[Gulda] Ravel: Sonatine for Piano

Maurice Ravel(1875-1937)
Sonatine

00:00 01-Modéré
03:42 02-Menuet
06:52 03-Animé

Piano: Friedrich Gulda(1930-2000)

[aldoringo]

That first phrase and the variation on it is just perfect. Indescribably beautiful. I could live for eternity and I would never be able to fathom it.

[PianoBuffs]

I'm used to hearing Gulda doing Jazz and all sorts of crazy performances. But this is truly up there among the best renditions of this masterpiece. Phenomenal❤

[luciobecker]

Thank You for this wonderful. Now it is morning, i always feel a little depressed as soon as i wake up, and now i dont want to listen to news at radio. This Beauty helps me to go on until i feel better. Greetings from Rome Italy, 29 May 2019.

[joshscores]

Ravel began composing what later became known as his Sonatine when the Anglo-French magazine Weekly Critical Review conducted a competition for the first movement of a piano sonata. He was at an advantage with a unique style that gave him the ability to take the traditional sonata form, which had come to a "dead end" during the second half of the nineteenth century, and bring life to it by avoiding pitfalls and clichés. When the magazine went bankrupt, Ravel added two more movements to his competition piece, and thus completed his Sonatine. Representative of his first formative period, the work is bright and clear, and only gently touches the listener's emotions. Using fluidity, light coloring, and the intervals of the fourth and fifth as unifying features, the work is written using primarily the three middle octaves of the piano. Ravel was known for his tightly written pieces and Sonatine was no exception; it easily reminds one of the refined objets d'art of the eighteenth century. The opening Modéré-doux et espressif -- is written in strict sonata form, has a first theme around the tonality of F sharp minor, a second around D major and B minor, and a development section of intense excitement. The second movement -- Mouvement de menuet -- is an uncomplicated minuet in D flat, which flowers in its final measures. The work closes with virtuoso writing marked Animé. Moving nervously between 3/4 and 5/4, waves of music pour forward with a few horn calls in the left hand.

When on June 16, 1904, the first movement of the Sonatine was performed for its dedicatees Cipa and Ida Godebski (Ma Mère l'oye was dedicated to their children), it was very well received, and when the full work was given by Paule de Lestang on March 10, 1906, under the patronage of the Lyon Revue musicale, enthusiasm was so great that Durand put it into immediate publication.

(AllMusic)

[ulysse__]

0:00 I. Modéré
3:43 II. Mouvement de Menuet
6:52 III. Animé

[mattiascravaglieri]

this interpretation is a miracle. Guida is one of the best pianist of the XX century

[YL-kliv]

My favorite piece of music at all time！

[estherknv]

1ч
00:00 ГП
00:24 ПП
2:53 Реприза
2ч
3:42 Осн т
4:26 Середина
5:13 осн т
3ч
6:52 Гп

[MingledLOL]

This makes me cry because its so beautifull, and because I know, that I will never compose something as good as this 😅😭

[bewareofthecow]

Something about this piece is so nostalgic.

[granthicks]

I wonder why he plays G naturals at 8:42.  The score I have matches this one in calling for G sharps.  Is Gulda playing from a different score?

[Forestave]

When I hear this I can see my childhood in Sion Switzerland near modernist buildings on tops of hills surrounded by cedar trees

[jonathanherrera]

Gracias por la recomendación Kaede <3

[JoSw]

saw this piece performed live recently, actually with an orchestra instead of the piano, and it was just as beautiful, an amazing experience

[ariapiast]

My bestfriend loves this piece. Thank you!

[voltairinekropotkin]

The background static is actually really welcome if you've got tinnitus like me and find it hard to enjoy piano music.

[franciscadavies]

0:24 SAME CHORDS AS IN THE OPENING OF AVE VERUM CORPUS

[tomtriffid]

The information about the composer says he died in 1935; in fact, Ravel died in 1937.

[scronx]

THIS beautiful, graceful material they have to interrupt with Disney ads?

[lightyagami]

7:49 similar harmonic structure to Claire De Lune.