"},"2":{"wt":""}},"i":0}}]}" id="mwQw">
The three pieces of which the Escales are composed are remarkably balanced, their harmonious proportions are in close harmony with the nature, the quality, the meaning of the ideas. The orchestration, too, has emerged, clarified and lightened – and may be compared with that of Ravel – are ingenious, colourful, and evocative. Everything has its weight, its volume, its nuance. [...] There is no excess, no inadequacy, neither in the small details, which are exquisite, nor in the whole, which remains alive because of its rhythm. [...] His new work shows him to be master of his form, although the poet, the visionary that he has certainly remained, sometimes hides beneath the learned constructions that he has usefully practised here. [6]
Escales was taken up internationally. It was given at the Prague International Festival shortly after the premiere, and was subsequently programmed by orchestras throughout Europe and in the US. [5] It was not invariably applauded. After the British premiere, under Hamilton Harty, the reviewer in The Musical Times compared Ibert unfavourably with Joaquín Turina and Ottorino Respighi; after the Italian premiere a critic commented on the three movements, "They did not evoke admiration, the material used in their construction lacking both in invention and development – shortcomings that brilliance in orchestration did not compensate". [7] Nevertheless, such was the general popularity of the piece that Ibert later complained mildly that it was overshadowing his subsequent compositions: "I have written twenty works since Escales, but ..." [8]
The full score was published in 1924. The geographical labels now usually attached to each movement did not appear in it: they were added later, at the behest of his publisher and the composer raised no objection to them. [1] [8]
The work is scored for:
The total playing time of the work is about 15 minutes. [10]
Calme. G♯ minor, changing to F♯ major. 𝅘𝅥𝅮 = 63–69. [11]
Over shimmering tremolos of high muted violins the solo flute has the opening melody. It is interspersed with dashes of harp tone, and the melody is taken up by a solo oboe, which is likewise interrupted by the harps. The movement grows increasingly brilliant and the theme is taken up by violins and finally by all the woodwinds. There follows a lively tune for solo trumpet, possibly indicating a new port of call or a fresh adventure. The music reaches a climax before calming down and reverting to the languorous calm of the opening. [1] [4] [8]
Modéré, très rythmé. D minor. 𝅘𝅥 = 108. [12]
An ostinato accompaniment of the strings and timpani, with the oboe melody marked doux et mélancolique (soft and melancholy), evokes the Middle East. Ibert said that the main theme, representing Nefta, was "entirely based on a tune I heard in the Tunisian desert. It helped me to recreate in music the atmosphere and the memory of the landscape and scenery where I spent several weeks". An uneven seven-beat pulse is sustained by strings both plucked (pizzicato) and tapped with the wood of the bow (avec le dos de l'archet). [1] [4] [8]
Animé. B♭ major. 𝅘𝅥. = 80. [13]
Generations of French composers, including Lalo, Bizet, Chabrier, Debussy and Ravel had been fascinated by Spain and depicted it in their music. [14] Ibert here follows in that tradition. The blazing colours with which the movement opens, the sinuous rhythms of its quieter bars, the mounting excitement and the fiery finish are all in this established tradition. [1] [4] [8]
Orchestration is the study or practice of writing music for an orchestra or of adapting music composed for another medium for an orchestra. Also called "instrumentation", orchestration is the assignment of different instruments to play the different parts of a musical work. For example, a work for solo piano could be adapted and orchestrated so that an orchestra could perform the piece, or a concert band piece could be orchestrated for a symphony orchestra.
Joseph Maurice Ravel was a French composer, pianist and conductor. He is often associated with Impressionism along with his elder contemporary Claude Debussy, although both composers rejected the term. In the 1920s and 1930s Ravel was internationally regarded as France's greatest living composer.
Boléro is a 1928 work for large orchestra by French composer Maurice Ravel. It is one of Ravel's most famous compositions. It was also one of his last completed works before illness diminished his ability to write music.
Gaspard de la nuit, M. 55 is a suite of piano pieces by Maurice Ravel, written in 1908. It has three movements, each based on a poem or fantaisie from the collection Gaspard de la Nuit – Fantaisies à la manière de Rembrandt et de Callot completed in 1836 by Aloysius Bertrand. The work was premiered in Paris, on January 9, 1909, by Ricardo Viñes. Ravel dedicated the piece to pianist Harold Bauer.
Jacques François Antoine Marie Ibert was a French composer of classical music. Having studied music from an early age, he studied at the Paris Conservatoire and won its top prize, the Prix de Rome at his first attempt, despite studies interrupted by his service in World War I.
Le Tombeau de Couperin is a suite for solo piano by Maurice Ravel, composed between 1914 and 1917. The piece is in six movements, based on those of a traditional Baroque suite. Each movement is dedicated to the memory of a friend of the composer who had died fighting in World War I. Ravel also produced an orchestral version of the work in 1919, although this omitted two of the original movements.
Jeux d'eau is a piece for solo piano by Maurice Ravel, composed in 1901 and given its first public performance the following year. The title is variously translated as "Fountains", "Playing Water" or literally "Water Games". At the time of writing Jeux d'eau, Ravel was a student of Gabriel Fauré, to whom the piece is dedicated. The work is in a single movement, typically lasting between four and half and six minutes in performance.
Miroirs is a five-movement suite for solo piano written by French composer Maurice Ravel between 1904 and 1905. First performed by Ricardo Viñes in 1906, Miroirs contains five movements, each dedicated to a fellow member of the French avant-garde artist group Les Apaches.
Maurice Ravel's Piano Concerto in G major, was composed between 1929 and 1931. The piano concerto is in three movements, with a total playing time of a little over 20 minutes. Ravel said that in this piece he was not aiming to be profound but to entertain, in the manner of Mozart and Saint-Saëns. Among its other influences are jazz and Basque folk music.
Rapsodie espagnole is an orchestral rhapsody written by Maurice Ravel. Composed between 1907 and 1908, the Rapsodie is one of Ravel's first major works for orchestra. It was first performed in Paris in 1908 and quickly entered the international repertoire. The piece draws on the composer's Spanish heritage and is one of several of his works set in or reflecting Spain.
Menuet antique is a piece for solo piano composed by Maurice Ravel. The original piano version was written in 1895 and orchestrated by the composer in 1929. Ravel wrote the piece to pay tribute to Emmanuel Chabrier, who had welcomed his early works and helped to establish his musical reputation.
La mer, trois esquisses symphoniques pour orchestre, or simply La mer, L. 109, CD. 111, is an orchestral composition by the French composer Claude Debussy.
The Symphony No. 3 in E♭ major, Op. 10, B. 34, is a classical composition by Antonín Dvořák.
Ernest Fanelli was a French composer who is known for his works which have been considered as precursing Impressionism. He gained renown when his symphonic poem Thèbes premiered in Paris; this was a work incorporating elements associated with music ahead of its time, such as unique harmonies, extended chords, and polytonality.
Introduction and Allegro for Harp, Flute, Clarinet and String Quartet is a chamber work by Maurice Ravel. It is a short piece, typically lasting between ten and eleven minutes in performance. It was commissioned in 1905 by the Érard harp manufacturers to showcase their instruments, and has been described as a miniature harp concerto. The premiere was in Paris on 22 February 1907.
The French composer Emmanuel Chabrier (1841–1894) wrote music in many genres, including opera and operetta, piano, orchestral music, and songs with piano accompaniment. The songs cover most of his creative years, from the early 1860s to 1890, when the illness which would kill him prevented much composition. He came late to music as a profession, but – although being an exceptional pianist – he had no trappings of a formal training: no conservatoire studies, no Prix de Rome, "none of the conventional badges of French academic musicians, by whom he was regarded as an amateur".
Marie-Jacques Massacrié-Durand was a French music publisher and composer, sometimes under the pseudonym J. Samm. The family's publishing house, Éditions Durand, published works by many of Durand's contemporaries, including Claude Debussy, Paul Dukas, Gabriel Fauré, Jacques Ibert, Darius Milhaud, Maurice Ravel and Camille Saint-Saëns.
The Violin Sonata No. 1 in A major, Op. 13, was written by Gabriel Fauré from 1875 to 1876. It is considered one of the three masterpieces of his youth, along with the first piano quartet and the Ballade in F♯ major.
The Shylock Suite, Op. 57 is a six-movement work by Gabriel Fauré, first performed in 1890. In addition to four purely orchestral movements it includes two serenades for solo tenor with orchestral accompaniment. The composer constructed the suite from incidental music he had written the previous year for Edmond Haraucourt's play Shylock, an adaptation of Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice, presented at the Théâtre de l'Odéon in Paris. The theatre music had been written for a small orchestra, and Fauré greatly expanded the orchestration for the concert suite.
Jacques Ibert's Divertissement is a six-movement suite for chamber orchestra adapted by the composer in 1930 from incidental music he had written for a production of Eugène Labiche's stage comedy The Italian Straw Hat in 1929. It is among Ibert's best-known works and has been recorded many times.