Le Tombeau de Ravel P. Swerts Belgian piccolo specialist Peter Verhoyen commissioned Swerts to write Le Tombeau de Ravel for piccolo and piano. Later on Swerts created a version for soprano saxophone and piano for Kenneth Tse, saxophone professor at the University of Iowa. Tse probably gave the first performance of the saxophone version of the work. In addition, the work was almost orchestrated as a concerto at the request of Australian saxophonist Amy Dickson for a performance at the World Saxophone Congress in Scotland, but unfortunately the proposal was not accepted. Although Swerts has nearly finished orchestrating two of the movements, and it is possible that a published concerto version will be forthcoming in the future. The work consists of three parts: I. Monfort l'Amaury, II. Le Belvédère, and III. Petit oiseau mécanique. The title of the work is a pun on Maurice Ravel's composition Le Tombeau de Couperin. The titles of the movements themselves refer to Ravel's house, Le Belvédère, in the town of Montfort l'Amaury just outside Paris. In the Baroque era, "Le Tombeau de" was a form of tribute to a composer. Ravel himself did this to honor the Baroque period by naming Couperin, Swerts did it to honor the music of Ravel and the composer. Moreover, it is also an indication in which direction the musical style will evolve. Today, Le Belvédère is a museum open to the public that exhibits its treasured collection of works of art and decorative curiosities. One of these small but important pieces was a gift from the sculptor Léon Leyritz to Ravel. The gift was a small mechanical bird in a golden birdcage that sang by turning a crank. Ravel named the toy bird Zizi and sat for hours listening to the mechanical song. The third movement in Swerts' composition is titled "Petit oiseau mécanique," or "little mechanical bird," and it is directly influenced by the wonderfully accurate nightingale bird song of this little toy, which was recorded there in Ravel's house, played with permission from and by Mme. Claude Moureau. Sonata for Oboe and Piano F. Poulenc During the last years of his life, Poulenc worked on a projected series of sonatas, one for each wind instrument. He lived to complete only three, the others being for flute and for clarinet. All are dedicated to the memory of friends or fellow musicians and the Sonata for oboe and piano is described ‘à la mémoire de Serge Prokofiev'. In ‘My Friends and myself’ Poulenc said: 'You can be a great musician and still not be an innovator…you can be influenced by Prokofiev... I have myself in certain little areas'. He acknowledged Prokofiev's influence on the Sextet in an essay on Prokofiev's piano music, but the Sonata for oboe and piano is undoubtedly Poulenc's most direct tribute to the Russian master. The reversal of his customary fast - slow - fast sequence of movements fulfills affective requirements yet the influence dedicatee is felt most strongly in the Scherzo. Here the brilliant brittle piano writing might be by Prokofiev himself while the slow, lyrical central section is based on one of the themes from the finale of Prokofiev's flute sonata. If the opening Elegy owes something to Stravinsky, the sense of deep calm which pervades the final lament is pure Poulenc, reminiscent of much of his religious music. How fitting that the valedictory final page was to be the last music he wrote. Sonata Posthume for Violin and Piano M. Ravel Maurice Ravel's Violin Sonata No 1, also known as Sonata posthume, is the composer's earliest sonata for this combination of instruments. Although it was composed 30 years before the publication of his second violin sonata, it was not published until 38 years after his death. After being expelled from the Conservatoire de Paris in 1895 for the incompetence of his piano playing, he was eventually readmitted two years later to study counterpoint with André Gédalge and composition with Gabriel Fauré. The reason for the composition of the sonata is not entirely known; however, it is believed that it was composed and performed for Fauré's composition classes. Sonata à la Manière de Francis Poulenc W. Van Klaveren This piece in three movements (Allegro, Interlude, Rondeau à la Française) plunges us into the precision and subtlety of French music from the time of Francis Poulenc. The first movement (Allegro), mono-thematic, borrows melodic colors and uses essentially the theme presented in the first bar. It is a lively movement, although in the middle of it we find a slow section consisting of beautiful melodic phrases. The slow movement (Interlude) relies on many changes of tonal colors and confusing enough for students, but it nevertheless has an easily identifiable structure (ABA), and leit-motifs from the exhibition are the framework in development. The third movement is a very lively bi-thematic rondo, bringing the musician through rich melodic colors. In this piece, very little articulation work, but essentially a melodic work, of accuracy, phrasing, color and style.