SKU: AP.36-M181291

UPC: 660355185809. English.

Maurice Ravel (1875-1937) wrote the first of his CINQ MÉLODIES POPULAIRES GRECQUES (Five Greek Folk Melodies) in 1904 at the urgent request of Pierre Aubry, who wished to illustrate a lecture he was giving on Greek folksong. Initially given five folksongs from which to choose, Ravel supplied a piano accompaniment for them in only thirty-six hours. Having impressed those who supplied the original five, three more were produced, which Ravel also quickly set to piano accompaniment, in a style imitative of the Mediterranean lands, but remaining distinctly French in its execution. The five melodies in this collection were selected from those eight. Ravel had started orchestrating all five as well, completing two, leaving Manuel Rosenthal to complete the remaining three. Songs in the collection: I. Le Réveil de la Mariée (Wake Up, My Dear), II. Là-bas, vers l'église (Out There, Where the Church Tower), III. Quel galant m'est comparable (Which Gallant Can Compare With Me?), IV. Chanson des cueilleuses de lentisques (Song of the Lentisk Gatherers), and V. Tout gai! (Be Gay!). The Ravel/Rosenthal orchestrations have been edited by Clinton Nieweg in an edition available from E.F. Kalmus.

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SKU: BR.BG-591

ISBN 9790004130841. 9 x 12 inches.

These two books of piano pieces arranged in progressive order of difficulty are the first collection to give a representative survey of contemporary Greek music. No pretensions of completeness are being made. The piece by Skalkottas is the only one that has been published before, and I am indebted to the Universal Edition, Vienna, for their kind permission to republish it.The younger generation of Greek composers have turned away from their national folklore, which is in evidence in just a few works only as a latent force. Some of the composers were introduced to modern techniques by the outstanding teacher Jannis A. Papaioannou and have gone abroad to complete their knowledge of the latest methods and to integrate them into their personal style. Older composers like Poniridy and Konstantinidis are represented by works of artfully stylized folk music.I should like to acknowledge the advice and help given to me by my friend and colleague Jannis A. Papaioannou, as well as to the American Director of the Gennadeios Library, Francis R. Walton, for generously providing the manuscript of the piece by Mitropoulos. (Gunther Becker).