Maurice Ravel at the piano during his birthday party in New York on March 8, 1928, with George Gershwin standing on the right (photograph from Wide World Photos, from Wikimedia Commons, public domain)
This afternoon I returned to the DSO Replay Web site for another “singles” video of a performance by the Detroit Symphony Orchestra (DSO). Once again my selection was taken from the twentieth century. Indeed, it was taken from the same decade as the article I discussed two days ago, Jean Sibelius’ Opus 105 (seventh) symphony, which was composed in 1924. Maurice Ravel began work on his D major piano concerto, written to be played only by the left hand, in 1929, completing it the following year.
The Web page for this composition documented a very recent performance, given this past February 16. The conductor was Thomas Søndergård, and the piano soloist was Bertrand Chamayou. I approached this video document with no knowledge of either of them. However, the concerto has long been a personal favorite; and my last encounter with a performance took place in Davies Symphony Hall on September 13, 2018. This was the first subscription concert of the 107th season of the San Francisco Symphony, conducted by Music Director Michael Tilson Thomas with pianist Yuja Wang as soloist.
My interest in this concerto has much to do with “fun facts” about Ravel’s friendship with George Gershwin. Most readers know that the left-hand concerto is one of the two piano concertos that Ravel composed, the other being the G major concerto in three movements, which Ravel also began in 1929. This contrasts with the left-hand concerto, which is only a single movement. What is interesting is that these concertos parallel Gershwin’s two major concertante compositions for piano and orchestra. “Rhapsody in Blue” was composed in 1924 (the same year as that Sibelius symphony). It, too, was a single-movement composition; and it was followed by the three-movement “Concerto in F,” written in 1925. As a result, I find it hard to avoid thinking of the left-hand concerto as being more of a “rhapsody” than a concerto! Indeed, like “Rhapsody in Blue,” the left-hand concerto has its own brand of somewhat jazzy riffs, which are interleaved with more “formal” episodes.
On the other hand Ravel’s concerto encompasses a much wider dynamic range. Not only are the initial measures barely audible but also the opening theme is a solo for contrabassoon, playing in such a low register than even distinguishing the individual notes is more than a little problematic. At the other extreme the full forces of orchestra and soloist rise to a dynamic level that definitely recalls “Rhapsody in Blue” at its most expressive. I have not been able to find any record of whether Gershwin heard a performance of the left-hand concerto; but I suspect it would have brought a smile to his face!
Every now and then the Detroit camera-work caught that kind of smile on Søndergård’s face, leading me to wonder about his connection to those two Gershwin compositions. Chamayou, on the other hand, approached his solo work with intense focus, which is absolutely necessary to allow the full scope of rhetorical dispositions to unfold in the midst of all the technically demanding keyboard work. The fact is that, while the G major concerto tends to fit well in the company of many of the works that Ravel composed for solo piano, the left-hand concerto is very much a unique creature unto itself. For better or worse, I find that I am more likely to encounter the G major in my concert-going experiences. That just makes opportunities to listen to the other concerto all the more precious, consistently establishing high expectations. Those expectations are never neglected in this particular DSO Replay recording.
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