Blues de Ravel

 

The second sonata for violin and piano, composed by Maurice Ravel between 1922 and 1927, was premiered with Ravel himself at the piano and Georges Enesco playin the violin.
Its composed by 3 parts : Allegretto, Blues, Perpetuum mobile

 

We find there the influence of the great masters, but also that of jazz and blues as Georges Gershwin with whom Ravel frequented the smoky nightclubs of Harlem - the true cradle of jazz in New-York.

 

Unfortunately, my best and incomparable version of this "Blues" was played by Monique Haas and Max Rostal  and had disappeared of the net!  So!  this version of the second part "blues", a bit weak, is here with Dong-Suk Kang & Pascal Devoyon.

 

"À l’étranger, nous prenons le jazz au sérieux. Il exerce une influence sur nos œuvres. Le « blues » de ma Sonate par exemple, est du jazz stylisé, plus français qu’américain de caractère, peut-être, mais cependant fortement influencé par votre musique dite « populaire ». Personnellement, je trouve le jazz extrêmement intéressant : les rythmes, le traitement des mélodies, les mélodies elles-mêmes. J’ai entendu certaines œuvres de Gershwin qui m’ont intrigué..." Maurice Ravel in Lettres, écrits et entretiens - ed. Flammarion 1989

 

"We are the music makers, and we are the dreamers of dreams."
Arthur O'Shaughnessy - Ode from his book Music and Moonlight (1874) 

 

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