When French composer Maurice Ravel began work in 1929 on his Piano Concerto in G Major, he said his goal was to write a “genuine concerto.” What did he mean by this? Here, he was reacting to works he felt were “conceived not for but against the concerto,” referring slyly to the 19th-century concertos of Johannes Brahms. Ravel believed that “a concerto can be gay and brilliant, and that there is no necessity to aim at profundity or big dramatic effects.” For him, the Concerto in G Major was “a concerto in the strict sense, written in the spirit of Mozart and Saint-Saëns.” This is a particularly fascinating statement, given that the music of Gershwin, Stravinsky, jazz, and Spain echoes throughout a work often allied with Neoclassicism. What Ravel means, perhaps, is that the piano and the orchestra partner throughout the piece, bringing out the best in one another rather than appearing to be at war.
Composed in three movements, the opening Allegramente begins with the crack of a whip in the percussion section. Wind instruments, especially the solo trumpet, have significant solos throughout, while jazz elements make frequent appearances. Moments reminiscent of Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue also emerge from the bustling texture. In contrast, the expressive Adagio assai possesses a strikingly simple beauty; according to its composer, it was based on Mozart’s Clarinet Quintet. The finale, marked Presto, is reminiscent of Stravinsky’s Petrushka with its circus atmosphere. The rarely used sopranino clarinet presents the first theme, while the syncopated second and galloping third themes take the concerto to an exhilarating close.
—©Jennifer More, 2023