Views And Reviews: Ravel's Piano Concerto (Left Hand)
... In 1930, along came Paul Wittgenstein, a pianist damaged by the self-same conflict (World War One), but whose indomitable spirit demanded music for his remaining hand to master. Imagine the effect on Ravel, imagine the challenge!..
Paul Serotksy tells how Ravel rose triumphantly to the challenge of writing a piano concerto for the left hand.
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Ravel (1875-1937) – Concerto for Piano (Left Hand) and Orchestra
If he was struggling with one piano concerto, how come writing another vanquished Ravel’s writer’s block? Well, let’s start with the Great War. Ravel did his bit, driving ambulance-loads of shattered men. He believed his world was doomed. In some ways it was, judging by his music – for example, the movements of the original “Le Tombeau de Couperin” were touchingly dedicated to wounded soldiers he had known. In 1930, along came Paul Wittgenstein, a pianist damaged by the self-same conflict, but whose indomitable spirit demanded music for his remaining hand to master. Imagine the effect on Ravel, imagine the challenge!
The dark hues of the Concerto in D Minor are generally ascribed to the technical limitations of “the left hand”. Poppycock! If Ravel had wanted button-brightness, he’d simply have moved the piano stool to the right. No, solemnity of subject dictated the sound. Thus it begins: struggling from a slough of sonic sump-oil, a vast orchestral gestation disgorges the soloist, flexing his artful limb. Surely, this is Ravel’s vision of Wittgenstein’s “rebirth”? With maximum majesty, Ravel’s orchestra reiterates the soloist’s stately sarabande, a dance redolent of nobler times – whilst the protagonists are equally vitriolic in attacking the central jazz “march”, representing the opposing side of the coin.
It’s like an evocative symphonic poem, inspired by common experience, in which Ravel expresses admiration for the commissioner, whilst finding a “block-busting” catharsis for himself. However, Ravel endows it with exceptional formal symmetry. It is (dare I say?) a concerto that any self-respecting soloist should give his right arm for – and one of the greatest of all musical achievements.
© Paul Serotsky
