Possibly my favorite composer because of Gaspard de la Nuit and Jeus D'eau.

Anyone else like him? Any ideas on his form of composition [would love to any anything like this]? Comment.

Ravel is one of my faves too =]

his compositions, particularly the more difficult ones like the examples you use are very Lisztian in style and form.

i think his use of unusual chord combinations are particularly effective- eg. in the cadenza of Jeux d'eau where one hand plays a C major arpeggio and the other plays F# (havent got the music to hand but i think those are the chords)

Gaspard is my favourite work for piano. the two outer movements have a lot in common with Islamey: take the section in the left hand of Islamey at bar 186 and the section in the right hand of Ondine at bar 15; similar patterns. The second theme of Scarbo is similar to the main theme of Islamey, and the patterns in Islamey bar 140 remind me of bars 314 onwards of Scarbo. Ravel just basically took the difficulties of Islamey and intensified them in his own style.

Amazing man. Probably rambled on more than I should but I find these kinds of things fascinating.

Yeah, I love his 'Gaspard de la Unit' it's so great. Those repeating choprds in the right hand is what I love so much--and that key signature of it as well, a neat one to look at, eh? :heh:

Lol it was the key signature that kept me away from it. Though you would think with a bunch of black keys it may be a little easier?

i assume you're referring to Ondine?

my favourite part of that piece is the section before the climax; particularly the chords leading up to it

I love the beginning--that chord is so great.

In my recording this girl plays it like ppppp so I need to turn the volume to even hear a little bit of it..

Ever heard Ravel's Sonatine, the second movement (Movement de Menuet)? It's way good!

i assume you're referring to Ondine?

my favourite part of that piece is the section before the climax; particularly the chords leading up to it

Yeah. I tried to play it, but I'm still a half year-year away from it. Maybe more.

I love lovely things the impressionist[/romantics] used like ppp and pppp or ffff and of course our beloved rubato. I have big pianos. The touch it to hard and stiff. Spinets for life. ['cept bigger pianos have better sound x_x].

Does anyone know any easier songs of his? My teacher went through her library only to find things on the lines of Gaspard's level.

The song I mentioned is pretty easy.

@ Mazeppa- what recording is this? the best recording ever (just Ondine) is by Louis Lortie. you are missing out if you havent heard it.

the second movement of the Sonatine is beautiful =] its the piece i usually play when im at a piano and someone randomly comes up to me and asks me to play something.

@RD, pretty much everything Ravel wrote is easier than Gaspard xD i would personally suggest one of the easier Miroirs (especially Vallee des Cloches) or the 1st movement of Sonatine which is not too easy, not too hard. Although I would recommend having a go at Jeux d'eau or Une Barque sur l'Ocean before you tackle Ondine (i went with Jeux d'eau).

Okay thanks Thorn and DR.

But I always say Jeux D'eau as harder then Gaspard lol

Aw, but the third movement of Sonatine is fun... But I do think that the first movement is quite haunting in a way.

Ugh, I should learn the first and third, but I haven't had the motivation. Anyone have a recording of them?

Aw, but the third movement of Sonatine is fun... But I do think that the first movement is quite haunting in a way.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=sDac1UdBY6c

bitch learned it. lol little emotion.

Ill try and find that piece thanks.

Woah, did you notice how much the audio got ahead of the movie? That is an amazing child, though. I'm jealous. I've been taking for 9 years and I'm still not that good. Probably my own fault.

Okay thanks Thorn and DR.

But I always say Jeux D'eau as harder then Gaspard lol

I can see where people who think it is harder than Ondine or Gibet are coming from, but it is in no way harder than Scarbo.

I think technically they are about the same, but Ondine has the edge because of the emotional depth. Ravel had matured immensely by the time he wrote Gaspard, whereas Jeux d'eau was one of his first compositions.

I was playing Ondine earlier and thought something; it has more in common with the legend than with the poem. What do other people think?

Oh, I totally agree. The dynamics in Gaspard are the hardest I've ever seen, the maturity needed to play it is also overwhelming. Scarbo is one of the hardest songs I've also ever seen, but when I compared Jeux to Gaspard, I was actually just talking about Odine. Lack of thinking : \

Also, I do think that girl in the video is very good technicality, but her emotions are flat. Very flat.

What legend?

which video is this?

the only difference between the poem and the legend is that in the legend, she leaves the water to be with the human, who then cheats on her and she kills him.

it fits if you imagine the climax to reflect her rejection when she finds him with someone else, and the ending cadenza to represent her drowning him?

but thinking about it- it only really works for the first thing; the ending was blatantly written with the ending lines of the poem in mind

The video that there's a link to on the first page.

That little Asian girl on my post down on the first page. lol

I don't know, Odine seems a bit flat on raging dynamics. I'm not saying its emotional, but its not all calm then raging angry lol.

oh, ive seen that and i can see what you mean. just got confused because i thought you meant a video of Ondine and i thought id already seen all the ones there are available on youtube.

and i agree there are no "raging" dynamics in Ondine, just flashes of raw elemental power; she is a water elemental after all- i think a lot of her power is hidden because she is trying to seduce someone; but you definately get the impression of it being there when the music begins to go into bass clef just before what i call the thirds section (where it splits into 3 lines and you have the descending thirds). The ascending chords between this section and the climax where its marked "augmentez peu a peu" is to me, the closest this piece comes to reflecting the hidden side of Ondine's personality.

This thread should just be changed to an Ondine thread the way its going xD, so on a slightly different note; I think people tend to overlook Le Gibet when talking about Gaspard, which is a shame because its just as ingenious as the rest of the work. I think the people who ignore it are the ones who only like Gaspard for its difficulty because it doesnt measure up to Ondine and Scarbo in terms of making you want to yank your hair out when you're learning it xD

I think the worst way of approaching Gaspard is to approach it in the same way you'd approach Islamey.

Oh yes, I think your 100% right. Thinking of Islamey while approaching Gaspard is not good. Same technical dificulty but they are to diffrent at the same time.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=BSvNu4VfYvk

I think Ravels String Quartet in F minor is the most briliant piece of quartet music ever written. That legato solo that the violin does is so... perfect? I think the melody is perfect.