Progetto Martha Argerich

italiano

Works

Maurice Ravel

Rhapsodie espagnole for two pianos (author's transcr.)

 

Maurice Ravel wrote the Rhapsodie espagnole, for two pianos, during the summer of 1907, in an unusually short period of time by comparison with his customary compositional procedures. The work consists of four short pieces of which the third, “Habanera”, was actually written twelve years earlier. Shortly after having completed the two-piano version, the composer himself undertook the task of making an orchestral transcription of the work; this was first performed by Edouard Colonne and his orchestra on 5 March 1908 at Paris’s Théâtre du Châtelet. The composition’s four sections draw upon different aspects of the Iberian world: the opening “Prélude à la nuit” is characterised by an unequivocally folk-like melody, whereas the sound of castanets is evoked in the “Malagueña”. Finally, “Feria” is a grand fiesta – a devilish rhythmic windstorm. The Quartet No. 3 in C minor, Op. 60 – the last of Brahms’s piano quartets – was sketched as early as 1855, taken up again in 1861 (when he was working on the Op. 25 and Op. 26 quartets) and in 1868, before taking on its final form during the summer of 1875. Of the three, this is certainly the one that turned out best, by virtue, above all, of its ability to join the imaginative freedom of the composer’s youthful years to an absolutely perfect control of form.

listen to Real Media recording

1. Prélude à la nuit
2. Malagueña
3. Habanera
4. Feria

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Performance