Ravel, "Valses nobles et sentimentales"

Although it was already known in Mozart's time, the musical genre of ternary rhythm known as waltz had in Europe its apogee and greater development in the XIX century. But, at the beginning of the 20th century, in a world that had long abandoned romanticism, it did not show signs of losing vigor. During the first decades of the new century, serious composers, and less serious ones too, kept on composing waltzes, danceable or not, thus showing its perennial and powerful presence.

Noble, and also sentimental
Maurice Ravel, who in 1928 would give the world his masterpiece, the famous Bolero, was no stranger to the trend. In 1906 he began to glimpse the sketches of La Valse, a work described as "the apotheosis of the waltz", and whose final version would be published in 1919. In the meantime, the author worked on a set of short pieces for piano that he titled Valses nobles et sentimentales in homage to Franz Schubert, who almost a hundred years ago had written two series of waltzes: the Valses sentimentales, of 1823, and the Valses nobles, in 1826.

Maurice Ravel, in 1925
(1875 - 1937)

The premiere, and the riddle
The work was privately premiered by the pianist Louis Aubert (to whom it is dedicated) on May 8, 1911, in Paris, in one of the recitals sponsored by the Société Musicale Indépendent to promote the most daring composers of the time. To that effect, the authors were not identified during the concert, thus forcing the audience to guess who the works belonged to. On the occasion, it is said that only Debussy, in attending there, was able to recognize in the Waltzes... the pen of the master Ravel.

The seven waltzes
The set is composed of seven waltzes plus an epilogue, marked as follows:

00       Modéré - très franc
01:52  Assez lent - avec une expression intense
04:03  Modéré
05:26  Assez animé
06:32  Presque lent - dans un sentiment intime
07:22  Very vivid
08:05  Moins vif ("the most characteristic of all", according to Ravel, foreshadowing the appearance of La Valse)
10:44  Epilogue: lent

Neither so noble nor less sentimental
Unlike Schubert's waltzes, nothing makes Ravel's waltzes seem "noble", and even less "sentimental". Harmonically complex and full of unresolved dissonances, the waltzes are not easy on the ear, although in Ravel's opinion everything is very simple: "it is always counted in three beats".
The year after its premiere, Ravel published an orchestral version, intended to accompany a ballet. Presented here is the original piano version by the Polish maestro Krystian Zimerman.