SMU Ivory Keys is proud to present "Klaviesta" to our KZfaq audience; our first live annual production held at an outside venue since COVID-19! ✨ Taken place at the Esplanade Recital Studio on 16 October 2023, we hope to bring you a wondrous, enchanting night of piano music, all from the comfort of your little black box at home.
Joseph Maurice Ravel, born on 7th March 1875 in Ciboure, France, is often associated with Impression, a label which he often resisted. Renowned for his orchestration, some of Ravel’s famous orchestral works include Boléro and Daphnis et Chloé. His repertoire spans from piano, chamber music, to operas and ballets, showcasing his versatility across diverse musical forms. His early influences included his father, an engineer and inventor, who encouraged and developed his taste in music. At the young age of 14 in 1889, Ravel enrolled into the Conservatoire de Paris. There, he studied composition with Gabriel Fauré in 1897, whose mentorship had profound influence on his development as a composer.
Jeux d’eau, composed in 1901, is a single movement piece for solo piano. Dedicated to Fauré, Ravel’s teacher at that time, the title varyingly translates to "Fountains" or “Water Games”, evocative of the nature of flowing water. The piece is characterised by shimmering and sweeping cascading figurations, which skilfully harness the piano's range to portray the seemingly graceful, yet untamed fluidity of water. Jeux d'eau's opens with a tranquil water landscape with hinting moments of gentle cascades. Throughout the composition, Ravel vividly portrays the multiple personas of water - rapid at times, languid in others. Midway through, a tumultuous frenzy of water life propels the composition to its zenith with a resounding grand glissando. The opening motif resurfaces towards the end, this time a little more subdued, inviting a sense of quiet and reflection. The piece concludes with a flourish of rapid sixty-fourth notes and reminiscence of a pentatonic melody, before fading off into silence.
Performed by Neo Gin-E at Annual Production 2023, 16 October 2023.
Brought to you by SMU Ivory Keys.
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