LA VALSE

The act of transcription can evoke conceptually the type of virtuosity that emerged in the works of “pianist-composers” such as Liszt, Rachmaninov or Busoni. In spite of a logistical argument against hearing an entire orchestral piece limited by one or two pianos, this process can actually result in a virtuosic tour de force. As Franz Liszt pointed it out, “within the span of its seven octaves, [the piano] encompasses the audible range of an orchestra, and the ten fingers of a single person are enough to render the harmonies produced by the union of over a hundred (…) instruments.” La Valse is an excellent example of this practice. Though it was originally conceived as a ballet for orchestra, it survives in three iterations by the composer: the original orchestral version, a transcription for two pianos and a reduction for solo piano. The addition of “third-staved suggestions” by Maurice Ravel in the latter version exemplifies Ravel’s trouble with incorporating all the orchestral material. I wrote my own solo piano version of La Valse, which integrates all of these “suggestion staves” that were kept in Ravel’s two-piano version and yet were simply indicated above the solo piano part by the composer. In a few challenging places, I found it useful to provide some of my own fingerings in order to facilitate the execution of the piece. May any aspiring performer interested in my rendition of Ravel’s masterpiece enjoy the virtuosic, yet pianistic, challenges and waltz!

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La Valse

The act of transcription can evoke conceptually the type of virtuosity that emerged in the works of “pianist-composers” such as Liszt, Rachmaninov or Busoni. In spite of a logistical argument against hearing an entire orchestral piece limited by one or two pianos, this process can actually result in a virtuosic tour de force. As Franz Liszt pointed it out, “within the span of its seven octaves, [the piano] encompasses the audible range of an orchestra, and the ten fingers of a single person are enough to render the harmonies produced by the union of over a hundred (…) instruments.”

La Valse is an excellent example of this practice. Though it was originally conceived as a ballet for orchestra, it survives in three iterations by the composer: the original orchestral version, a transcription for two pianos and a reduction for solo piano. The addition of “third-staved suggestions” by Maurice Ravel in the latter version exemplifies Ravel’s trouble with incorporating all the orchestral material.

I wrote my own solo piano version of La Valse, which integrates all of these “suggestion staves” that were kept in Ravel’s two-piano version and yet were simply indicated above the solo piano part by the composer. In a few challenging places, I found it useful to provide some of my own fingerings in order to facilitate the execution of the piece. May any aspiring performer interested in my rendition of Ravel’s masterpiece enjoy the virtuosic, yet pianistic, challenges and waltz!

Matthieu Cognet
(New York City, 2014)

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