Ravel

The piece starts off very serenely and ambiguously with with one main motivic gesture "do ti la so" in straight 8th notes that has its focus in the first violins. It definately sets the scene of night. It is very austere and mysterious. The 8th note motive never stops. The meter is obscured. It feels like its in 2 but its really in 3. The texture thickens and thins out periodically with short statements by the woodwinds. The 8th note gesture gets passed further down into the lower strings finally to the english horn as the eb clarinet has the melody. There are mini explosions of color by the violins and their tremelos as the scaluar passage is passed from ww to ww. Then, a huge lush explosion of color and dynamic as the strings soar above the orchestra playing a seductive and gorgeous melody reinforced by the tuba and timpani. The 8th notes are changing character by now. There is a statement by a clarinet duet that is very virtuous. It is runs of non-diatonic 8th and 16th notes that is very ethnic. A new phrase begins again just like beginning: very serene and ambiguous in the strings. The 8th note passage is passed to the vibrophone now. A bassoon duet copies the clarinet duet. Woodwind statements add little bits of color as the strings play the motive. The movement ends with 2 notes played by the glock.