Valses nobles and sentimentales - Suite for Orchestra

As was the case with many of his works, Maurice Ravel wrote his suite Valses nobles et sentimentales ('Noble and Sentimental Waltzes') initially for piano, producing the orchestral version in the following year 1912. The title is a tribute to the great master of waltz, Austrian composer Franz Schubert, who had created in 1823 a collection of waltzes under the same title. Ravel was creatively fascinated by the waltz genre. The pieces relate to his work on the ballet La valse, which was also performed in a concert version for orchstra. Prior to its completion in 1919, he published the piano version of his waltz cycle, which consists of 8 short pieces. The piece was first performed on May 8, 1911 by Louis Aubert, to whom the work is dedicated. The Valses differ by the different approach applied to them, which can be broadly defined as impressionistic and modernistic and makes itself especially evident in the orchestral version. The moods of the separate Valses are reflected in their tempo markings, which came to be adopted as titles: 1. Modéré – très franc ('Moderately, in a rather frank manner') 2. Assez lent – avec une expression intense ('Quite slowly - with intense expression') 3. Modéré ('Moderately') 4. Assez animé ('In a rather lively manner') 5. Presque lent – dans un sentiment intime ('Almost slow - in a sentiment of intimacy') 6. Vif ('Vivid'), 7. Moins vif ('Less vivid'), 8. Épilogue: lent ('Epilogue: in a slow manner').