I i i I 1

Gaspard de la nuit Le Tombeau de Couperin

Jeux d’eau

HCR-5213

Beveridge Webster

piano

RAVEL

BEVERIDGE WEBSTER, piano

SIDE ONE GASPARD DE LA NUIT Ondine—Le gibet—Scarbo

JEUX D’EAU

SIDE TWO LE TOMBEAU DE COUPERIN Prelude—Fugue—Forlane—Rigaudon—Menuet—Toccata

On this unusual recording of Ravel piano music Jeux d’Eau, Gaspard de la Nuit and Le Tombeau de Couperin are thoughtfully programmed to indicate the innovations of Ravel’s youthful work in the early 1900’s, the striking virtuosity of his mature compositions, and the serious texture of his final piece for piano solo, written during World War One. As performed here by Beveridge Webster, the three works -form a brilliant musical chart of Ravel’s career as a composer for the piano.

Maurice Ravel was just twenty-six when he finished Jeux d'Eau, the picturesque composition that was to inspire a new technique of virtuoso piano writing in France. At times evanescent, at times delicately humorous, Jeux d'Eau was conceived as a musical counter¬ part to a line by the poet Henri de Regnier: “Dieu fluvial riant de I’eau qui le chatouille” (“A river god laughing at the waters that caress him”). Ravel himself described the piece as “inspired by the sound of water and the music of fountains . . , built up on two themes, after the fashion of the first movement of a sonata, without being entirely subjected to the classical scheme of tonality.”

The originality of Jeux d'Eau lay in its exploitation of the sonori¬ ties and tonal colors of the piano, and its extraordinary use of the upper registers of the instrument. In 1902, Ravel felt that he was merely continuing Liszt’s experimentation in the upper registers of the piano—trying to achieve the effect of fluency and light clarity sometimes heard in a Scarlatti sonata. Later, he concluded that Jeux d*Eau was the “original of all the novelties in pianism which people have noted in my work.”

The two themes are treated freely—the principal subject is more of an effect than a theme. There is little of the traditional develop¬ ment in the middle section—the second subject is referred to but neither altered nor enlarged upon. For the pianist, the composition presents a definite technical challenge. As he performs the many difficult passages, he must always keep the harmonic structure clear underneath the dazzling chromatic figuration. Ravel expected the pianist to achieve the necessary agility by placing himself low in relation to the keyboard, and by keeping his wrists supple, with the fingers playing fiat.

When Ravel wrote Gaspard de la Nuit in 1908, his intention was to create “pieces of transcendental virtuosity,” and many critics feel that this work is unsurpassed in its grand display of pianistic resources. Alfred Cortot has called the composition “one of the most astonishing examples of instrumental ingenuity ever contrived.”

Its astonishing virtuoso passages brilliantly project the extra¬ musical associations with the three prose poems by Aloysius Bertrand, “Ondine,” “Le Gibet” and “Scarbo,” all of them taken from Gaspard de la Nuit, the single manuscript of Bertrand’s poetry. Each piece is a weird nocturnal fantasy and conveys a medieval spirit of magic and mystery. “Ondine,” of course, is based on the legend of the cruel water sprite who entices attractive strangers to their death by her beauty and her haunting song. Ravel represents the sound of rivulets and rippling little waterfalls with delicate broken

chords and arpeggios, while underneath, Ondine’s seductive melody rises and falls. “Le Gibet” is a ghostly musical landscape. Bertrand indicated the scene in this manner: “It is the sound of a bell tolling from the walls of a town far away on the horizon, and a corpse hanging from a gibbet reddened by the rays of the setting sun.” A persistent B-fiat octave denotes the implacable toll of the bell, and the composer projects the solitude and despair of the scene with an ingenious handling of the harmonies. The subject of the third piece is equally grotesque. “Scarbo” is a dwarf, a wild figure from some infernal realm, who scratches and pirouettes his way through a devilish scherzo. Incredible technical problems confront the pianist here, such as the famous sixteenth-note runs in consecutive seconds, to be played with the thumb, and this bravura music is perhaps Ravel’s most difficult—as well as his most imaginative virtuoso work for the piano.

Ravel completed Le Tombeau de Couperin in 1917, dedicating the movements of the serene and graceful suite to six of his friends who were lost in the war—among whom was Henri de Marliave, the musicologist. The entire composition is a gesture of homage to Francois Couperin-le-Grand and the French music of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Here Ravel did not attempt to write in the manner of Couperin, but he did construct the various movements within the framework of the formal dance suites of Couperin’s period, using the appropriate titles. “Beautifully clear and pure” is Norman Demuth’s description of the^ suite. In reconstructing the movements within the tradition of past forms. Ravel captured the neoclassical spirit that was destined to play an important role in twentieth-century music..

The composition opens with a sprightly Prelude, similar in style to a courante, that is constructed on one triplet figure. This is followed by an orthodox Fugue, built upon a theme derived from the Prelude. The part-writing is clear; the effect is tranquil. Ravel introduces the Forlane with a series of unusual and piquant har¬ monies. This movement is in 6/8 dance tempo—the Forlane is said to have been a favorite of the Venetian gondoliers—and it recalls the ornamental style of Couperin and the harpsichord masters. The Rigaudon that follows is another early dance form. Lively, punc¬ tuated with a vigorous rhythm, this is the most popular of the six movements. The middle section is pastoral, with an almost plaintive melodic line. The fifth movement, Menuet, is stately and simple, containing a Musette in place of the later, developed trio. The technical requirements of the forceful Toccata are known: they place this final movement in a category with Jeux d'Eau and “Scarbo.”

—Cynthia Strowbridge

THE ARTIST Beveridge Webster, one of today’s outstanding keyboard masters,

is particularly fitted to perform these three works. For one thing.

he is an exceptional artist. For another, he scrupulously studied Ravel’s entire pianoforte output under the composer’s direct super¬ vision from 1926 to 1932. In fact, with Ravel’s approval, and often with his personal participation on the same program, Webster per¬ formed all of Ravel’s piano pieces in concert in France and else¬ where in Europe. He was, indeed, privileged to have seen the manuscripts of the two piano concertos, the next-to-last of Ravel’s compositions.

Webster has, therefore, a firm grasp of the peculiar Ravel idiom, a deep and sure understanding of its nuance and meaning. It is no surprise that his performance on this recording is superb. But his stylistic and technical brilliance has been no less manifest in his interpretations of other schools of music, earning him a rightful place high on the list of favorites among European and American cohcert-goers.

Born in Pittsburgh, Pa., where Beveridge Sr. had founded the Pitts¬ burgh Conservatory of Music, Webster had his first piano lesson from his father at age 5, on Christmas Day, as a result of begging for it as a gift. It soon became apparent that his was no casual talent, and music became his consuming interest. In 1921, the whole family moved to Paris, giving the young pianist the opportunity to study under Isidor Phillip. In 1922, he received his first taste of public recognition—first prize at the American Conservatory, Fontainebleau, at the age of 14.

In the years that followed, his reputation has grown steadily: he was the first American to win first prize in piano at the famed Paris Conservatory; his concert debut was warmly received by Pari¬ sian press and public alike; his first large-scale appearance in his native United States, as soloist with the New York Philharmonic in 1934, began an illustrious American career that has included performances under such major conductors as Koussevitsky, Reiner, Paray, Monteux, 6rmandy, and Klemperer; in 1949, he received the NAACC Annual Award, for outstanding contributions to American music.

Although Beveridge Webster’s chief fame has come as a recitalist and as a soloist with orchestra, his wide-ranging musical interests have led him to play often in chamber ensembles, to accompany prominent singers and instrumentalists, and to indulge in that de¬ light of pianists, four-hand piano music. They have also led him into wholly different, but no less important, aspects of music. He was one of the founders of the Schnabel Memorial Committee, Schnabel having been one of his teachers, and its President for three years, and he is on the Board of Directors of the Naumberg Foundation. Since 1960 he has taught and performed at the Aspen Music Festival and School, where he has been chairman of the Board of Administration. Currently, he is an eminent teacher at the Juilliard School, conducting classes in chamber music and ensemble as well as in piano.

In 1961 he was awarded an Honorary Degree as Doctor of Music by the University of New Hampshire.

ALSO AVAILABLE IN THIS SERIES Bartok: Violin Concerto, Gitiis, Pro Musica Orch., Vienna (Horenstein), and Sonata

for Unaccompanied Violin, Gitiis.

Donizetti: Betly (La capanna svizzera), Tuccari, Gentile, Catalan!, Compagnia del Teatro dell’Opera Comica di Roma (Senatra) (Complete opera).

Dowland: First Book of Ayres, Pro Musica Antiqua of Brussels, Verlooy, Deroubaix* Letroye, Mertens, Pourtois, Podolski (Safford Cape).

French Chansons and Dances of the 16th Century, Pro Musica Antiqua of Brussels (Safford Cape).

Galuppi: Concert! a Quattro—Conce to No. 1 in G Minor, No. 2 in G, No. 3 in D, No. 4 in C Minor, No. 5 in E-Flat, No. 6 in B-Flat, Biffoli Quartet.

Haydn, Mozad: Haydn—Divertimento (“Feld Parthie") in C, Divertimento in F for Wind Band, Divertimento (“A Nove Stromenti”) in C for Strings and Winds, Vienna State Opera Orch. (Ed. by H. C. Robbins Landon). Mozart-Divertimeiito in C, K. 187, Divertimento in C, K. 188, Salzburg Wind Ensemble.

Liibeck; Cantatas-Hilf deinem Volk; Gott, wie dein Name; Prelude and Fugue in C Minor and E Major, Augenstein, Pliimacher, Hohmann, von Rohr, Stuttgart Choral Society, Swabian Symphony Orch., Eva Holderlin.

Modern Piano Sonatas: Bartok-Sonata for Piano; Bloch-Sonata for Piano; Prokofiev -Piano Sonata No. 7 in B-Flat Major; Stravinsky-Piano Sonata, IstvSn N^das.

Mozart: String Quartet in A Major, K. 464, and String Quartet in C Major, K. 465, Barchet Quartet.

Purcell: Trio Sonatas from the Second Book of 10—Sonatas in F Major No. 9, in C No. 7, in B Minor No. 1, in D No. 10, in D Minor No. 4, in E-Flat No. 2, and G Minor No. 8, Ciompi, Torkanowsky, Koutzen, and Chessid.

Ravel: Gaspard de la nuit, Le tombeau de Couperin, Jeux d’eau, Beveridge Webster, piano.

Rossini: L'Occasione fa il ladro (complete opera), Besma, Russo, Sacchi, Catalan!, Dolciotti, Saivi, Compagnia del Teatro dell’Opera Comica di Roma (Senatra).

Rossini: Quartets for Woodwinds—No. 1 in F Major, No. 4 in B-Flat Major, No. 5 in D Major, No. 6 in F Major, Baron, Glazer, Garfield, and Barrows.

Stravinsky: Violin Concerto in D Major, Gitiis, Concerts Colonne Orch. (Byrns); Duo Concertant, Gitiis, Zelka; and Jeu de Cartes, Bamberg Symphony (Hollreiser).

Telemann: 12 Fantasias for Harpsichord (first twelve), Eisner.

A QUALITY RECORD Highest production standards and quality control! We have spared no expense to bring to you the best record possible; when you buy a Dover record you are buying a record technically equal to anything on the market. Our records are pressed upon pure vinyl disks, so that they give maximum sound reproduction, scratch less easily, and wear longer than most other records. We have taken pains to obtain clean cuttings so that there is as little surface noise or inter¬ groove echo as possible. With reasonable care this record should last indefinitely. We recommend a diamond needle with a .001 radius, upon a pickup ranging between 1 and 5 grams. Check your needle periodically under a microscope; most record stores have facilities for this. Or replace your needle within the playing- life recommended for it. Keep the surfaces of your record dust-free and remember that any record can be damaged by scratching. This is a monaural (all-purpose) recording; it may be used with complete satis¬ faction on either monaural or stereo equipment.

Each record is a 12 inch 33V3 RPM quality recording. Available through your dealer or directly through Dover Publications, Inc., Dept. HCR, 180 Varick Street, New York, N. Y. 10014 . Send for Free Catalog.

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