Martin Oei will tour with the program “A Touch of Paris” beginning in March 2024. He will bring to life the Paris of the early last century with piano compositions by Claude Debussy (1862-1918) and Maurice Ravel (1875-1937). The selected pieces by Debussy are inspired by weather and landscape and have titles such as “Gardens in the Rain,” “The Hills of Anacapri,” “Footsteps in the Snow,” “What the West Wind Saw,” “The Wine Gate,” “Fireworks” and “Fog.”
From Ravel, Martin will first perform the Gaspard de la Nuit, a triptych based on the poems of Aloysius Bertrand: Ondine, le Gibet and Scarbo. “Ondine” is a water fairy, she tries with her singing to seduce a man to go with her to her realm, deep at the bottom of the sea. Le Gibet (“the gallows”) is a macabre work, we hear throughout the work the sound of bells (ostinato bes) surrounded by dark chords. “A bell echoes against the walls of a city with on the horizon the carcass of a hanged man, stained red by the setting sun.” Scarbo is a poltergeist, half troll, half ghost – a demonic dwarf, who pirouettes, appears suddenly and disappears again, disturbing people’s sleep in a frightening way. At the end, the music dissolves into nothingness, Scarbo, the poltergeist disappears.
Then the mood changes again, when Martin starts playing Ravel’s piano version of “La Valse” (originally composed for orchestra). Ravel takes a playful approach to the waltz in this work; it is a fat nod to Viennese court life, composed for a French audience. In La Valse, Ravel alternates short melodic themes with humorous variations on them.
Program
C. Debussy (1862 – 1918)
Jardins sous la pluie uit de Estampes
C. Debussy préludes
Book 1
5 les collines d”anacapri
6 Des pas sur la neige
7 Ce qu’a vu le vent d’ouest:
8 La fille aux cheveux de lin
12 Minstrels: Modéré
Book 2
1 Brouillards
3 La puerta del Vino
5 Bruyères
6 Général Lavine – eccentric
12 Feux d’artifice
Break
M. Ravel (1875 – 1937) Gaspard de la Nuit
Ondine
Le Gibet
Scarbo
La Valse
Comment abridged programme
Bij sommige uitvoeringen zal er een verkort programma worden uitgevoerd:
C. Debussy (1862 – 1918)
Jardins sous la pluie uit de Estampes
C. Debussy préludes
Book 1
nr. 5 les collines d”anacapri
nr. 6 Des pas sur la neige
7 Ce qu’a vu le vent d’ouest:
8 La fille aux cheveux de lin
12 Minstrels: Modéré
M. Ravel (1875 – 1937)
Gaspard de la Nuit
M. Ravel La Valse