, Ysaje was able to play works for violin by Paganini, Bach, Beethoven, Wieniawski,and the fellow Belgian violinist Vieuxtemps. In 1876, Ysaje moved to Paris and began composing. Benjamin Bilse, conductor of the orchestra at the Konzerthaus in Berlin, offered him position of the first violin. Ysaje later returned to Paris, where he established himself asa member of the musical elite. In 1886 Ysaye accepted a position at the Brussels Conservatoire. Two years later he began composing his first string quartet and took over the musical directorship of the “Twenty Club,” an association which played an important role in the musical history of Brussels. Between 1889 and 1894, Ysaje traveled throughout Europe, performing with great success. ‘Towards the end of 1894, he began to experience pain in his left hand. This pain did not prevent him from playing until it became more severe in 1900. Between 1900 and 1905 he turned his attention to conducting. In 1912, Ysaje returned to teaching at the Brussels Conservatoire.Ysaje traveled to England and the United States after World War I, serving as conductor for the Cincinnati Orchestra for four years. In 1918 he returned to Belgium and resumed many of his former activities, including teaching and concertizing. He played his last concert in 1930. His opera, Oedipe, was completed soon after and given its premiere at the Theatre Royal in Liege a few weeks before his death in 1931. Ysaje was inspired to write Six Sonatas for Solo Violin, Op. 27, in 1923 after hearing violinist Joseph Szigeti playing a concert of music by Bach. He retired to his room, leaving instructions that he was not to be disturbed, except that meals were to be brought to him, Over the course of the next twenty-four hours he sketched out the six sonatas. For these sonatas, Ysafe had two purposes in mind, First, he wished to complete a cycle of six works for unaccompanied violin in the manner of Bach’s music for solo violin. Second, he wanted to tailor each sonata to a different virtuoso, capturing something of each performer's style in the piece for whom it was written, These dedicatees include extremely distinguished names ~ Szigeti, ‘Thibaud, Enesco, and Kreisler (sonatas | to 4 respectively)-as well as two whose fame has not lasted - Matthew Crickboom and Manuel Quiroga (sonatas 5 and 6 respectively). Opus 27 was inspired by Ysaje's friends, musically reflecting their origins, stories, and personalities. However, the work also expresses much about Ysaje, most obviously his immense love of music and violin, © Digital Commons @ Ithaca College