Our ‘ soirée’ comprises pieces written by French composers between 1904 - 1922. The first half features two of Debussy’s 12 études (1915), which he wrote as “ a warning to pianists not to take up the musical profession unless they have remarkable hands,” as well as Ravel’s Le Tombeau de Couperin . Le Tombeau is a suite for solo piano modeled on the movements of a Baroque suite and was composed between 1914 - 1917. Each movement is dedicated to the memory of a friend (or in one case, two brothers) who died in the First World War. While ‘tombeau’ literally means tomb, Ravel meant it in the 17th century meaning of the
word: ‘a piece written as a memorial.’ Ravel’s ‘tombeau’ is two-fold as it pays homage to the Baroque suite, - specifically Couperin’s Concerts royaux - and to the friends he lost in the First World War. Perhaps the most remarkable aspect of this piece is Ravel’s ability to synthesize the traditional compositional elements
(Baroque structures and modality) with the revolutionary, (non-functional harmonies and frequent dissonances) while simultaneously creating a work that is a profoundly poignant memorial to those that he had lost. The second half begins with Carlos Salzedo’s Sonata for Harp and Piano. Salzedo was a virtuosic pianist, harpist, and composer. Although he was born and educated in France, he is better known for the prestigious positions he held in the United States, including those as principal harpist of the Metropolitan Opera, in addition to the school of harp technique he developed, the ‘Salzedo Method.’ Debussy’s Danses Sacrée et Profane is characteristic of the impressionist style, and it includes many of Debussy’s telltale harmonic devices, such as the whole-tone scale and a prevalence of perfect fourths. As its title suggests, the first dance, Sacrée, is contemplative and delicate, while the second, Profane , is more capricious.

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