Have you ever stood so close to a painting in a museum that you lose sight of its larger form? As you immerse yourself in the intricate details, the image starts to dissolve, becoming a swirl of colors rather than a representation of something specific. This disorienting experience mirrors the effect of listening to the piano works of Maurice Ravel. Itâs no surprise that the French composer often drew inspiration from the unpredictable flow of water. His music can be radiant and vibrant one moment, then fluid and overpowering the next. Listening to Ravelâs compositions is like losing your footing, becoming swept up in a rush of sound and delicate melodies.
On February 9, Seong-Jin Cho brought this very experience to life at the San Francisco Symphony, performing every one of Ravelâs piano works in a single evening. Born in Korea in 1994 and currently serving as the artist-in-residence at the Berlin Philharmonic, Cho showcased both technical finesse and deep emotional expression. Ravelâs challenging repertoire proved to be the perfect platform for Cho to display his extraordinary talents, infusing heart and lightness into these complex and intricate pieces.
Maurice Ravel, born in 1875 in Ciboure, France, celebrates his 150th birthday this year. A pivotal figure in the French Impressionist movement, Ravelâs compositions defied conventional rules in much the same way that Monet and Van Gogh broke boundaries in visual art. Together with his contemporaries, Ravel redefined music, eliminating rigid structures to allow pure sensory expression. His pieces, like brushstrokes on canvas, are hard to pin down with a definitive melody. They ripple and shimmer, shifting from lightness to complexity, always evoking a sense of movement rather than fixed form.
This sense of fluidity is part of what makes Ravel so challenging to perform. Unlike traditional classical music, where melodies are solid and structured, Ravelâs works demand that performers translate ephemeral sensations into concrete sound. Achieving this requires immense technical skill. As James M. Keller wrote in the program notes: “These pieces are filled with rapidly repeated notes, parallel glissandos, sweeping left-hand arpeggios, and other intricate techniques that must be woven seamlessly into the pieceâs poetic flow.” Mastering just one of Ravelâs works is an achievement, but Cho performed every single one with precision and depth.
One of Ravelâs most celebrated works, the Miroirs suite, opened Choâs performance. The piece began with a delicate cascade of notes, mimicking the sound of water droplets dancing and expanding in a fluid, shimmering pattern. It was easy to imagine the fluidity of water itself as Cho navigated the piece with elegance. Similarly, Ravelâs Jeux dâeau â translated as âGame of Waterâ â evokes the sound of water at play, and Choâs execution brought this essence to life, raising the question of how Ravel was able to capture such an ethereal sound in written form.
The second half of Choâs performance featured Ravelâs Gaspard de la nuit, a three-part work that is notorious among pianists for its difficulty. As Keller points out, this piece can “give pianists nightmares.” The final movement, Scarbo, builds to a fever pitch, overflowing with tension and ultimately collapsing into a cascade of sparkling, descending melodies that seem to dissolve into the air like jewels or stars falling from the sky.
Ravel often pushed the boundaries of what he could achieve with music, a tendency that is evident not only in Gaspard de la nuit but in his entire body of work. As Keller notes, Ravel frequently made pianistic demands he was not able to fully realize himself. Similarly, Ravelâs aspiration to serve in World War I, despite his health issues and several accidents, exemplifies his relentless desire to transcend his limitations. In this way, Ravelâs life and music reveal a profound urge to reach beyond what is possible, to touch something just beyond oneâs grasp.
Cho embodied this sense of striving during his performance. Bent over the piano for much of the evening, his hands danced across the keys in a mesmerizing crisscross pattern, while his feet often lifted off the ground, as if his body itself was reaching toward something beyond his physical limits. In both his playing and Ravelâs compositions, there was an undeniable push to stretch and exceed expectations.
As the performance concluded, the audience erupted in applause, calling for an encore. Cho, however, gently closed the piano lid. The music had ended, the repertoire had been exhausted, and only the last, shimmering echoes of Ravelâs melodies hung in the air, reverberating above the orchestra like distant ripples in water.
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