Musique Française

[Veneda]

I don't understand a word in French, but tonight my soul can tune in to the vibration of this magical song

[Ülev]

[Ülev]

[Ülev]

[The Lawspeaker]

2. Second Air de Trompette Marc-Antoine Charpentier (1636 - 1704) Musica Antiqua Köln Reinhard Goebel

Jean-Baptiste LULLY 1632 — 1687 Ouverture and Dances from «Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme» LWV 43 Les Siècles François-Xavier Roth [direction]

[The Lawspeaker]

[The Lawspeaker]

[The Lawspeaker]

[The Lawspeaker]

"Gaspard de la nuit: Trois poèmes pour piano d'après Aloysius Bertrand" is a suite of pieces for solo piano, composed in 1908 by Maurice Ravel. It has three movements, each based on a poem by Aloysius Bertrand, and it was premiered on January 9, 1909, in Paris by Ricardo Viñes. The name "Gaspard" is derived from its original Persian form, denoting "the man in charge of the royal treasures": "Gaspard of the Night" or the treasurer of the night thus creates allusions to someone in charge of all that is jewel-like, dark, mysterious, perhaps even morose. "Gaspard de la nuit" is an old French expression for the Devil. Movements:

1. "Ondine": an oneiric tale of a water fairy singing to seduce the observer into visiting her kingdom deep at the bottom of a lake. It is reminiscent of Ravel's early piano masterpiece, the Jeux d'eau (1901), with the sounds of water falling and flowing, woven with cascades. This piece contains technical problems for the right hand such as the fast repetition of three-note chords.
2. "Le gibet": the observer is presented with a view of the desert, where the lone corpse of a hanged man on a gibbet stands out against the horizon, reddened by the setting sun; the sound of a bell tolls from inside the walls of a far-off city, creating the deathly atmosphere that surrounds the observer. Throughout the entire piece is a B-flat octave ostinato, imitative of the tolling bell, that must remain distinctive and constant in tone as the notes cross over and dynamics change.
3. "Scarbo": this movement depicts the nighttime mischief of a small fiend or goblin, making pirouettes, flitting in and out of the darkness, disappearing and suddenly reappearing. Its uneven flight, hitting and scratching against the walls, casting a growing shadow in the moonlight, creates a nightmarish scene for the observer lying in his bed. With its repeated notes and two terrifying climaxes, this is the high point of technical difficulty of the three movements. Technical difficulties include repeated notes in both hands, and double-note scales in major seconds in the right hand.

Pianist: Jean-Efflam Bavouzet

"Miroirs" (Reflections) is a suite for solo piano written by French impressionist composer Maurice Ravel between 1904 and 1905, first performed by Ricardo Viñes in 1906. Around 1900, Maurice Ravel joined a group of innovative young artists, poets, critics, and musicians referred to as Les Apaches or "hooligans", a term coined by Ricardo Viñes to refer to his band of "artistic outcasts". To pay tribute to his fellow artists, Ravel began composing Miroirs in 1904 and finished it the following year. Movements 3 and 4 were subsequently orchestrated by Ravel, while Movement 5 was orchestrated by Percy Grainger, among other. Miroirs has five movements, each dedicated to a member of Les Apaches:

1. "Noctuelles" ("Night Moths") - Dedicated to Léon-Paul Fargue, Noctuelles is a highly chromatic work, maintaining a dark, nocturnal mood throughout. The middle section is calm with rich, chordal melodies, and the recapitulation takes place a fifth below the first entry.
2. "Oiseaux tristes" ("Sad Birds") - Dedicated to Ricardo Viñes, this movement represents a lone bird whistling a sad tune, after which others join in. The rambunctious middle section is offset by a solemn cadenza which brings back the melancholy mood of the beginning.
3. "Une barque sur l'océan" ("A boat on the Ocean") - Dedicated to Paul Sordes, the piece recounts a small boat as it sails upon the waves of the ocean. Arpeggiated sections and sweeping melodies imitate the flow of ocean currents. It is the longest piece of the set, and, with the exception of Alborada del Gracioso, the most technically difficult.
4. "Alborada del gracioso" ("The Gracioso's Aubade") - Dedicated to Michel-Dimitri Calvocoressi, Alborada is a technically challenging piece that incorporates Spanish musical themes into its complicated melodies.
5. "La vallée des cloches" ("The Valley of Bells") - Dedicated to Maurice Delage, the piece evokes the sounds of various bells through its use of sonorous harmonies.

[The Lawspeaker]

Frank Braley, Renaud Capuçon & Gautier Capuçon
Modéré • 9:09
Pantoum: Assez vif • 13:34
Passacaille: Très large • 22:15
Finale: Animé