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| Chen Sean (Photo by Lisa-Marie Mazzucco) |
Ravel's last set of piano pieces, the suite Le tombeau de Couperin, acquired memorial significance only after his initial imagining of it as a Suite française: when young friends of his began to die in the trenches, a nostalgic look at eighteenth-century French music in general assumed more personal references. There is therefore very little if anything here that is solemn, let alone lugubrious. After a digitally challenging "Prélude", the "Fugue" (Ravel's only published example of the form) unfolds with a sense of placid purpose, enlivened by the countersubject's descending triplet. The "Forlane", written in the summer of 1914, was the first movement to be written, and Ravel prepared for it by transcribing the forlane from Couperin's fourth Concert royal, keeping the overall structure (ABACADA) but adorning it with some of his most acidic harmonies. After the "Rigaudon", whose implacable outer sections enclose a dreamier central one, the last of his five "Menuets" is a miracle of elegance and poise. The central musette brings with it a hint of the "Dies irae" plainsong and builds into a powerful chromatic climax, before overlapping with insouciant skill beneath the return of the minuet. Ravel described the brilliant final "Toccata" as "pure Saint-Saëns" – from him, a compliment to its excellent workmanship. Marguerite Long gave the first performance on 11 April 1919.
Source: Roger Nichols, 2011 (hyperion-records.co.uk)
Maurice Ravel (1875-1937)
♪ Le Tombeau de Couperin (1914-1917)
i. Prélude. Vif (E minor) [00:00]*
ii. Fugue. Allegro moderato (E minor) [03:02]
iii. Forlane. Allegretto (E minor) [06:38]
iv. Rigaudon. Assez vif (C major) [12:22]
v. Menuet. Allegro moderato (G major) [15:40]
vi. Toccata. Vif (E minor) [21:12]
* Start time of each movement
Sean Chen, piano
Recording and broadcast by Public Media Network
Audio engineering by Doug Decker
Gilmore Keyboard Festival's 2016-2017 Rising Stars Series
(HD 1080p)
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| Ravel (1918), Le Tombeau de Couperin. Paris, Durand, Bibliothèque nationale de France, département de la Musique, Fol Vm 12-6382 |
i. Prélude - dedicated to Jacques Charlot
Jacques Charlot was a godson and cousin of Claude Debussy's music publisher Jacques Durand and was a friend of Maurice Ravel. He served as a lieutenant in the French army and was killed on March 3, 1915.
ii. Fugue – dedicated to Jean Cruppi
Jean-Louis Cruppi was the son of Jean Cruppi a French politician of the Third Republic and his wife, Louise Crémieux, a musician who supported the career of Maurice Ravel. Ravel previously dedicated his L'heure espagnole to Madame Crémieux.
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| Gabriel Deluc, self portrait |
iii. Forlane – dedicated to Gabriel Deluc
Gabriel Deluc was a Basque painter who joined the French army at the beginning of the war as a nurse. In 1915, he joined the combat troops and was promoted to the rank of second lieutenant in June 1916 . He made many drawings in the trenches and during the offensives. Deluc was killed during a reconnaissance mission at Souain September 15, 1916.
iv. Rigaudon – dedicated to Pierre & Pascal Gaudin
Pierre and Pascal Gaudin were the brothers of Marie Gaudin and her sister Jane Courteault with whom Ravel maintained close contact throughout his life. On the outbreak of war, the two brothers immediately joined the army, and both were enrolled in the 49th infantry regiment. They were killed by the same shell on the first day of their arrival at the front, November 12, 1914, at Oulches.
v. Menuet – dedicated to Jean Dreyfus
Jean Dreyfus was the stepson of Madame Fernand Dreyfus, with whom Ravel was very close. He wrote some of his most personal letters to her about his wartime experiences – there are 55 surviving letters to Madame Dreyfus written during Ravel's time at the front between March and October 1916. After Ravel's demobilization and the death of his mother, he recuperated at the Dreyfus family home at Lyons-la-Forêt near Rouen.
vi. Toccata – dedicated to Joseph de Marliave
Joseph de Marliave was a French musicologist known for his work on Beethoven's string quartets. Marilave was a captain in the French army and was killed in the first weeks of the war.
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| French army |
Despite being written while Ravel witnessed the horrors of war and endured the death of his mother, Le Tombeau de Couperin has been considered a light-hearted, reflective work rather than a somber one. Ravel agreed, observing, "The dead are sad enough, in their eternal silence".
2013 American Pianists Awards winner Sean Chen agrees as he included the Toccata in a program he called a "recital of nostalgia and bells".
Source: Lee Clifford (americanpianists.org)
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| Photo by Lisa-Marie Mazzucco |
Mr. Chen has performed with many prominent orchestras, including the Fort Worth, Indianapolis, Kansas City, San Diego, Knoxville, Hartford, Louisiana Philharmonic, Milwaukee, North Carolina, Pasadena, Phoenix, Santa Fe, and New West Symphony Orchestras, as well as the Chamber Orchestras of Philadelphia, Indianapolis, and South Bay. He has collaborated with such esteemed conductors as Leonard Slatkin, Michael Stern, Gerard Schwarz, Nicholas McGegan, Miguel Harth-Bedoya, Marcelo Lehninger, and James Judd. Solo recitals have brought him to major venues worldwide, including Jordan Hall in Boston, Subculture in New York City, the American Art Museum at the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C., the National Concert Hall in Taipei, Het Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, and the Salle Cortot in Paris.
Mr. Chen has served on the juries of notable piano competitions, including the American Pianists Awards, Thailand International Piano Competition, West Virginia International Piano Competition, Cleveland International Piano Competition for Young Artists, and Steinway competitions around the country. Given his natural inclination for teaching and approachable personality, Mr. Chen is particularly in demand for residencies that combine performances with master classes, school concerts, and artist conversations, which have brought him to such institutions as the Cleveland School of Music, Indiana University, University of British Columbia, University of Houston Moores School, Spotlight Awards at the Los Angeles Music Center, Young Artist World Piano Festival, and several Music Teachers’ Associations throughout the country.
Mr. Chen has been featured in both live and recorded performances on WQXR (New York), WFMT (Chicago), WGBH (Boston), WFYI (Indianapolis), KCUR (Kansas City), KPR (Kansas), NPR’s From the Top, and American Public Media’s Performance Today. Additional media coverage includes a profile featured on the cover of Clavier Companion in May 2015, recognition as "One to Watch" by International Piano Magazine in March 2014, and inclusion in WFMT's "30 Under 30".
His CD releases include La Valse, a solo recording on the Steinway label, hailed for "penetrating artistic intellect" (Audiophile Audition); a live recording from the Cliburn Competition released by harmonia mundi, praised for his "ravishing tone and cogently contoured lines" (Gramophone); an album of Michael Williams's solo piano works on the Parma label; and a recent album of Flute, Oboe, and Piano repertoire titled KaleidosCoping with colleagues Michael Gordon and Celeste Johnson. Mr. Chen has also contributed to the catalog of Steinway's new Spirio system.
A multifaceted musician, Mr. Chen also transcribes, composes, and improvises. His transcriptions of such orchestral works as Ravel's La Valse, Mozart's Overture to The Marriage of Figaro, and the Adagio from Rachmaninov’s Symphony No.2, have been received with glowing acclaim and enthusiasm, and his encore improvisations are lauded as "genuinely brilliant" (Dallas Morning News). His Prelude in F# was commissioned by fellow pianist Eric Zuber, and subsequently performed in New York. An advocate of new music, he has also collaborated with several composers and performed their works, including Lisa Bielawa, Jennifer Higdon, Michael Williams, Nicco Athens, Michael Gilbertson, and Reinaldo Moya.
Born in Florida, 1988, Mr. Chen grew up in the Los Angeles area of Oak Park, California. His impressive achievements before college include the NFAA ARTSweek, Los Angeles Music Center's Spotlight, and 2006 Presidential Scholars awards. These honors combined with diligent schoolwork facilitated offers of acceptance by MIT, Harvard, and The Juilliard School. Choosing to study music, Mr. Chen earned his Bachelor and Master of Music from Juilliard, meanwhile garnering several awards, most notably the Paul and Daisy Soros Fellowship for New Americans. He received his Artist Diploma in 2014 at the Yale School of Music as a George W. Miles Fellow. His teachers include Hung-Kuan Chen, Edward Francis, Jerome Lowenthal, and Matti Raekallio.
Mr. Chen resides in the suburbs of Kansas City with his wife, Betty, a violinist in the Kansas City Symphony, and their daughter Ella. When not at the piano, Mr. Chen enjoys tinkering with computers, and exploring math, science, and programming. Mr. Chen is a Steinway Artist and is managed by Jonathan Wentworth Associates, Ltd.
Source: seanchenpiano.com
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| Sean Chen plays Ravel's Le Tombeau de Couperin. Gilmore Keyboard Festival's 2016-2017 Rising Stars Series |
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| Ravel: Le tombeau de Couperin, M. 68 & Sonatine, M. 40. Sean Chen, piano. Album-Release: 08/2021 by Steinway and Sons |
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