Ravel, A la maniere de... Borodin

[rachfan]

Here Ravel dabbles in the Polovetzian Dances.  He created this pastiche in the form of a waltz in 1913 and dedicated it to a friend, Ida Godebski.  It was first performed by Alfredo Casella at the Salle Playel in Paris on December 10, 1913.

[rachfan]

Where a number of you listened to "A la maniere de... Emmanuel Chabrier", I thought I'd re-post the companion piece, "A la maniere de... Borodin".   To me it always seems odd not to hear them together.     Borodin was a member of the Russian National School, "The Five".  As you know, he wrote very little piano music, so to capture his style, Ravel drew instead on the orchestral works, specifcally the ''Polovetzian Dances" which gave rise to a very nice musical paraphrase.  More characteristically, we think of Ravel's duality as alternating between Classicism and Impressionism--but here he gives us a fleeting glimpse of his seldom heard Romantic idiom.  I hope you like it.  Feel free to comment.