You describe Ravel´s style as having a ´remarkable simplicity´. Can you describe this simplicity? Is it a harmonic, melodic and/or formal simplicity?
Daniel (baritone sax): We like to think of Ravel’s music as if it were a pocket watch: it is an apparently simple instrument, marking the passing of time gently, with an organic movement. But when you open its entrails… you find thousands of tiny mechanisms working in harmony, little cogwheels that fit together with great precision but also with extreme beauty. And all this complexity and precision serves a single, simple purpose: to move the hands of the clock smoothly and elegantly.
All this is Ravel’s music; beauty but also determination, precision but also organic smoothness; in fact we can hear these beautiful mechanisms throughout the whole Prélude of Le Tombeau de Couperin or in the Pavane, in the texture of the accompaniments to the melody!
How do the other works on this album shed light on Ravel?
Pere (soprano sax): Rameau’s Suite connects us to the French Baroque, a genre to which Ravel felt deeply connected; we can in fact see that fascination in Le Tombeau de Couperin, his homage to another great composer of the French Baroque, François Couperin. On the other hand, both of these works share a common element: ornamentation. Mikel Urquiza, the composer of “Les Perfectibilités” wanted to build a whole piece that would generate the musical material from this small decorative element. Furthermore, Mikel is from the Basque Country but lives in France, like Ravel, who was born in the small town of Ciboure in the French Basque Country. Joan Pérez Villegas has written “Débout Maurice!” a fantasy inspired by the harmonies, gestures, and textures of Ravel’s music. In it, he also wonders what it would be like if Ravel would awake in the 21st century…
Are there any particular challenges that you found in making a transcription of Le Tombeau de Couperin for saxophone quartet?
Robert (tenor sax): The great challenge in arranging Le Tombeau de Couperin was to make the music sound natural on the saxophones, as if the work might originally have been written for this ensemble. Another one was to enhance the individuality of the four lines so that the result would be more colourful and orchestral. Moreover, with Ravel there is the particularity that he uses many chords with tensions (especially ninth chords, with five notes). Therefore we had to do a process of discarding in which we had to understand which notes were more important and determined the essence of these chords.
Did you base your transcription off of the original work for piano or the orchestral suite or both?
Víctor (alto sax): Our first approach was through the piano version, which allowed us to grasp Ravel’s message more clearly in a condensed and compact form. After understanding the music’s skeleton—its harmonies, metrics, and phrasing—we began transcribing, much like Ravel did when orchestrating four of the six movements. At this point, we turned to the orchestral version and we decided how to distribute the voices based on each saxophone’s register and timbre, aiming to highlight the textures and colours that the French composer so masterfully created.
Can you tell us something about working together with your contemporaries Mikel Urquiza and Joan Pérez-Villegas? Did you give any guidelines in commissioning these works?
Pere: We are firmly committed to new creation. That’s why we commission two or more pieces each season from composers of different styles, ages, and backgrounds. This is essential for expanding the repertoire, and because we believe that no performer should turn their back on the creators of their own generation.
Working with Mikel and Joan has been truly stimulating and felt very collaborative from the very beginning. The pieces have always been their own, but we have always felt welcome to engage in dialogue. We wanted their works to be part of this project, Unraveled, which is why they both knew in advance which composers would be their companions on the program. We believe they’ve done a magnificent job, immersing themselves in Ravel’s world.
