Haydn - Chopin - Debussy - Ravel

In Music History books, Franz Joseph Haydn (1732-1809) is often referred to as the father of modern symphony and the artifice of the string quartet. Without questioning the accuracy of these statements, we have to recognize the relevance of Haydn influence in the development of the piano sonata. Truth is, there are previous piano sonatas in existence, but in Haydn the formal element is complimented by a new significance. In the context of music Classicism, Haydn represents the great model to follow and determines the historical development of the notion. This CD, taped after 200 years of Haydn's death, constitutes an homage to his body of work. Sonata number 50 in D Major, included on this CD, titled "London", is one of the last three pieces composed by Haydn. It was written during his second visit to this city (1794-5), for a renowned concert pianist named Therese Jansen, mentored by Clementi. Consisting of three movements, the initial Allegro of this sonata is followed by a slow movement that opens in A Minor tone, deepens the development of the main theme and derives in to the Finale (Presto ma non troppo). The level of Haydn's piano pieces is startling, especially considering the fact that he was not a pianist. Above all, it is necessary to point out the fact that Haydn embodies a perfect balance between the formalism that stems from Classicism and the "Sturm und drang" (storm and impulse) which paves the road for the Romantic period.

In the Romantic era, Frederic Chopin (1810-1849) appears as the top representative of piano music. As a composer, all throughout his life, he dedicated himself to the instrument almost exclusively, marking the evolution of piano technique and showing a remarkable stylistic refinement, evidenced particularly in his usage of harmonies. Many have tried to convince him to engage in other musical forms but Chopin's position remained firm: "Let me be who I must be, a piano composer, because it's the only thing I know to do and wish to do". Chopin never took lessons with any renowned master. At a very young age, he decided to develop a style of his own and that was the reason he avoided his piano classes at the Varsovia Conservatory and why later, when he arrived to Paris in 1831, he declined an invitation to take classes with Kalkbrenner, one of the best pianists of his time. The decision was clearly the right one. Chopin is placed in history as the ultimate romantic pianist, not only because of his personal life, but above all for the lyric feeling that embodies all of his pieces. He paid special attention to the short forms and the character pieces, typically romantic. Unlike many of his contemporaries, he dedicated himself to writing pure music, in the sense of not allowing himself to be influenced by literature or visual arts. Chopin elaborated abstract forms, outside of any non-musical reference. The fantasy titles that have been applied to his pieces were not his idea. As a matter of fact, he was enraged by an English edition of his Scherzo Op. 20, included on this CD, which was named "Infernal Banquet".

Chopin composed four scherzos, out of which this one is the first one, with a very expressive and almost dreamy interlude, closer to Debussy's work. His nationalism shows in the fact that the first notes of the melody were taken from a Polish carol. This nationalism is also seen in the Studio Op. 10 number 12, also known as "Revolutionary", even though this piece was not titled by Chopin and only responds to a coincidence of it being written in 1930, the year of the first Polish insurrection against Russian domination. Anyway, it's true that this piece is very passionate, agitated and intense, very much attuned to the idea of a revolution. Chopin composed a total of 27 Studies, all of them technically difficult and charged with great expressivity and high musical quality. The Studies of Opus 10, the group to which number 12 belongs to, were dedicated to his friend and peer Franz Liszt.

The implications of Chopin's work is immense, so much that without him it's impossible to imagine the music of later composers such as Fauré, Debussy, Scriabin and many others. Claude Debussy (1862-1918) could very well be placed as Chopin's successor. Debussy is often described as an impressionist composer. This was a label that Debussy despised because he understood that "the freedom that you can get from music is greater than the freedom you can obtain from any other art form", and he explained it by saying that music is not limited by the intent of reproducing nature but is based on a mysterious correspondence between nature and the imagination. In this regard, it has been said that Debussy's Preludes suggest but never spell it out, they talk but never explain. Debussy describes in his music the things that are around him. It's not just about the composer's imagination, it's also about the interpreter's, who also has an important place in Debussy's world. The same could be said about the listener. "Who knows the secret of the musical work?", asks Debussy in a letter to a friend. And he quickly adds: "The noise that the ocean makes, the curve of the horizon, the wind on the leaves, a bird's song, awaken in us multiple impressions. Then suddenly and without our acquiescence, some of those images take the shape of a musical piece. But each one of them conveys its own harmony."

This is in agreement with the fact that Debussy applied compositional liberty, something that his teachers frowned upon since it felt to them that he was mocking conventional composing. Whether that was his intention or not, Debussy delighted himself in writing music that violated the established rules. "Everything he does is wrong", said one of his teachers. "Wrong in a manner that is full of talent". The two Debussy pieces included on this CD, "Minstrels" and "The Anacapri Hills", belong to the first book of Preludes, composed between December 1909 and February 1910. Both have an non-musical component. In the first piece, the particular rhythm of the piece reminds us of a vaudeville atmosphere, and it's easy to imagine an eccentric gentleman who walks on the stage to the beat of the music. In the second one, Debussy takes us to a seductive Italian landscape, between sensual and reminiscent of a pastoral setting. These Preludes must not be seen as a descriptive painting but as an invitation to dream. And this is the perfect place to apply what Debussy once said: "When you don't have the money to travel, you must use your imagination."

the interpreter to insert his own imagination to the piece, Ravel doesn't trust him by indicating to him that his role is limited to playing the piece. Ravel's work, also associated with the Impressionism, shows a bold Neo Classical style and is the fruit of a complex legacy and findings that revolutionized piano music. Recognized as a meticulous artisan, Ravel cultivates formal perfection and reveals, as one critic pointed out, "the most subtle intelligence games". His Noble and Sentimental Waltzes were composed in 1911, as an homage to Franz Schubert, who in 1823 wrote two books of waltzes entitled "Noble” and “Sentimental". On the original score of the piece, Ravel seems to downplay his work when he transcribes Henri de Réguier's phrase: "The delicious and timeless pleasure of a futile occupation". However, under this mask of apparent levity hides a desire for synthesis and renovation. It's not by chance that months later, Ravel resumes this piece and decides to add orchestration to it to later turn it into a ballet called "Adelaida or the language of flowers", that way emphasizing his desire to modernize music forms. In Ravel's work, unlike Debussy's, the rigor of formal and clear dispositions prevail, not freedom and dreaming. The only thing from the traditional Vienna Waltz that the listener will find is the 3x4 tempo . The rest is renovation and genius, especially in the penultimate number of the piece where it reaches an apotheosis of this genre.

GERMAN SERAIN