Ravel - Pavane Pour Une Infante Défunte

Joseph-Maurice Ravel (1875 1937) was a French composer of Impressionist music known especially for the subtlety, richness, and poignancy of his melodies, orchestral and instrumental textures and effects. Much of his piano, chamber, vocal and orchestral music has entered the standard concert repertoire. Ravel's piano compositions, such as Jeux d'eau, Miroirs and Gaspard de la Nuit, demand considerable virtuosity from the performer, and his orchestral music, including Daphnis et Chloé and his arrangement of Modest Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition, uses tonal color and variety of sound and instrumentation very effectively. Ravel is perhaps best known for his orchestral work, Boléro, which he considered trivial and once described as "a piece for orchestra without music." Ravel's music was innovative, though he did not follow the contemporary trend towards atonality, as pioneered by Schoenberg. Instead, he applied the aesthetics of the new French school of Chabrier, Satie, and particularly Debussy. Ravel's compositions rely upon modal melodies instead of using the major or minor scales for their predominant harmonic language. He preferred modes with major or minor flavors for example the Mixolydian (with its flatted 7th degree) instead of the major, and the Aeolian instead of the harmonic minor. As a result, there are virtually no leading tones in his output. Melodically, he tended to favor two modes: the Dorian and the Phrygian. Following the teachings of Gédalge, Ravel placed high importance on melody, once stating to Vaughan Williams, that there is "an implied melodic outline in all vital music." In no way dependent on exclusively traditional modal practices, Ravel used extended harmonies and intricate modulations. He was fond of chords of the ninth and eleventh, and the acidity of his harmonies is largely the result of a fondness for unresolved appoggiaturas (listen to the Valses nobles et sentimentales). He was inspired by various dances, his favorite being the minuet. Other forms from which Ravel drew material include the forlane, rigaudon, waltz, czardas, habanera, passacaglia, and the boléro.

The photography works are from Walker Evans.
Walker Evans (1903 1975) was an American photographer best known for his work for the Farm Security Administration documenting the effects of the Great Depression. Much of Evans' work from the FSA period uses the large-format, 8x10-inch camera. He said that his goal as a photographer was to make pictures that are "literate, authoritative, transcendent". Many of his works are in the permanent collections of museums, and have been the subject of retrospectives at such institutions as The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Ravel
• Pavane
• Infante
• Défunte
• Wlaker
• Evans

[wivt1]

which recording is this?

[feneco2]

Sorry - lost that information a little time ago...

[pumargent]

"Pavane pour une infante defunte" (Pavane for a dead princess" by the French Composes Maurice Ravel, composed circa 1915.

[feneco2]

Well , I think what wivt1 wanted to know is whose interpretation is this - but, in case the question is "What work is that", I can say that "Pavane for a Dead Princess" is an originally piano piece, composed in 1899, by Ravel (see the side information), and it was orchestrated later, in 1910, by the same composer. Any more questions, please ask - if I can, I'll answer.

[Luvinhas]

shit jizz

[relayer43]

My favourite classical piece (a close 2nd in Debussy's Sacred & Secular Dances). Love this interpretation as well.

[MaxFragson]

Je pense que c'est l'Orchestre Philarmonique de New-York sous la direction de PIERRE BOULEZ

[GabrielPadecopeo]

El sonido del corno es insuperable, con bella nostalgia.

[davidjclarke23]

Interesting choices. I would never have thought to pair the Walker Evans photographs with Ravel's Pavane, but they work together perfectly, slowing unfolding shades of grey and musical textures from Ravel. Wonderful!

[AMAC48]

@alciefrederic This is closer to the tempo Ravel preferred. Listen to Ormandy version here on YouTube for similar tempo. The 'slower' version is often played, but can, I think, harm the lyrical flow of the piece. The Pavane was a rennaisance dance, and needs to have the 'dance' flow. I think this version is sublime - wish I knew who was performing.

[sunnyxrawksx3]

This is absolutely gorgeous. Made my heart melt <3

[sevcik2]

Stunning video!

Beautiful music and great photos...it is so moving...

Thank you for sharing!

[429lulu]

@lyricaltones Thanks for the information, very good!!!

[musicality333]

Beautiful ~~ Impressionism :)