Ravel's only piano trio is an exotic blend of Spanish and Asian influences.
Performed by the Mullova Trio: Viktoria Mullova (violin), Matthew Barley (cello), Stephen De Pledge (piano)
Viktoria Mullova, Matthew Barley, Stephen De Pledge Photo: supplied
Ravel wrote this piano trio in 1914 and he was in a hurry to enlist for the war.
The music is a little dreamlike, but also quite exotic. The first movement is inspired by Basque folk music – in particular, according to Ravel, the zortziko dance; the second, titled ‘Pantoum’, by a form of Malayan poetry featuring repeating lines – a form that some French poets of the 19th century favoured.
The third movement is a stately Passacaglia, but it too has a certain Asian quality to it. And in the fourth it feels like we’ve returned to the Basque country, or perhaps to Spain itself.
Recorded by RNZ Concert, Auckland Concert Chamber, 16 March 2019
Producer: Tim Dodd; Sound Engineer: Rangi Powick
