19. Talking Music with Olga Jegunova - on a 20th century treasure

This episode is about one of the greatest compositions of the 20th century - a piano concerto in G by French composer Maurice Ravel.

So why is it great ?

It is a known fact that Mozart could create works of a great length in the matter of days (the famous example is the Linz symphony which was composed in 4 days) and could hear the symphony instantly in a matter of seconds before putting it on paper. The other composers take longer time to come with original and non-trivial music. It took Ravel 4 years of sleepless nights and struggles.

It is written for solo piano and symphony orchestra and consists of 3 movements. First and the third create a virtuosic and musically diverse arc in the middle of which the slow second movement shines like a rare diamond of pure beauty. Here the main theme 36 bars long, it doesn’t repeat itself once and is received on one breath as one big gesture.

In this episode I won’t only tell you how this concerto is linked to the Basque culture and jazz, but will also share with you my favourite recordings of it.

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