Program Notes

18Julby April L. Racana

19Ju lProgram Notes

Program Notes

Maurice Ravel (1875-1937)

Aborada del gracioso
Composed in 1905 originally as one of five pieces in a piano suite
entitled Miroirs, Ravel would later create an orchestral version in 1918
which was premiered in Paris in May of the following year. Traditionallytranslated into English as ‘Morning Song of a Jester’, the work has been
traced to both its French and Spanish roots, and includes the Spanish mixed
meter rhythms that suggest an exaggerated dance of a jester, as well as acontrasting heartfelt melody.
The strumming of guitars is aptly depicted by pizzicato strings andharp, while the solo bassoon is featured on a recitative-like passage full of18
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pathos, only to return to the jester’s dance full of energy and even parodywith lively accents from a variety of percussion in the mix. Ravel’s pupil
and biographer Alexis Roland-Manuel describes the work as one “in which
the dry and biting virtuosity is contrasted, Spanish-wise, with the swooning
flow of the lovelorn melodic line which interrupts the angry buzzing ofguitars.” However, some scholars have argued that rather than ‘angry,’those guitar rhythms are full of passion.
Ravel had orchestrated many of his own works for piano including
Le tombeau de Couperin and Valse nobles et sentimentales. In addition,shortly after the premiere of this work in its original form for piano, thecomposer orchestrated the third piece in the suite Une Barque sur l’ocean.
It would be more than ten years on before he would orchestrate Alborada,
and it has since become one of his most well-loved works, demonstrating

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his amazing ability to use the full range of sonorities in the orchestra tobring the piece to full life.
Work composed: 1905 World premiere: 17th May, 1919, Paris
Instrumentation: 3 flutes (3rd doubling on piccolo), 2 oboes, English
horn, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, contrabassoon, 4 horns, 2 trumpets,
3 trombones, tuba, timpani, percussion (snare drum, bass drum,tambourine, cymbals, triangle, crotal, castanets, xylophone), 2 harps,
strings

Maurice Ravel (1875-1937)

Piano Concerto in G major
Ravel has been recognized for his influence on 20th century music,
especially through his detailed attention to tonal colors, as part of the18Julcontingency of the French composers of that time, another of whom was19Jul

Ravel was also born in Basque, but raised primarily in Paris. However, itDebussy. Ravel’s father was of Swiss descent and his mother from Basque.
seems he spent many summers returning to Basque, learning the language
and traveling throughout the region. In light of this, it is not surprising tolearn that the Piano Concerto in G major may very well have had its roots
in an uncompleted Basque piece called Zazpiak Bat, sketches of whichwere found to be near completion around 1911, but abandoned seemingly
due to the outbreak of World War I.
Upon returning from a tour in America in 1928, Ravel began working
in earnest on this piano concerto, which he originally intended to perform
himself. Called away for a festival given in his honor he was quoted assaying: “In the midst of my pregnancy with the concerto (I am at the stageof throwing up) I am suddenly called to Biarritz. You must have seen thebillboards designed by Fujita [a famous Japanese painter] announcing ‘Le
grand festival de Maurice Ravel.’ Two hundred francs for a ticket! It’s
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the piano concerto, when he was commissioned to compose a concerto
for the left hand only by Austrian pianist Paul Wittgenstein. He finally

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Shortly after this, yet another interruption kept him from completing

returned to composing the Piano Concerto in G, completing it in 1931, butby that stage he either realized he wasn’t up to the task of performing ithimself, or the debilitating disease from which he suffered began to get thebetter of him. Either way, he offered the premiere of this piece to pianist,Marguerite Long, resigning himself to the role of conductor for that special
occasion in January of 1932.
Ravel modeled this piano concerto after divertimentos and concertos
by Mozart and Saints-Saëns. In addition, Spanish and jazz influences canbe heard, the latter of which may have come from his exposure to various
jazz clubs in America on his tour there in 1928. He was fortunate enoughto have had George Gershwin as his guide it seems, and even had the honorof having him perform his Rhapsody in Blue on the occasion of his birthdaythat year. Perhaps it is for this reason one may detect some aspects ofGershwin’s influence in various parts of this concerto.

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The first movement, Allegramente, incorporates several themes that are
meticulously written and introduced by the piano, soon to be answered by
the woodwinds. In the second movement, Adagio assai, the piano plays
a beautifully lyrical line with long phrases intermingled again with thewoodwinds, which is finally passed over completely to the English horn as
the piano line floats above and trills it’s way to end the movement, before
the orchestra returns in a frenzy to open the final movement, Presto. Hereagain, flavors of jazz are interspersed throughout, with reminiscent slaps
from the whipstick previously heard to open the first movement.
In an interview with the London Daily Telegraph, Ravel stated that heintended this concerto to be “light and brilliant, and in contrast to thoseheavier classical concerti which he felt were written ‘against’ rather than35

Program Notes‘for’ the piano….” It would seem he achieved his goal, with the piano andthe orchestra intertwined in such a way that the piano’s brilliance rings out,
not only with new tonalities amongst the explorations of sounds Ravel wasso renowned for in his orchestrations, but also highlighting the pianist amid
the beautiful sonorities of the orchestra.
Work composed: 1929〜1931 World premiere: 14th January, 1932, Paris
Instrumentation: piccolo, flute, oboe, English horn, E-flat clarinet, clarinet,
2 bassoons, 2 horns, trumpet, trombone, timpani, percussion (snaredrum, bass drum, tambourine, cymbals, tam-tam, triangle, woodblock,ratchet ), harp, strings, solo piano

Claude Debussy (1862-1918)

Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun
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“The music of this prelude is a very free illustration of Mallarme’s
beautiful poem. By no means does it claim to be a synthesis of it.
Rather there is a succession of scenes through which pass the desires
and dreams of the faun in the heat of the afternoon. Then, tired ofpursuing the timorous flight of nymphs and naiads, he succumbs to
intoxicating sleep, in which he can finally realize his dreams ofpossession in universal Nature.”
Such was the description Debussy himself wrote to indicate the intent
he had when composing this work ‘illustrating’ Stephen Mallarme’s poem
L’Apres-midi d’un Faune (“The Afternoon of a Faun”) which was publishedin 1876. The faun was representative of a mythological creature that was
half man/half goat and lives in the woods. Since the faun plays a flute(a type of panpipe), of course Debussy features the flute in the openingbars and throughout the work with a now infamous and mystical sounding
chromatic descending melody over the interval of an augmented fourth,often referred to as an unsettling tritone.
The harp is featured among the various orchestral sonorities to depict

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as well. The original orchestral arrangement was completed in 1894 andpremiered in December of that same year, conducted by Gustave Doret, who
is quoted as saying:

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this dream-like state, with the clarinet and oboe in turn highlighted with solos“At this debut of mine, Claude Debussy was to entrust me with the first
performance of his Prelude a l’apres-midi d’un faune…. And never,I believe, did rehearsals take place in such an atmosphere of intimate
collaboration. Debussy was constantly modifying this or that sonority….
There was a vast silence…as I ascended to the podium and our…flutist…
unfolded his opening line. All at once I felt behind me… an audience thatwas spellbound. It was a complete triumph…. The orchestra was delighted
to repeat this work, which it had come to love and which, thanks to them,
the audience had now accepted.”
Debussy’s impressionistic compositional style in this symphonic poem
would have far-reaching implications and is considered by many to mark amajor turning point in music, with the limits of traditional harmonies and18Ju l
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tonalities being stretched as never before.
Work composed: 1892〜1894 World premiere: 22nd December, 1894, Paris
Instrumentation: 3 flutes, 2 oboes, English horn, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons,
4 horns, percussion (antique cymbals), 2 harps, strings

Claude Debussy (1862-1918)

La Mer, Three Symphonic Sketches for Orchestra“…the sea is always endless and beautiful. It is really the thing innature which best puts you in your place… The sea has been very goodto me. She has shown me all her moods. You do not know perhaps that
I was intended for the life of a sailor and it was only by chance thatfate led me away from it… I have an endless store of memories …andpassionate love for the sea…”
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This what Debussy wrote in a letter, referring to his great love forthe sea.

In fact, Debussy’s father was a sailor who had shared manystories with him about his own life on the high seas. Other than that thecomposer had very few direct experiences on the water, one of those being
in rough seas. Instead he explored much of his love for the sea through hismemories and various paintings, including Hokusai’s “Hollow of the Wave
off Kanagawa”, a copy of which he had hanging in his private studio andwhich he ultimately used for the cover of this work when it was published.
These symphonic sketches first took form beginning in 1903 and werecompleted in 1905, premiering in October of that same year in Paris. Theopening “From Dawn to Noon on the Sea” begins with low, slow murmurs
as the first light breaks on the waters. A variety of melodic fragments flitin and out with a mixture of sonorities from the ensemble, building to the18
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full light of sun reflecting on the water at mid-day. “The Play of theWaves” continues exploring various melodic fragments in a scherzo-likedance, with subtle combinations of tonal colors employed, building to thefinal sketch. “Dialogue of the Wind and Sea” returns to motives from theopening section with even greater variation in dynamics and instrumental
textures, building energy to evoke the power and majesty of the wind andwaves, all in the composer’s true impressionistic style.
Work composed: 1903〜1905 World premiere: 15th October, 1905, Paris
Instrumentation: piccolo, 2 flutes, 2 oboes, English horn, 2 clarinets, 3bassoons, contrabassoon, 4 horns, 3 trumpets, 2 cornets, 3 trombones,tuba, timpani, percussion (bass drum, triangle, cymbals, tam-tam,glockenspiel), 2 harps, strings

April L. Racana / Music Specialist at Nishimachi International School whereshe has taught since 1992. She completed her undergraduate studies at
the University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana (BS/Piano Pedagogy) and hergraduate studies at San Francisco State University (MA/Music), as well as
a post-graduate fellowship at Northwestern University, and the Japan
Studies Program at International Christian University.

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