la valse

I had no idea that Ravel and Diaghilev were going to collaborate.
I love Ravel's description of this piece, referencing drifting clouds that reveals glimpses through rifts.
While Glenn Gould is far from my favorite,
he still represents some kind of history among piano legends.

In case you are wondering, Ravel is the one on the right, definitely the loser of the mustache contest in this photo.


It was Serge Diaghilev, ballet impresario for “Ballet Russe”, who asked Ravel to write what would eventually be “La Valse”, to include on a programme shared with Stravinsky’s “Pulcinella”.
Ravel prepared the orchestral version first, but presented the music to Diaghilev in a two-piano reduction, (played by Ravel and Marcelle Meyer) which was not at all approved by Diaghilev. He declared it to be "a masterpiece...but not a ballet...” and refused to have it choreographed. Stravinsky, who was also present at the time of the “test-drive”, remained in absolute silence.
This work has caused the fracture in the relation between Ravel and Diaghilev, previously strained by a disagreement over “Daphnis and Chloé”.

For years Ravel had in mind to write a tribute to Johann Strauss Jr. in style of somewhat a Viennese waltz.
Perhaps, had Strauss been alive, he would consider the result obscene. “Ravel's waltz is both nostalgic and sinister, rising from nothing but a vague rhythmic pulse, proceeding through several distinct waltz sequences (much more closely linked thematically than in any Strauss waltz), each culminating in an increasingly powerful crescendo and ending in apocalypse. Along the way come disturbing accellerandi and ritardandi (making this particularly unsuitable for ballroom dancing), dynamic extremes, and eerie glissandi, creating an atmosphere of violence, decadence, and decay. In short, it is a portrait of Vienna (and Europe) in the years surrounding World War I.” (James Reel)
However, here is the description that Ravel himself wrote in the preface of the work: “Drifting clouds give glimpses, through rifts, of couples waltzing. The clouds gradually scatter, and an immense hall can be seen, filled with a whirling crowd. The scene gradually becomes illuminated. The light of chandeliers bursts forth. An imperial court about 1885."

Subsequently, “La Valse” became a popular concert work and when the two men met again, Ravel refused to shake Diaghilev's hand. Diaghilev challenged Ravel to a duel, but friends persuaded Diaghilev to recant. The men never met again.

The ballet was premiered in Antwerp in October 1926 by the Royal Flemish Opera Ballet, and there were later productions by the Ballets Ida Rubinstein in 1928 and 1931 with choreography by Bronislava Nijinska. The music was also used for ballets of the same title by George Balanchine, who had made dances for Diaghilev, in 1951 and by Frederick Ashton in 1958.

Despite the fact that the work is best known for its orchestral version, and the two piano reduction of it, ( as well as for 4-hands) there is also Ravel’s own “transcription” for solo-piano. Being extremely difficult, it is infrequently played, although it did meet with the approval of Glenn Gould, who rarely bothered with Ravel's other music, for the reason that “it requires a completely different touch and technique to play...” .

Here is yet another transcription of Ravel’s transcription of “La Valse” by Glenn Gould.

Maurice Ravel - “La Valse, poème choréographique” ( Arr. Glenn Gould )

Glenn Gould - piano



via {history of music}