Ravel, Piano Concerto in G, first movement
Free sonata form. 8 min., 15 sec.
| EXPOSITION |
In my own compositions I judge a long period of conscious gestation necessary. During this interval I come progressively, and with growing precision, to see the form and the evolution that the final work will take. . . . But one must spend much time in eliminating all that could be regarded as superfluous in order to realize as completely as possible the definitive clarity so much desired. Maurice Ravel, a meticulous musician and man |
|
| 0:00 | Theme 1, piccolo, syncopated strings pizzicato | |
| 0:24 | Theme 1, trumpet, syncopated brass | |
| 0:36 | Sudden modulation | |
| Second group | ||
| 0:44 | Theme 2, piano: slower; interrupted by the “break” | |
| 1:40 | Theme 3, piano | |
| 2:17 | Theme 3, orchestra — bassoon, trumpet | |
| 2:35 | Vigorous, driving music for the piano | |
| 2:54 | Break, soon repeated | |
| 3:27 | Approach to a cadence | |
| 3:36 | Retransition: upward scales in the piano | |
| RECAPITULATION | ||
| 3:45 | Theme 1, piano, ff; returns to the tonic key | |
| 3:57 | Sudden modulation | |
| Second group | ||
| 4:05 | Theme 2, piano — with gong | |
| 4:30 | Dreamlike episode: theme 2, harp | |
| 5:08 | Break; melody continues in the French horn | |
| 5:44 | “Cadenza”:theme 3, with extensive trills | |
| 6:34 | theme 3, piano and orchestra | |
| 7:04 | Piano: vigorous, brilliant; Theme 1 reemerges | |
| 7:37 | Approach to a cadence | |
| CODA | ||
| 7:42 | Orchestra (trumpet), f, in the original tonic key, with motives derived from theme 1 | |
| 7:59 | ff | |