Ravel And His World

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201301Les Apaches20130701For the first time in the long-running history of Composer of the Week, Donald Macleod explores Ravel's life and music in the context of his friends in the artistic group, 'Les Apaches'.

Ravel's music will be threaded through the week, alongside works by fellow Apaches, Maurice Delage, D退odat de S退verac, Florent Schmitt, Paul Ladmirault and D退sir退-ɀmile Inghelbrecht. Among the music featured, there are some rarely heard gems, performed by the BBC National Orchestra of Wales and the BBC Singers.

Donald Macleod begins by looking at the early days of 'Les Apaches' in the company of Jann Pasler, Professor of Music at the University of California. Ravel's set of piano pieces 'Miroirs' bears dedications to five members of the group, while Delage references the painter Paul Sordes, who provided the studio where the first meetings took place. D退odat de S退verac's music evokes the sunny landscape of the Languedoc, and there's a rare opportunity to hear works by Paul Ladmirault and by D.E Inghelbrecht, in recordings made specially for Composer of the Week by the BBC Singers and the BBC National Orchestra of Wales.

At the turn of the twentieth century, Paris was populated by a multitude of composers, painters, writers and poets. When he was in his mid-twenties, Ravel became part of an informal group of artists involved in a range of different specialisms. Active in the years running up to the first world war, the numbers fluctuated, with anything up to twenty-five members. Around the time that the Ballets Russes was taking Paris by storm, Stravinsky and Manuel de Falla also joined the group.

The earlier musical members of 'Les Apaches' were similar in age; indeed many of them had met while studying at the Paris Conservatory. They included Ravel, and his childhood friend, the Spanish pianist Ricardo Viကes, who gave first performances of many works by Apache members. We'll also be hearing from Maurice Delage, a life-long friend of Ravel, who's probably best known to us as the composer of Four Hindu Poems, the exotically named minor aristocrat D退odat de S退verac whose music is infused with the light and character of his roots in Southern France, major chamber and orchestral pieces by Prix de Rome winner Florent Schmitt, songs and an orchestral piece much admired by Debussy from the Breton Paul Ladmirault and some rarely heard orchestral works by D退sir退-ɀmile Inghelbrecht. Better known as a conductor, Inghelbrecht was an acclaimed interpreter of Debussy, holding a series of important musical directorships before he formed the Orchestre National de la Radiodiffusion Fran瀀aise in 1934.

Admirers of Debussy and Russian music in particular, the Apaches took to meeting up once a week to hear each other's music and poetry, toss around ideas and share their views on the prevailing artistic currents. A group formed casually through friendship is often difficult to detail but in this case several Apache members left accounts. Dipping into these sources, Donald Macleod explores Ravel as he was remembered by his friends, in particular Ricardo Viကes, the poets L退on-Paul Fargue and Tristan Klingsor (L退on Lecl耀re) and the writer and critic Michel Dmitri Calvocoressi. He'll also be talking to Jann Pasler, from the University of California, San Diego, the author of several studies on the Apaches. They'll be fitting the musical jigsaw together, illustrating how different professional activities were mutually beneficial to Apache members and evaluating the group's significance and legacy.

Donald Macleod on the early days of Les Apaches, an artistic group to which Ravel belonged

201302Battling The Establishment20130702Donald Macleod on how Ravel and Florent Schmitt promoted performances of their own.
201303Les Apaches And Debussy20130703Exploring Debussy's influence on Ravel and other members of the artistic group Les Apaches
201304Musical Chairs20130704Donald Macleod considers how contrasting ideologies promoted by the Paris Conservatoire and the Schola Cantorum influenced the composers in the group 'Les Apaches'.

While Inghelbrecht dabbled in popular song, Ladmirault's fascination with folksong led to several settings of folksongs, recorded specially by the BBC Singers. The group's interests also leant towards the exotic, with Florent Schmitt's treatment of the biblical story of Salome and Maurice Delage's fascination with India. With Jann Pasler from the University of California, San Diego.

The influence of two contrasting musical ideologies on the composers in Les Apaches.

201305 LASTStravinsky And Les Apaches20130705In January 1912 a remarkable concert took place in Paris featuring new works by four Apaches members and Stravinsky's Three Japanese Lyrics. Donald Macleod concludes his exploration of Ravel's interaction with 'Les Apaches' by examining two major passions of the group, Russian music and poetry. We hear Ravel's setting of Tristan Klingsor's text and Florent Schmitt's Le Palais hant退, based on a poem from Edgar Allan Poe's 'The House of Usher'. To end there's the UK broadcast premiere of Delage's Ragamalika, specially recorded for the programme. With Jann Pasler, from the University of California, San Diego.

Donald Macleod examines two major passions of Les Apaches: Russian music and poetry.