Lara Poe

Ravel analysis
10/21/2014

Despite many unusual features and ways of handling scales, this piece is
ultimately in sonata form. There is a first theme with tonal implications, a less clearly
tonal second theme and a clearly diatonic closing theme. After that, we have a
developmental section that ends with something like a dominant pedal. This is
followed by a recapitulation of all the themes and then a codetta.
One of the central features of this piece is Ravel’s usage of symmetric
collections to derive set classes that are also diatonic subsets. The first instance of
this specific interaction between octatonic and a heptatonic collection occurs at the
upbeat and the very first measure. Ravel has a pentachord that has both A major and
minor inflections, but all the notes are derived from oct (1,3). The set class of this
pentachord is (01469), and it is neither a diatonic nor an acoustic or harmonic
major/minor subset. This pentachord is associated with motivic material that recurs
throughout the piece, and has many interesting characteristics. Within the
pentachord, we have both major and minor characteristics. The succession of intervals
makes it impossible to place into a single diatonic collection or an acoustic collection,
but it still implies a central pitch A, by constructing diatonic triads around A. Also
worthy of note is that this collection is voice led away from a pentatonic collection by
one pitch- C# to D would make it pentatonic and a subset of several heptatonic
collections.
When the cello line enters at measure 6 (theme 1), it’s in the pentatonic
collection that is close to the initial pentachord. It also implies a centricity at A, and
is also a subset of oct (1,3). Both of these initial entrances have definite tonal
implications although they are difficult to pin into a single heptatonic collection. Part
of the difficulty in confirming a specific heptatonic collection is that there are no
complete heptatonic collections present at the moment, only possible subsets (and this
is only if we ignore either the C sharp or the C natural in the violin). However, in a
few measures some of that ambiguity is cleared as Ravel introduces more notes into
the collection- he introduces a C natural first at measure 8 (note that we are now
ignoring the C sharp in the violin), and then at measure 11 he introduces F sharp,
which implies G diatonic (and in a modal context, A dorian). If we examine the notes
of the collection, they are still all contained within oct (1,3), which would also allow
us to account for the C sharp in the violin.
It is also worth noting how oct (1,3) relates to these various heptatonics. It is
not closely related to A minor, but it has maximal overlap with A acoustic- the only
change from A acoustic to oct (1,3) is B natural splitting to C and B flat. When we
get to measure 18, it’s clear that Ravel is using the same material and in a similar
way. He introduces a T5 transposition in both the violin and the cello- the cello with
the initial violin motive and vice versa. This time he has D major/minor and C
diatonic (D dorian) derived from oct (2,3), which has maximal overlap with D
acoustic.
In the second theme, Ravel stratifies an ostinato with E and G under F sharp
diatonic. After that, he jumps across the scale network to E flat major in the violin,
with a chromatic passage in the cello. In the cello he has enneatonic (013) instead.
Then he takes the enneatonic passagework into the violin and introduces a set in the
cello (open strings) that could potentially belong to several heptatonic collections
including C and G diatonic. After that, he briefly touches upon E flat diatonic in the
cello before moving to a stratification of B flat and C diatonic, which are relatively
close together in the scale network. This is then followed by an oscillation between G
diatonic and A acoustic, which are also relatively close in the scale network- not with
maximal overlap, but they are only two jumps away from each other on the network.
The closing theme then brings the material back into C diatonic and then voice-leads
into G diatonic, after which we move to F diatonic via C diatonic. Then the B flat in
the collection disappears but there are no B naturals, and the B flat occurs again at the
beginning of the development.
Within the development, Ravel uses different transpositions and variations of
these themes and stratifies different textures and scales frequently. For example, at
105 he appears to be stratifying a hexatonic subset in the cello (everything except the
C and G ostinato) with C major/minor derived from oct (1,3) in the violin, along with
the ostinato in the bottom range of the cello. One can also analyze that portion as an
alteration between C acoustic and C Lydian. It is also important to note that the motif
used is the beginning motif, and that unlike at the beginning, there is not a maximal
overlap between C acoustic and oct (1,3). This motif is very given to stratification
over other key areas and textures- for example, at 120 he stratifies the same motive
again. Here he has oct (1,2) stratified over E diatonic. The maximal overlap in this
section does not occur with the G major/minor subset and the octatonic here, but
instead it occurs between oct (1,2) and E acoustic, which is closely related to E
diatonic (or at the very least they share a common tonal center). The G major/minor
material then resolves to G diatonic before going to D acoustic, and then to G diatonic
in both instruments.
Interestingly enough, in the recapitulation, Ravel eliminates the major/minor
octatonic motive and focuses on the heptatonic nature of the first theme. He sets it at
T0 but in C acoustic. After that, he sets it at T5, and in C diatonic (D dorian in this
case). He also restates some material from the developmental section- at 220 and in
the codetta, he takes the idea of the stratified initial motive with octatonic (1,2) and B
harmonic major and presents it in a similar way that he did with the hexatonic subset
at 105. At measure 265 he does this with octatonic subsets instead, harking back to
the beginning and the construction of the motive.
Throughout the piece, Ravel refers to the sonata form construction of the
piece, and to the motives that define the form. However, he also makes the
relationship between the different collections of the motives and how they interact
with each other very clear, and this is a crucial part of the piece. It is truly fascinating
how Ravel takes symmetrical collections and derives sets from less symmetrical
collections to instate some sort of sense of centricity.