BaL 13.03.21 - Ravel: Introduction and Allegro

**Pulcinella** · 02-03-21, 14:31

Sterling work, as ever, Alpie.
I was wondering how you were going to tackle listing performers for this one, as sometimes they are (members of) an ensemble, or based around a named String Quartet; we also have the piano duet version (and possibly a harp + piano version and a full orchestral arrangement too!).

Here's a YouTube with score video (also posted on that thread):

Ravel: Introduction and allegro

https://youtu.be/bBm1w8J63mg

Harp: Skaila Kanga
Flute: William Bennett
Clarinet: Andrew Marriner
Violins: Kenneth Sillito, Malcolm Latchem
Viola: Stephen Shingles
Cello: Denis Vigay
(Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields Chamber Ensemble)

**Pulcinella** · 02-03-21, 14:44

A quick correction/clarification if I may, Alpie.
The Presto site claims that the performers on the two Melos Ensemble recordings (Decca, 1961; EMI, 1967 according to the CD booklet in the incarnation I have, but 1968 according to the Presto site) are the same, though they are not individually listed in the Decca booklet:

Gervase de Peyer, Ivor McMahon, Terence Weil, Emanuel Hurwitz, Richard Adeney, Cecil Aronowitz, Osian Ellis

Whether they were or not, Kyung-Wha Chung and Radu Lupu are performers in other works on the Decca recording, not in the Ravel.

**cloughie** · 02-03-21, 14:55

Originally posted by Eine Alpensinfonie View Post

A trawl through the best of this the week’s classical music releases, and in Building a Library Jeremy Sams chooses his favourite recording of Ravel’s Introduction and Allegro.

Available versions:-

Skaila Kanga, Academy of St Martin in the Fields Chamber Ensemble *

Ieuan Jones, James Campbell, William Bennett, Allegri String Quartet

Erica Goodman, Stanley McCartney, Suzanne Shulman, Amadeus Ensemble *

Amsterdam Sinfonietta, Lavinia Meijer

Jadwiga Okon-Halicka, Urszula Janik-Krzemionka, Walter Stauffer, Camerata Quartet *

Phia Berghout, Géza Anda, Chamber Music Society of Amsterdam

Fibonacci Sequence

Nicanor Zabaleta, Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra, Ferenc Fricsay

National Philharmonic Orchestra, David Watkins, William Bennett, Tom Kelly, Charles Gerhardt *

Ann Mason Stockton, Arthur Gleghorn, Mitchell Lurie, Hollywood String Quartet

Horenstein Ensemble *

Eva Maros, Zoltan Gyongyossy, Bela Kovacs, Kodály Quartet

Labyrinth Ensemble

Clark Brody, Edward Druzinsky, Donald Peck, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Jean Martinon *

Kyung-Wha Chung, Radu Lupu, Osian Ellis, Melos Ensemble

Gervase de Peyer, Ivor McMahon, Terence Weil, Emanuel Hurwitz, Richard Adeney, Cecil Aronowitz, Osian Ellis, Melos Ensemble

Montreal Chamber Players

Nash Ensemble

David Watkins, William Bennett, Tom Kelly, National Philharmonic Orchestra, Charles Gerhardt *

Oxalys

Isabelle Moretti (harp), Parisii Quartet *

Jean-Pierre Rampal, Ulysse Delecluse, Lily Laskine, Pascal String Quartet *

Prometheus Ensemble

Quatuor Parisii, Florent Héau, Patrick Gallois, Marielle Nordmann *

Pierre Jamet, Radiodiffusion francaise Soloists, Pierre Capdevielle

Pablo Schatzman, Marie Lenormand (soloist), Ensemble Musica Nigella,Takénori Némoto *

United States Air Force Chamber Players *

Per Flemström , Fredrik Fors, Ellen Bødtker, Sjur Bjaerke, Vertavo String Quartet

Sylvia Kowalczuk, Andras Somos, Laszlo Mayer, Hungarian Virtuosi *

Hans Rudolf Stalder, Peter-Lukas Graf, Ursula Holliger, Die Zürcher Kammermusiker *

Nicanor Zabaleta, Guy Deplus, Hamisa Dor, Christian Larde, Anka Moraver, Monique Frasca-Colombier, Marguerite Vidal *

Marco Polidori, Stefano Vagnarelli, Federico Giarbella, Alfredo Giarbella, Rita Bracci, Edgardo Garnero, Maria Elena Bovio

Joseph Lin, Marie-Elisabeth Hecker, Moran Katz, Joshua Smith, Benjamin Beilman, Sivan Magen, Luke Fleming

Ronald Neal, Delmar Pettys, David Hermann, Megan Meisenbach, Mary Golden, Gayane Manasjan, Richard MacDowell

Jozsef Balogh, Bela Banfalvi, Gyorgy Konrad, Andrea Vigh, Laszlo Jakobi, Eszter Horgas, Zsuzsanna Nemeth-Fejervari *

Robert Murcie, Gwendolen Mason, Chamber Ensemble, Maurice Ravel *

Rachel Talitman, Marcos Fregnani-Martins, Jean-Marc Fessard, Daniel Rubenstein, Laurent Houque, Raphaël Aubry, Hélène Dautry

Hedi Lubik, Pal Eder, Ildiko Hegyi, Peter Lukacs, Laszlo Mezo, Attila Lajos, Bela Kovacs, Andras Mihaly

James Galway, Richard Stoltzman, Heidi Lehwalder, Tokyo String Quartet

Wolfgang Schulz, Margit-Anna Suss, Georg Faust, Karl Leister, Wolfram Christ, Gerhart Hetzel, Rainer Honeck

Cyril Lacrouts, Benoît Fromanger, Frédéric Laroque, Gérard Torgomian, Pierre Lénert, Maurice Gabai, Markus Klinko, Marko Klinko *

Nicanor Zabaleta, Guy Deplus, Hamisa Dor, Christian Larde, Anka Moraver, Monique Frasca-Colombier, Marguerite Vidal

Stanley Konopka, Martin Chalifour, Yolanda Kondonassis, Thomas Sperl, Wei-Fang Gu, Joshua Smith, Franklin Cohen, Richard Weiss *

Céline Nessi, Alain Moglia, Orchestre de Chambre National de Toulouse, Susanna Mildonian, Romain Guyot *

Tatiana Oskolkova, Oleg Sergeev, Irina Ivanova, Dmitry Khakamov, Svetlana Stepchenko, Alexander Zagorinsky, Sergei Bolshakov

Andrea Vigh, Eszter Horgas, Zsuzsanna Nemeth-Fejervari, Jozsef Balogh, Bela Banfalvi, Laszlo Jakobi, Gyorgy Konrad

Ronald Neal, Delmar Pettys, David Hermann, Megan Meisenbach, Mary Golden, Gayane Manasjan, Richard MacDowell *

Louis Lortie, Hélène Mercier

Jennifer Micallef, Glen Inanga

Alessandro Stella, Giorgia Tomassi *

Duo Harpian *

(* = download only)

Both of the Melos with Ellis are excellent (alps I think the one with Chung Lupu is the same Decca Melos but coupled with Chung and Lupu playing the Franck Sonata and others playing Debussy)
For the orchestral versions I would choose either Gerhardt or Martinon.

**richardfinegold** · 02-03-21, 15:28

Originally posted by cloughie View Post

Both of the Melos with Ellis are excellent (alps I think the one with Chung Lupu is the same Decca Melos but coupled with Chung and Lupu playing the Franck Sonata and others playing Debussy)
For the orchestral versions I would choose either Gerhardt or Martinon.

I have the Martinon, featuring the home town band here. I used to have a chamber version on lp, can’t recall who now..

**Eine Alpensinfonie** · 02-03-21, 15:34

Originally posted by Pulcinella View Post

Sterling work, as ever, Alpie.
I was wondering how you were going to tackle listing performers for this one, as sometimes they are (members of) an ensemble, or based around a named String Quartet...

Yes, well... I gave up after a while.

**Pulcinella** · 02-03-21, 15:44

Originally posted by Eine Alpensinfonie View Post

Yes, well... I gave up after a while.

I'm not surprised.
I might have been tempted simply to post a link to the Presto site, and let anyone interested enough find out for themselves what versions were listed as currently available and who is playing; considerable detective work might still be needed even given that, though, as (for example) there are three versions in the Warner Complete Ravel box, and I'm not sure that Presto credits all three!

**vinteuil** · 02-03-21, 15:56

.

Annie Challan, Robert Bex, André Boutard, Fernand Caratgé, Colette Lequien, Pierre Simon & Georges Tessier
.
Quintette Marie-Claire Jamet

.

**CallMePaul** · 02-03-21, 16:00

Is this the shortest work ever considered on BAL? It is one I have heard several times, mainly on R3, but I do not have a recording. I would personally consider couplings crucial if I decided to add it to my collection.

**Pulcinella** · 02-03-21, 16:12

In his 1960 book Ravel: Life and works, Rollo Myers says of the work:

This Septet, composed in 1906, was probably written as an exercise or test piece for the Paris Conservatoire, and was not even included in the composer's own catalogue of complete works.
...
It is an agreeable minor work, but does not call for any special comment.

While it is true that it does not feature in Ravel's catalogue of works, Myers seems unaware of its provenance (mentioned on the R3 Record Review site; credit given where it is due!).

In turn-of-the-century Paris harp wars raged between two rival harp manufacturers. But what could have been an arcane foot note in the history of an often dull solo instrument left the repertoire enriched by two of the leading French composers of the day. Claude Debussy's 1904 Danses sacrée et profane for solo harp was written for Pleyel. A year later Maurice Ravel's commission came from the firm of Érard and the result was his Introduction & Allegro 'pour Harpe avec accompagnement de Quatuor à cordes, Flûte et Clarinette', as the score puts it. Ravel's genius is in the amazing variety he gets out of the 'accompanying' instruments, from the barest whisper to the richest and most sumptuous textures. And whatever the relative merits of Ravel's and Debussy's music, of the two it's Ravel's Introduction & Allegro which has become the most frequently recorded repertoire staple (and it was the Érard instrument which triumphed over its rival).

**Bryn** · 02-03-21, 17:01

Originally posted by Pulcinella View Post

In his 1960 book Ravel: Life and works, Rollo Myers says of the work:

This Septet, composed in 1906, was probably written as an exercise or test piece for the Paris Conservatoire, and was not even included in the composer's own catalogue of complete works.
...
It is an agreeable minor work, but does not call for any special comment.

While it is true that it does not feature in Ravel's catalogue of works, Myers seems unaware of its provenance (mentioned on the R3 Record Review site; credit given where it is due!).

For Myers not to know that history is rather more than little remiss. It's about as basic as one can get about its origins.

**cloughie** · 02-03-21, 17:26

Originally posted by Pulcinella View Post

I'm not surprised.
I might have been tempted simply to post a link to the Presto site, and let anyone interested enough find out for themselves what versions were listed as currently available and who is playing; considerable detective work might still be needed even given that, though, as (for example) there are three versions in the Warner Complete Ravel box, and I'm not sure that Presto credits all three!

And the very poor listing in the Warner box booklet does not help, as we both know!

**Wychwood** · 02-03-21, 17:38

Originally posted by CallMePaul View Post

Is this the shortest work ever considered on BAL?

No, I don't think so. Debussy's Syrinx for solo flute was reviewed by Sarah Walker in a BaL in February 2006.

**gurnemanz** · 02-03-21, 18:12

The HMV album from the Melos Ensemble with Ossian Ellis coupled with Françaix and Poulenc was one my earliest classical LPs and thus got played a lot. On the Melos Icon box. I have another good version from the Endres Quartet with Helga Storck, Konrad Hampe and Gerd Starke on an a very interesting 3CD Vox Box of harp music. It was much liked by Joan Chissell in Gramophone. No longer available but a search of Presto site, as mentioned above, reveals its presence on two downloadable Ravel collections:

The Impressionist Composers

Maurice Ravel - Essential Works

No doubt it won't figure on BaL.

**ardcarp** · 02-03-21, 21:08

I'm really looking forward to this! And with any luck Jeremy Sams will have sufficient 'clout' not to let the 'discussion' descend into sheer b*******.
The harp has a very long history, simple versions of it being used in Ancient Times...and even now a relatively simple (and much cheaper!) Celtic or Folk harp is popular. These harps were/are tuned to a simple scale, one that doesn't allow for chromatic notes.

Forgive me if I waffle on about modern harps? At the end of the 19th century, it became obvious that a fully chromatic harp was needed both as a solo instrument and to be used as part of the symphony orchestra. Pleyel made a harp with two courses of strings corresponding to the black and white notes of the piano. This seemed obvious, but did have its drawbacks because the player's hands cannot cross from one side to the other, thus disallowing the flexibility of a piano keyboard. Fauré wrote his Impromptu Op. 86 for this type of harp as a competition piece for the Paris Conservatoire. (I believe the Premier Prix was won by an amazing 14-year old girl playing this type of harp.)

Erard, however came up with what has now become the modern concert harp. It has just one course of strings tuned to the diatonic scale of C flat major. (If you come across a C flat tuning fork, you'll know it once belonged to a harpist!) Having one course of strings means the player can use both hands equally. The instrument has 7 pedals each dedicated to one diatonic note. Each pedal has 3 positions, So the C pedal can can raise all the Cflat strings first to C then to C#. If a harpist begins a piece that is in A major he/she will probably organise the pedals at first so the harp plays a diatonic scale in that key. But of course as key-changes and accidentals occur the pedals are constantly being adjusted. It's a complicated business...but then these complications are all part of being a harp player! (It is this Erard-type harp that Ravel uses in the Introduction and Allegro.) Another complication is that a harpist has to know how to tune his/her own harp using Equal Temperament. (Nowadays, I suspect an electronic tuning device makes matters easier.) Many people, even some musicians, have absolutely no comprehension of what a harpist has to do....until, that is they come to write or arrange something for the harp.

Lecture nearly over...except to mention that a good modern concert harp is eye-wateringly expensive!

BaL 13.03.21 - Ravel: Introduction and Allegro

BaL 13.03.21 - Ravel: Introduction and Allegro

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