French Performance Practices in the Piano Works of Maurice Ravel
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
Studies in Pianistic Sonority, Nuance and Expression: French Performance Practices in the Piano Works of Maurice Ravel Iwan Llewelyn-Jones Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy School of Music Cardiff University 2016 Abstract This thesis traces the development of Maurice Ravel’s pianism in relation to sonority, nuance and expression by addressing four main areas of research that have remained largely unexplored within Ravel scholarship: the origins of Ravel’s pianism and influences to which he was exposed during his formative training; his exploration of innovative pianistic techniques with particular reference to thumb deployment; his activities as performer and teacher, and role in defining a performance tradition for his piano works; his place in the French pianistic canon. Identifying the main research questions addressed in this study, an Introduction outlines the dissertation content, explains the criteria and objectives for the performance component (Public Recital) and concludes with a literature review. Chapter 1 explores the pianistic techniques Ravel acquired during his formative training, and considers how his study of specific works from the nineteenth-century piano repertory shaped and influenced his compositional style and pianism. Chapter 2 discusses Ravel’s implementation of his idiosyncratic ‘strangler’ thumbs as articulators of melodic, harmonic, rhythmic and textural material in selected piano works. Ravel’s role in defining a performance tradition for his piano works as disseminated to succeeding generations of pianists is addressed in Chapter 3, while Chapters 4 and 5 evaluate Ravel’s impact upon twentieth-century French pianism through considering how leading French piano pedagogues and performers responded to his trailblazing piano techniques. It will be shown that through his activities as teacher and performer, as well as composer, Ravel took control of every detail pertaining to his piano works with his meticulously notated scores, piano roll recordings and interpretive guidance imparted to other pianists, thus catalysing performance practices that promulgated a distinctively French twentieth-century pianistic tradition. Studies in Pianistic Sonority, Nuance and Expression: French Performance Practices in the Piano Works of Maurice Ravel Table of Contents Abstract Acknowledgements p. i Introduction p. 1 Chapter Outline p. 5 Performance Component: Public Recital p. 7 Literature Review p. 8 Chapter 1 The Origins of Ravel’s Pianism p. 26 Chapter 2 ‘Les grands pouces’: p. 83 Ravel’s ‘Strangler’ Thumbs in his Solo Piano Works Chapter 3 Ravel as Pianist and Recording Artist (1895-1928) p. 148 Chapter 4 Disseminating Ideas and Defining French Pianism: p. 193 Le Tombeau de Couperin as a Case Study Chapter 5 Ravel’s Place in the Twentieth-Century French Pianistic Canon p. 241 Bibliography p. 253 i Acknowledgements I am indebted to the School of Music, Cardiff University for awarding me a Postgraduate Scholarship to undertake this doctoral research and for providing additional subsidiary grants enabling me to attend conferences and symposia as well as to present papers and lecture recitals on Ravel’s pianism at the Royal Musical Association Student conferences of 2013 and 2014, at the ‘City of Light: Paris 1900- 1950’ International Conference at the Institut français de Londres in 2015, and at Liverpool Hope University in 2016. For my research in the UK I extend my sincere thanks to the staff at Cardiff University Music Library, the British Library Department of Music and Sound Archive, the Bodleian Library, Bangor University Library, and to Denis Hall and Rex Lawson at the Pianola Institute. My research was considerably enriched through the European Erasmus Exchange Programme which gave me the opportunity to spend the academic year 2013-14 at the Université Paris-Sorbonne (Paris IV). Grateful thanks are extended to the administrator of the Maîtrise programme Aurélie Dorval for her generous help with refining my French language skills, and to the library staff at the Bibliothèques de Clignancourt and de Serpente. Additionally, I extend my appreciative thanks to the staff of the Département de musique at the Bibliothèque nationale de France for giving me access to rare historical documents including manuscripts, first editions and working scores. I am immensely grateful to the staff at the Médiathèque Musicale Mahler, in particular their Directeur Henry-Louis de la Grange, and the librarians Sonia Popoff, Alena Parthonnaud, and Christiane David who went above and beyond the call of duty in dealing with all my requests when exploring the Fonds Marguerite Long, Alfred Cortot, Yvonne Lefébure, Samson François and Émile ii Vuillermoz, and for pointing me in the direction of their collection of historic recordings and other priceless treasures housed in their archives. I am especially grateful to Claude Moreau, curator of the Musée Maurice Ravel at La Belvédère in Montfort l’Amaury, for a life-changing experience: the opportunity to play Ravel’s piano works on his 1908 Érard grand piano on many occasions, and for sharing her unique knowledge of and passion for the composer. To Roy Howat I owe a huge debt of gratitude for being a mine of information on all things Parisian and for his inspiring scholarship in the field of French pianism. My interest in French pianism and specifically the study of Ravel’s piano music has been nurtured and developed over many years under the watchful instruction of my piano teachers Cécile Ousset, Noretta Conci, Phyllis Sellick, Bernice Lehmann, E. Kendall Taylor and Colin Horsley. To them all I proffer my heartfelt thanks. Last but not least I thank my supervisor at Cardiff, Dr Caroline Rae, for her tremendous support. Her extensive knowledge and experience as a research scholar and performer in the field of twentieth-century French music, constructive criticisms, sage advice, enthusiasm and generosity of spirit have contributed immeasurably to the preparation of this doctoral dissertation. Note: Translations of French texts are my own unless otherwise indicated. 1 Introduction At the beginning of the twentieth century, French composer Maurice Ravel created a new pianistic language by exploring sonority, nuance and expression in subtle, colourful and imaginative ways. Eighteenth- and nineteenth-century pianistic practices are reworked and expanded in Ravel’s hands, bringing a fresh perspective to repeated note passages, double note glissandi, wide stretches, rapid movements across the keyboard, multi-layered textures and extended pedalling techniques. In this way Ravel’s pianistic sound world encompasses a vast array of touches and articulations, ranging from the Baroque and Classical keyboard techniques employed in the Sonatine (1903-5) and Le Tombeau de Couperin (1914-17) to the colouristic landscapes of Jeux d’eau (1901) and Miroirs (1904-5) and the orchestrally inspired textures of Gaspard de la nuit (1908). That Ravel’s knowledge of the piano’s capabilities was substantial at the start of his professional career is evident from the extraordinary impact he made with his first major piano work, Jeux d’eau, composed only a year after he had completed his composition studies with Gabriel Fauré at the Paris Conservatoire. The violinist Hélène Jourdan-Morhange stated that ‘this piece opened new horizons in piano technique’; Ravel’s composition student and close friend Alexis Roland- Manuel declared it to have ‘the hallmark of mastery’, and Ravel biographer Roger Nichols called it ‘the key work for the Impressionist school of French piano writers’.1 The 1 Vlado Perlemuter and Hélène Jourdan-Morhange, Ravel d’après Ravel (Lausanne: Editions du Cervin, 1957; 5/1970). Augmented re-edition: Ravel d’après Ravel, suivi des Rencontres avec Vlado Perlemuter, ed. jean Roy (Aix-en-Provence: Alinéa, 1989). English edition (from the above 1970 volume): Ravel according to Ravel. English trans. Frances Tanner, ed. Harold Taylor (London: Kahn & Averill, 1990), p. 5. Alexis Roland-Manuel: À la gloire de Ravel (Paris: Nouvelle Revue Critique, 1938). English edition: Maurice Ravel, trans. Cynthia jolly (London: Dobson, 1947), p. 30. Roger Nichols, Ravel (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2011), p. 40. 2 rich profusion of techniques Ravel brought to Jeux d’eau and the subsequent piano works pose the question: what were the core components of his pianism that led to such innovation? This dissertation addresses this by conducting the first comprehensive study into Ravel’s formative pianistic training during the period 1882-1897. Primary research questions include the following: How did Ravel’s early musical education lead him to compose piano works of such diversity and startling originality? What role did his physical connection with the piano play in the creative process? Most of the existing scholarly literature on Ravel gives only a brief mention to this period amounting to a list of his teachers, the works he performed and some critical commentary on his performances in end-of-term examinations at the Paris Conservatoire.2 In order to get to the foundations of Ravel’s pianism this study explores the pedagogical practices of Ravel’s piano teachers by scrutinizing their published teaching materials, and analysing the solo and concertante piano works Ravel is known to have played in public during these early years, beginning with Ignaz Moscheles’ Piano Concerto No. 3 (1820) with which he gave his debut performance in june 1888 at the age of thirteen. By comparing the findings with Ravel’s solo piano works the study has uncovered crucial new evidence pointing to major influences on Ravel’s compositional style for the piano that include the Stile brillante, the piano works of Robert Schumann, and the piano concertos of Edvard Grieg and Camille Saint-Saëns. 2 Arbie Orenstein, Ravel Man and Musician (New York: Columbia University Press, 1975 revised 1991), pp. 11-17. Roger Nichols, Ravel (2011), pp. 9-14. 3 Ravel’s connectivity with the keyboard is seen as having a key role in the materialisation of thematic, textural, and expressive components within his piano works.