tombeau
program
Maurice Ravel
Le Tombeau de Couperin (arr. Matthew van Brink)
I. Prélude
William Baines
Seven Preludes for piano
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Moderately quick
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Slowly with serenity
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Furiously
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Very slowly, with devotion
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Moderate speed, dreamily
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Quickly
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Very quickly, with vigour
Maurice Ravel
Le Tombeau de Couperin (arr. Matthew van Brink)
II. Forlane
Rudi Stephan
Groteske für Geige und Klavier
Maurice Ravel
Le Tombeau de Couperin (arr. Matthew van Brink)
III. Menuet
Albéric Magnard
Piano Trio in F minor, Op. 18
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Sombre
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Chantant
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Vif: Tempo de valse
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Largement – Vif
intermission
Maurice Ravel
Le Tombeau de Couperin (arr. Matthew van Brink)
IV. Rigadoun
Maurice Ravel
Piano Trio in A minor, M. 67
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Modéré
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Pantoum. Assez vif
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Passacaille. Très large
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Finale. Animé
about this program
Ravel wrote his singular piano trio in an inspired five-week frenzy, just before enthusiastically enlisting to fight in World War I. Three short years later, the war was over and Ravel was forever altered: he had suffered mental and physical ailments on the front, he had driven munitions through heavy German artillery fire; and, perhaps most significantly, he had lost his mother. He composed another iconic piece, the Tombeau de Couperin, with each movement dedicated to a different friend who either died in the violence, or aided Ravel during his own convalescence.
World War I claimed the lives of innumerable artists, including many composers who surely would have become defining voices of the 20th century if they had only lived.
This program frames those lost voices with two Ravels: the youthful and enthusiastic man untouched by war, depicted by his piano trio; and the grief-stricken man who emerged from it, depicted by the Tombeau de Couperin. To the Tombeau, we add dedications of our own, to composers extinguished by the war, including William Baines, Rudi Stephan, and Albéric Magnard.