Ravel: La Valse, M.72 (Ozawa)
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 21 มี.ค. 2024
- Ravel prefaces the score of La Valse as such:
"Swirling clouds give glimpses of couples of waltzers. The clouds gradually dissipate: we can see an immense hall populated by a whirling crowd.
The scene gradually lights up. The light from the chandeliers shines in the fortissimo.
An imperial court, circa 1855."
The narrative proposed by Ravel in this piece is divided into four parts.
Part 1 - "The Birth of the Waltz"
The hazy atmosphere described in the preface is achieved by means of soft string tremolos in the lowest register (00:13). Basses, harp and timpani imprint the characteristic triple-meter waltz rhythm (00:19).
Ravel then proceeds to present the three main rhythmic motifs of the piece (M1, M2 and M3). Each one of these motifs will give birth to a waltz based on the same rhythm (W1, W2 and W3).
00:27 - M1
01:05 - M2
01:19 - M3
01:29 - W1 (based on M1)
02:13 - W2 (based on M2)
02:47 - W3 (based on M3)
Part 2 - "The Heydey of the Waltz"
The clouds have dissipated and the hall reveals itself. In this part, Ravel presents a highly stylized view of the Viennese waltz, consisting of a succession of waltz melodies (eight of them in total). He ensures the coherence of the piece by connecting each one of these waltzes to one of the three rhythmic motifs introduced in the first part.
Ravel also employs various techniques that throw us back to the Viennese waltz à la Johann Strauss, such as the use of symmetrical phrases (in ABAB form). However, this metrical stability will start to crumble in W11 as each phrase becomes shorter and shorter, which is just a glimpse of the chaos to come in the next parts.
02:54 - W4
04:01 - W5
04:28 - W6
04:59 - W7
05:14 - W8
05:50 - W9
06:32 - W10
07:08 - W11
Part 3 - "The Decline of the Waltz"
Ravel's obsession with machines, clocks and mechanical objects is obvious in a piece like Boléro, but it also become apparent in the third part of La Valse. In this part, various motifs and waltzes heard previously follow one another in a completely frantic and chaotic manner, like an infernal dancing machine. Dynamic contrasts are exacerbated and the harmony becomes blurred by increasingly present dissonances. This part concludes with one the of the most striking buildups in the entire repertoire, an unstoppable crescendo that spans over a full minute of music and five octaves (09:43 to 10:39).
07:39 - M1
07:48 - M3
07:57 - W1
08:06 - M2
08:11 - M3
08:19 - W12 (not heard before)
08:29 - M3
08:37 - W8
08:54 - M3
08:58 - W7
09:02 - M3
09:09 - M3+W7
09:24 - W6
09:43 - W9
Part 4 - "The Death of the Waltz"
An absolutely massive drop on the second beat of the bar (10:39) launches the fourth and last part that will showcase the complete self-destruction of the waltz. Ravel does that by suppressing the very essence of the waltz: its characteristic rhythm. By putting oversized accents on the second beat (11:27), the meter becomes unstable. The music becomes louder, more dissonant and more anarchic than ever, and ends with a truly cataclysmic climax.
10:39 - W10
10:57 - M3
11:21 - W3
11:35 - W4
11:38 - M3
11:44 - Final climax
The credit for the analysis goes to Benjamin Lassauzet.
The Boston Symphony has a great tradition of playing French music. Indeed, its dynasty of French conductors (Pierre Monteux, Charles Munch) gave this orchestra its characteristic sound and clarity. Ozawa has greatly contributed to maintaining this tradition, being a great interpreter of French music himself. His recordings of French repertoire (Berlioz, Fauré, Ravel, Poulenc, Messiaen...) are consistently top-notch, if not modern references.
His take on La Valse has the perfect mix of elegance and violence, and his pitiless assault on the final pages is especially impressive.
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its glad to see more non piano ravel works here at eppur and may Seiji Ozawa Rest in Peace
A brilliant piece of music, hard to apprehend but very ingenious from Ravel. The first world war had a profond impact on many areas…
This piece might be my absolute favourite, despite being quite complex to understand. It's nice to see you uploading again btw !
La Valse will remain one of the greatest Ravel's orchestral works
the timpanis at the end remind me of a war full of chaos just like ravel intended to make this piece sound like
07:08 Ravel in his fairy-tale mode is always stunning.
RIP Ozawa.
Never thought I would ever see this piece in Synthesia, wow! And fantastic choice of recording, as always.
Great description on this one, and thanks for using the late Ozawa's epic recording. I love Ravel's orchestral music, so I'm glad you've been showcasing it here
Incredible!!!
I've wanted to see this forever. Thank you!
Here to hate again. I am always a little disappointed by how underwhelming the finale is (as with most Ravel), it leaves me wanting a little more since everything is so clear cut and neatly organized. Regardless, the late Maestro's performance does the best with what he had to work with.
I suppose it's just a matter of familiarity with Ravel's musical idiom. There isn't any bad Ravel ending in my book. Actually, I believe it's one of his strong suits as a composer.
Well, I'd consider myself decently. familiar with Ravel's idioms. I can know something and still not like it, after all. I'm just not a big fan of mainstream French impressionism in general - too reactionary against the expressive elements of Romanticism, which leads to wishy-washy orchestration that is very hard to do anything solid with.@@EppurMusic
We can't ignore the personal preference factor, of course.
I guess I get what you mean by "reactionary against the expressive elements of romanticism". Ravel's entire musical conception is based on the notion of emotional detachment from the music, in that sense we could call him an "anti-romantic". But this is a purely aesthetic position, it doesn't diminish his value as a composer in any way. Ravel had complete mastery of the tools required to achieve his conception.
He was a genius of his type, so of course you're gonna be disappointed if you expect full-blooded romantic expression. Not every composer has to be that way, I'm sure you'll agree.