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Feb. 6, 2023
Print | PDFThursday, March 2, 2023
Noon, Theatre Auditorium
Tickets required
La valse for two pianos, by Maurice Ravel (1875-1937)
Elaine Lau and Joseph Ferretti, pianos
half light, somnolent rains, by Jocelyn Morlock (b. 1969)
Elaine Lau and Joseph Ferretti, pianos
Further Reflection by Stealth
Point A by Stealth
Point B by Stealth
Point C by Stealth
Preface in the published score of La valse:
“Drifting clouds part and allow hazy glimpses of waltzing couples. They gradually dissipate, and we can distinguish (at A) an immense ballroom filled with a whirling crowd. The scene continues to clear. The glow of the chandeliers shines to a full splendor (at B). An Imperial Court ball, circa 1855.”
The first performance of La Valse was given at the home of Misia Sert, the dedicatee of the composition and legendary patron of the arts. Ravel himself was one of the two performing pianists! This premiere occurred in 1920, and the audience included such seminal figures as Ballets Russes impresario Serge Diaghilev, composers Igor Stravinsky and Francis Poulenc, and choreographer Léonide Massine. The work was originally conceived as a ballet to be performed by the Ballets Russes. This nascent idea materialized by 1914 into a work entitled Wien: Poème symphonique, which Ravel described as “a sort of apotheosis of the Viennese waltz, mingled with, in my mind, the impression of a fantastic, fatal whirling.” (1)
Ravel’s eventual orchestral version is primarily performed as a symphonic or concert work today (rather than for dancers). Ravel’s 2-piano version and the orchestral version are the most performed versions. Ravel later arranged it for solo piano. And, Lucien Garban transcribed a duet version that Ravel approved of. There have been other arrangements by others since.
Composer’s notes for half light, somnolent rains:
Written for Anna Levy and Jane Hayes, founders of the Yarilo Contemporary Music Society, in memory of Nikolai Korndorf on the fifth anniversary of his death. Revised in the summer of 2022, when he would have turned 75, coinciding with the release of the Yarilo Contemporary Music Society’s The Smile of Maud Lewis.
Half-light is the soft, subdued light seen at dusk or at dawn. When I wrote this music, I was in a sad state, thinking that Nikolai’s music and memory were gradually fading. In my mind, this picture portrayed the light at dusk, gradually fading. But with the release of The Smile of Maud Lewis, – a CD full of music by Nikolai Korndorf, and my piece
in memory of him, I believe his music and memory are being reborn in a new dawn.
(1) https://www.andersonroe.com/la-valse
All pieces performed by Stealth are freely improvised.