07-03-2021, 20:17
A long gone composer, Maurice Ravel, was born on this day in 1875, in Ciboure, France. I've been listening to classical music lately, having a little hiatus from chatter. Ravel's mother was of Basque extraction and quite feisty from what I can gather which may have had some influence on this thinking, which was progressive, and less than conservative; he was a bit of a maverick in his time, musically speaking and possibly in other areas too, and his compositions are remarkable, IMHO. Equally remarkable is the playing of the soloist in the clip below, Martha Argerich, who was 73 at the time of this recording. Now that is why you need to practice your scales!! Dazzling virtuosity of the highest order and yet still conveying the emotion and colour of the work. And then popular culture would have us believe that what the likes of the disgusting 6ix9ine and his cohorts spews out is music and artistry too. I'm not buying it - not for one second!
The adagio in the middle is divine ... (that part on its own here with another virtuoso pianist, Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli at the helm ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qHjuFabw-y0), and another beautiful and probably better known piece of Ravel's - "Pavanne for a Dead Princess" - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GKkeDqJBlK8.
The adagio in the middle is divine ... (that part on its own here with another virtuoso pianist, Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli at the helm ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qHjuFabw-y0), and another beautiful and probably better known piece of Ravel's - "Pavanne for a Dead Princess" - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GKkeDqJBlK8.
"The surest sign that intelligent life exists elsewhere in the universe is that it has never tried to contact us." ~ Bill Watterson