Introduction and Allegro

1905 · Harp, flute, clarinet and string quartet

12 min

Recording

Introduction and AllegroKaren Grimsey, harp; Kara Santos, flute; Parker Gaims, clarinet; Sara Matayoshi and Foster Wang, violins; Tam Tran, viola; Clayton Vaughn, cello — United States Marine Band · 27 March 2022
11:59
Ravel’s Introduction and Allegro is written for harp and six other players. Karen Grimsey plays the harp part with winds and strings from the United States Marine Band, and she plays the long cadenza alone.
Listening notes · joins
1. Opening duet, flute and clarinet
  Flute and clarinet open with a soft duet. Violin, viola and cello join them, and the harp then plays an upward run through their held notes. The second violin has not yet entered.
2. Commission from Érard, 1905
  In 1905 Érard commissioned Ravel to show what its pedal harp could do. The rival firm Pleyel had already commissioned Debussy’s Danses for its chromatic harp. Ravel set the harp among flute, clarinet and four strings.
3. Allegro, harp melody
  At the Allegro the harp plays nearly alone. Its melody lies at the top of descending broken chords, marked le chant en dehors. Low harmonics sound beneath the quick notes.
4. Manuscript left at a shirt shop, 1905
  In 1905 Ravel hurried to finish the score before a holiday aboard Alfred and Misia Edwards’s yacht. He left the manuscript at a shirt shop, missed the boat and had to persuade the music-loving shopkeeper to return it. He joined the yacht at Soissons.
5. Harp cadenza
  The harp plays a cadenza. Arpeggios climb from the bass and are interrupted by slow chords, and glissandos lead into harmonics. Karen Grimsey plays the melody, the bass and the resonance alone.
6. Return of the introduction’s tempo
  At rehearsal 18 Ravel restores the tempo of the introduction (1° Tempo). Flute and clarinet return at ppp, with muted strings around the harp. The cello plays pizzicato.
7. Clarinet melody over harp, rehearsal 20
  The harp’s Allegro figures return, and the clarinet now plays the tune above them. Flute and strings rest.
8. Closing bars in G♭ major
  The harp plays its final glissandos while the string quartet plays pizzicato. Flute and clarinet play short attacks. All seven players end on a G♭ major chord.
Joins
1. Harp alone at the Allegro
  At the Allegro (rehearsal 2), the winds and strings release their held notes and the harp begins its descending broken chords. Ravel marks the tune le chant en dehors. Harmonics sustain the bass beneath it, and the other six instruments stop playing.
2. Harp cadenza over held ensemble chord
  The ensemble holds a chord while the harp begins low arpeggios, marked Cadenza and rubato. The winds and strings release the chord, and the arpeggios rise into the upper register. Slower chords and harmonics follow, marked Lent and Très lent.
3. Muted strings around the harp
  The harp’s harmonics lead into 1° Tempo. Flute and clarinet return at ppp, the bowed strings put on mutes and the cello plays a pizzicato bass. The harp continues beneath the sustained phrases of the opening.
4. Clarinet takes over the harp’s tune
  The ensemble releases its chord and the harp resumes its Allegro arpeggios. At rehearsal 20 the clarinet enters softly with the melody, above the harp’s running figures and low harmonics. Flute and strings rest, leaving a duet for clarinet and harp.
Open in the Concert Hall

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