Ravel's strangest piece

Follow us for a weekly analysis of some of our favourite musical moments. PATREON:   / momentsmusicaux   YOUTUBE:    / @-momentsmusicaux-   "The last five months had undoubtedly been some of the unhappiest of Ravel’s life. Indeed, the whole year 1918 had seen him struggling to regain his mental and physical health, as the war intensified. In March, while Debussy lay dying, the German gun Big Bertha bombarded the city from 75 miles away, tram and Métro services were severely disrupted, and fuel for heating was in desperately short supply. It seems unlikely Ravel would have echoed the excitement of Vincent d’Indy, who found that ‘the complete blackout of light, even of the slightest gleam, turns the boulevards of Paris—especially Montparnasse and Raspail, which are in the direct path of the moonlight—into absolutely fantastic landscapes that have to be seen to be believed . . . while, near and far, incendiary bombs explode, and the rumbling of the defending guns goes on like an organ pedal-point.’ Ravel had probably heard enough gunfire for one lifetime." Consisting of only 15 measures and written for the unorthodox ensemble of two pianos and five hands, Frontispice is not only Ravel's shortest piece but most definitely his strangest. The composer's mechanical fascination is present even here, where tonality seems to give way to ostinatos and improvisation. In fact, the effect of these musical objects has often led scholars to speculate that Ravel intended the piece to be played on the pianola. In any case, it remains a rarity, a Ravelian experiment, and perhaps a glimpse into the soul of not only one of the greatest composers of the modern age, but also a sensitive soldier of the Great War. Maurice Ravel (1875 - 1937) Frontispice, M.70 Performance: Aloys Kontarsky and Alfons Kontarsky Further reading: Nichols, Roger. Ravel. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2011. Thanks to our Patrons: Joachim Winter Raphael Fabisiewicz Sal Leggio Gianni Veronesi Donald McDonnell מתנאל גורודניצקי Auke J Carla Ragazzi Video made by #MomentsMusicaux.