In previous posts, we talked about Ondine and the gibbet from Gaspard de la nuit, let’s get today to the third and last movement of this triptych, the most terrifying one from a pianistic point of view : Scarbo, work I recorded for my first solo album last month. Even if I played it extensively on many different stages, Scarbo still scares me and requires a special attention when included in a recital program.
Today, we’ll speak about another track of my upcoming album: Ravel’s Le gibet. Le gibet, second movement of Gaspard de la nuit, put the audience in a sort of cataleptic state. Ravel really challenged himself and the output is fantastic: a very slow and mesmerizing piece completely fitting Bertrand’s poem.
In my last post, we talked about Ondine, the first movement of Ravel’s Gaspard de la nuit. Today, we are going deeper in the magic of Ondine’s world and also talk about the German physicist Hermann Ludwig Ferdinand von Helmholtz. Do you know him? He discovered several important things but what makes him interesting to me is his strong interest in physics of perception, and especially his book On the Sensations of Tone as a Physiological Basis for the Theory of Music published in 1863. What’s in it? Roughly, he discovered harmonics and why they are so important to our ears.
Today, We will pursue the exploration of my album’s Track list with Ravel. Not that we’re done with Janáček yet, believe me, but let’s take a little detour by one of my favorite pieces ever, Gaspard de la nuit. For those who know me close enough, they know how I adore this piece and that I could speak about it for hours.
As my recording sessions are getting closer, I’m completely focused on Janáček and Ravel’s work featured on the CD, namely On an overgrown path, In the mists and Gaspard de la nuit. This is a Czech/French program I choose for my first solo CD, really expressing who I am : despite the obvious Frenchness of my name, I feel equally close to each composer. Before hitting the studio in December, I wanted to write and share with you about the works I’ll be recording in two months and something. Allons-y! First post: Leoš Janáček’s On an overgrown path.
I’m sorry I haven’t written for such a long time! I had a lot going on and I will share with you today one of my current concerns. For several months, I have been thinking of a recording project I feel very strongly about. Except the program, the studio, and all the little hassles associated with the recording itself, the question of the label came up. Indie label, major or running my own label, all these solutions have their pros and cons. Let’s do a quick overview of these very different options to grasp the situation clearly.
To all those saying that recording is easy, I say, perhaps they should pay a visit to a studio. Of course, you can cut, past, redo, but it is not always an advantage.
After a comment from Piano Agitato in the French version of “The record: a help or a hindrance to artistic creation?”, I have been thinking about the records that have really affected me. Today, I have decided to make a selection of five of these. The choice was hard to make, but I have finally selected them from those I have listened to the most.
Not much performed in Europe, this work would deserve much wider attention. George Gershwin’s Concerto in F is a work from the classical repertoire I still find neglected. Composed in 1925, this concerto will later influence Maurice Ravel to write his Concerto in G. Ravel advised Gershwin not to underestimate the importance of jazz, and it is exactly what he did in this totally jazzy concerto.
… And along with him, a good part of Spanish classical music. This brings me back to a time long ago, some 17 years. At this time, I used to listen to radio a lot and at the same time, I was discovering Ravel’s works for piano. Until one day I chanced upon a public radio broadcast of a concert, which took place some months before at the La Roque d’Anthéron Festival. There, Spanish pianist Rafael Orozco was performing Albéniz’s complete Iberia.