La Valse

1. 0:00
   Opening, low register

   Ravel marked the opening Mouvement de Valse viennoise. The first piano plays a quiet, low figure and the second adds a bass pulse. Fragments of melody enter above them and break off.

2. 1:12
   Waltz phrases, letter A

   The fragments lengthen into waltz phrases. The first piano plays the melody while the second plays rising and falling figures beneath it. A bass note followed by chords marks the three beats of the bar.

3. 1:48
   Origins as Wien, 1906

   In 1906 Ravel planned a work called Wien, after Vienna, as a tribute to Johann Strauss. He composed it in 1919–⁠20 as La Valse.

4. 3:36
   Audition for Diaghilev, 1920

   In 1920 Ravel and Marcelle Meyer played the two-piano score for Diaghilev. Poulenc recalled the impresario’s verdict: “It’s the portrait of a ballet.” Ravel took his manuscript and left the room.

5. 5:48
   Return of the earlier waltzes

   In the second half the earlier waltz themes return in fragments and are recombined. A phrase starts, breaks off and is joined by another familiar figure, while the bass keeps turning beneath them.

6. 6:36
   Ravel’s printed scenario, 1855 setting

   Ravel’s printed scene begins among whirling clouds, which part to reveal couples in an immense ballroom lit by blazing chandeliers. He dated the scene precisely: “Une Cour impériale, vers 1855” (“An imperial court, around 1855”).

7. 10:48
   Final bars, two-piano version

   Ravel marks the passage Pressez jusqu’à la fin (press on to the end). The two pianos repeat waltz figures until a bar of 2/4 breaks the triple metre. The last bass note is accented.

Joins

1. 1:12
   Letter A: melody over running figure

   The low repeated notes of the opening lead into letter A. There the second piano plays a running figure beneath the first piano’s melody, and bass notes continue to mark the dance step. The tune extends into longer phrases, marked en dehors, above the soft accompaniment.