As the Jazz Age swept America and Europe during the Roaring 20s, many composers turned to this style of music born of African-American spirituals as a new means of expression, blending it with the elements of the Classical tradition and new experimental techniques alike. Of course the name George Gershwin is synonymous with the classical-jazz fusion, but in post-war France, America’s jazz influenced Paris’s young avant-garde composers, such as Maurice Ravel. Ravel was intrigued by the melodies and rhythms of jazz and when he visited America during the latter part of the decade, he soaked in the music he heard in Harlem and New Orleans. His interest and use of jazz in his own compositions spanned several works during this time, reaching its pinnacle in his two concerti for piano composed during 1929-31. Just prior to that pair of works and his trip to America, he composed another important jazz-influenced composition—the Sonata for violin and piano.
The Sonata’s first movement is thinly textured and contrasts three different melodic ideas. Ravel himself thought the violin and piano two instruments ill-suited for each other, and this is to some extent played out in the contrasting melodic ideas of the movement. Much of the movement is serene, even ethereal at times, and builds to a solitary climax before slowly evaporating away. Entitled “Blues,” the middle movement’s composition actually predates Ravel’s trip to America and his exposure to the music of Harlem and New Orleans. Alongside its noticeable jazz idioms, Ravel makes use in this movement of 20th century techniques such as bitonality. Lastly, the “Perpetuum mobile” finale incorporates themes from the preceding two movements. Joseph DuBose
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Sonata for Violin and Piano Maurice Ravel
Allegretto ; Blues ; Perpetuum Mobile
Ravel's Violin Sonata was completed in 1927, after occupying the composer intermittently for some five years, and reflects in some ways the fashions of the time, particularly in its second movement 'Blues'. Its first movement is in an instantly recognizable idiom, and the final virtuoso 'Perpetuum mobile' opens with a briefly hesitant reference to the first movement and contains passing jazz references underlying music of considerable panache. Amaury Coeytaux
Classical Music | Violin Music
Maurice Ravel
Sonata for Violin and Piano Play
Recorded on 03/25/2008, uploaded on 01/24/2009
Musician's or Publisher's Notes
As the Jazz Age swept America and Europe during the Roaring 20s, many composers turned to this style of music born of African-American spirituals as a new means of expression, blending it with the elements of the Classical tradition and new experimental techniques alike. Of course the name George Gershwin is synonymous with the classical-jazz fusion, but in post-war France, America’s jazz influenced Paris’s young avant-garde composers, such as Maurice Ravel. Ravel was intrigued by the melodies and rhythms of jazz and when he visited America during the latter part of the decade, he soaked in the music he heard in Harlem and New Orleans. His interest and use of jazz in his own compositions spanned several works during this time, reaching its pinnacle in his two concerti for piano composed during 1929-31. Just prior to that pair of works and his trip to America, he composed another important jazz-influenced composition—the Sonata for violin and piano.
The Sonata’s first movement is thinly textured and contrasts three different melodic ideas. Ravel himself thought the violin and piano two instruments ill-suited for each other, and this is to some extent played out in the contrasting melodic ideas of the movement. Much of the movement is serene, even ethereal at times, and builds to a solitary climax before slowly evaporating away. Entitled “Blues,” the middle movement’s composition actually predates Ravel’s trip to America and his exposure to the music of Harlem and New Orleans. Alongside its noticeable jazz idioms, Ravel makes use in this movement of 20th century techniques such as bitonality. Lastly, the “Perpetuum mobile” finale incorporates themes from the preceding two movements. Joseph DuBose
____________________________________________
Sonata for Violin and Piano Maurice Ravel
Allegretto ; Blues ; Perpetuum Mobile
Ravel's Violin Sonata was completed in 1927, after occupying the composer intermittently for some five years, and reflects in some ways the fashions of the time, particularly in its second movement 'Blues'. Its first movement is in an instantly recognizable idiom, and the final virtuoso 'Perpetuum mobile' opens with a briefly hesitant reference to the first movement and contains passing jazz references underlying music of considerable panache. Amaury Coeytaux
More music by Maurice Ravel
La Valse
Berceuse sur le nom de Gabriel Faure
Noctuelles from Miroirs
Daphnis and Chloé, Suite No. 2
Une barque sur l'océan, from Miroirs
Alborada del Gracioso, from Miroirs
Pièce en Forme de Habanera
Cinq Mélodies Populaires Grecques
Rhapsodie espagnole
Concerto No. 2 in D Major for Piano and Orchestra
Performances by same musician(s)
Chaconne
Dance of the Goblins
Scherzo for Violin and Piano in c minor, WoO posth. 2 (from F.A.E. Sonata)
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