Ravel, Piano Concerto in G major

Written in 1930, the same year as the Concerto in D for piano left hand.

This concerto has significant influences from Mozart and Saint-Saëns, whose piano concertos Ravel studied.

Ravel planned to perform this concerto, but after frantically practising studies by Liszt, his friends persuaded him not to play it!

The piccolo sounds similar to a folk instrument from the Basque country, where Ravel was born - the piano concerto has a prominent piccolo part.

Listening points

Movement 1: Allegramente
The concerto begins with a whip crack, followed by a fast piccolo solo!
The trumpet solo near the beginning is passed to the violins.
Can you hear the influence of Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue (1924) in the jazzy sounding piano solo, which is interrupted briefly by the clarinet and muted trumpet.
Listen out for the harp solo – the harp plays lots of glissandos and harmonics before the orchestra returns with the Gershwin influenced material.

Movement 2: Adagio assai
This movement is modelled on Mozart’s Clarinet Quintet.
It begins with a long piano solo with 3 slow beats to a bar – the melody in the right hand, with accompanying chords in the left hand.
Listen for the solos in the woodwind when the orchestra enter – flute and oboe with quiet chords in the strings.
There is an expressive solo in the Cor Anglais, which is accompanied by showers of demisemiquavers in the piano.
This movement ends with a trill in the piano, which slows down until coming to a stand still.

Movement 3: Presto
The loud opening with brass and snare drum gives way to an incredibly fast piano solo.
Listen out for the screeching E flat clarinet – it is a higher and smaller instrument than the normal B flat clarinet.
The pianist is continuously playing very fast throughout this movement.

MAURICE RAVEL 1875 – 1937

French composer.

Ravel had a variable reputation as a pianist – he played the piano from the age of 7, but was often not good enough to perform his own concertos!

Ravel was diagnosed as medically unfit, which prevented him from fighting in World War One.

Ravel travelled around Europe a lot after World War One.

Liszt’s orchestral music was an inspiration to Ravel – the virtuosity, colour and stylisation particularly appealed.