Gaspard de la nuit

I am really upset because it's 3:00 a.m. and for some stupid reason I can't sleep! Tomorrow is gonna suck because I have to go to work at 8, and it's gonna be a freakin' long day. Dang it. I wanted to make this entry some time ago.. but I've been slacking really bad. I'm listening to Rachmaninov's Symphony No. 2, and I'm feeling kinda better right now.

Anyway.. it's night right? So.. I'm gonna write a little bit about one of my favorite piano works.

It's called Gaspard de la Nuit (Gaspard of the night) by Maurice Ravel. It's based on three poems by Aloysius Bertrand.

Gaspard de la nuit is very famous because of its technical difficulty. It's incredibly difficult.. It would be nice to have 3 hands to play this piece. I think Ravel wanted "Scarbo" to be harder than Balakirev's Islamey. I consider Gaspard de la Nuit one of the most difficult pieces for solo piano in the whole standard repertoire because of its deep musical structure and technical demands.

It was based on three poems.. so .. there are 3 pieces in Gaspard de la Nuit.

1. Ondine, is a tale of a water fairy singing to seduce the observer and accompany her to visit her kingdom deep at the bottom of the lake. This movement describes the water in Bertrand's poem, attempting to lure men into her domain. From the very beginning, this piece contains technical problems for the right hand such as the fast repetition of three-note chords. Very H.A.R.D.
In my opinion, Ondine has one of the most beautiful climaxes I've ever heard.

2. Le Gibet, the observer wonders at the scene he's witnessing. "It is a bell tinting at the walls of a city under the horizon and the carcass of a hanged man reddened by the setting sun". Throughout the entire piece is a B-flat octave ostinato, imitative of the tinting bells, that must remain distinctive and constant in tone as notes cross over and dynamics change. Dark. Dark piece.

3. Scarbo, is about a small fiend (half goblin, half ghost) making pirouettes, disappearing and scaring a person in his home. He creates a nightmare-ish scene for the observer that's lying in his bed. Scarbo has two climaxes and very hard passages that include repeated notes (for both hands), and double-note scales in major seconds in the right hand. Scarbo is the high-point of technical difficulty of the three movements. It gives a ghostly impression sometimes. It fades in and out.. through difficult crescendos.


So.. last week, I listened to 15 recordings of Gaspard. No kidding.
I'm trying to find out which is my favorite recording of it.

and the conclusion is that..

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I don't know yet!

I'm trying to decide between 3 recordings. Ashkenazy's, Lisitsa's and Pogorelich's.

Ashkenazy's is the best for musicality and interpretation.
Lisitsa's is the best for technique
Pogorelich's is the best for speed.

I really hope I can decide on one recording.

I wish I could play and master this piece one day...


Some day..