They Say it's a Birthday!

Reveling in Ravel: The Review

Maurice Ravel in 1928

On Saturday, February 1 the Nashville Symphony hosted a concert celebrating Maurice Ravel’s 150th Birthday. While he was actually born in March, this is certainly close enough, and coming on the heels of their epic performance of Daphnis et Chloé only two weeks ago, one assumes that the old French composer is smiling from his grave. The orchestra was led by resident Conductor through a diverse and interesting program which featured Ravel’s Ma Mère l’Oye (Mother Goose Suite), his Concerto in D major for Piano (Left Hand Alone) and Orchestra (presenting soloist Janice Carissa), and his famous La Valse, and Boléro.

The evening began with the 5-movement children’s suite Ma Mère l’Oye which Ravel based around scenes from popular fairy tales of the time including Sleeping Beauty, Tom Thumb and Beauty and the Beast. Written in 1910 as a piano duet for the children of a family friend, they were orchestrated by the composer the following year (and expanded yet again to accompany a ballet). While the piano pieces are quite accessible, in the orchestral arrangement performance requires a precarious balanced interpretation or the lush timbre and textures can easily overtake the whim and whimsy that is important to retain the suite’s childlike character. Aspinall’s interpretation relished in the orchestra’s color, with nice, flexible tempi that exemplified a romantic’s nostalgic interpretation of childhood, and Gloria Yun’s piccolo was marvelous!

Janice Carissa

After a quick stage change, bringing up the big Steinway from the depths of the Schermerhorn, Carissa strode on to the state, roughly one year since her last appearance here with Aspinall. A deceptively diminutive woman, she smiled sheepishly as she acknowledged the applause and sat down to the piano. Ravel’s Concerto was written on a commission from Paul Wittgenstein, a Viennese classical virtuoso pianist who had lost his right arm in World War One. In the piece, Ravel follows his orchestral opening statement (special mention to Ryan Turano and his contrabassoon!) with a thunderous cadenza. A cadenza so fraught with pianistic legerdemain that it quickly establishes the fact that, although written for one had, there will be no loss in dynamic range, counterpoint, registral interchange or melody throughout the piece. (It is said that Wittgenstein resisted the piece because of the difficulty of this opening.) For her part, Carissa engaged with the concerto’s opening in a fiery intensity that challenged Aspinall’s tempi even as she caught the audience’s breath (I heard someone gasp…was it me?).

It has been said that Wittgenstein’s old recordings are delicate and yet heavy on the pedal in an impressionistic way. Later recordings (beginning with Casadesus, Fleisher and later) are said to emphasize the jazz influences and bring out the music’s fragile qualities in close detail. Carissa seemed to seek a middle ground among these simplifications, allowing an impressionistic glow to emerge within a comprehensive interpretation—not heartless at all, but instead with a controlled passion. For his part, Maestro Aspinall engaged charmingly with Ravel’s subtle harmonies, especially the final movement’s jazz rhythms and Iberian ideas. Importantly, the convulsions of final chords were simply chilling and Nashville leapt to their feet. Let’s hope we can hear her play again next year!

After intermission, it was the two great dances, La Valse and Boléro. It’s really difficult to say anything here. La Valse, Ravel’s celebration of Vienna, even in its decline, glittered with all of the sparkle of champagne. Boléro, another dynamic etude, (kudos to Sam Bacco’s tireless snare!) allowed Aspinall to display his excellent control with precise tempi that remained focused for the first 5 minutes until he gave our orchestra the reigns. The piece is simply over-played, but on Saturday the Nashville Symphony managed to render fresh excitement in this old codger.  There is so much wonderful season left for the Nashville Symphony, don’t miss out on it!



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