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"I think that at any moment I shall go mad or lose my mind," Ravel wrote to a friend. "I have never worked so hard, with such insane heroic rage." The source of his rage was the outbreak of World War I, and the result of his labors was the magnificent A Minor Piano Trio begun in 1913 and premiered in Paris on January 28, 1915.

In the opening movement, Ravel employs the exotic rhythmic patterns of Basque music from his native region. Ingeniously, he gives the impression of typically Basque irregular meter by dividing the even rhythmic pattern of eight notes to the bar into a pattern of 3+2+3. Interestingly, this is similar to the opening theme of Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition with its unusual eleven beats, a distinctly Russian folk music influence.

The Pantoum of the second movement refers to a form of verse used in Malaysian poetry. Here, again, Ravel's love of the exotic --- something he shared with the poets and artists of his day --- belies his elegant use of form. The movement might be heard as a scherzo with a superficially bright beginning that turns to urgency and then solemnity. The strings play a sad waltz against a conflicting rhythmic pattern by the piano.

The third movement, a stately Passacaille reflecting Baroque techniques, is a haunting set of ten variations progressive in their intensity until the seventh one. The piano intones a funereal march joined first by the cello and then the violin. One long arch spans this whole movement, with a high point about two-thirds the way through. It winds down to a conclusion with the piano singing the mournful melody of the opening.

The Final is orchestral in nature, containing many references to Ravel's Spanish influences. We are reminded again of the rhythmic influence of Basque music with the use of irregular 5/4 and 7/4 meters. The piano plays huge harp-like glissandi that lead to gigantic orchestral sounds. The work comes to a dazzling climax with the strings in endless trills over the dramatic chords of the piano, creating a sound world that is unique to the piano trio literature.

The Piano Trio reflects, in every way, Ravel's statement that "Great music, I have always felt, must come from the heart. Any music created by technique and brains alone is not worth the paper it is written on." Ravel's many other statements calling for technical perfection as the goal of music conflict with this notion, but one must remember that it also seemed Ravel's goal to be elusive. We must recall that he said of himself, "I am artificial by nature." Nothing, however, seems artificial in this work that is considered to be one of the genuine 20th century masterpieces for piano trio.

Astor Piazzolla is one of the modern masters responsible for the international popularity of tango music. Although his compositions reveal a sophisticated understanding of counterpoint and harmony, the tango is a celebration of more non-intellectual human pursuits. Emotional and erotic, Piazzolla's compositions tell stories of sadness and sensuality, isolation and love. Astor Piazzolla wrote these four tangos between 1967 and 1970, and they form a sort of suite that evokes the nostalgic feeling of the music of Buenos Aires. By naming his set of four one-movement compositions "The Four Seasons of Buenos Aires," Astor Piazzolla paid tribute to the author of its most famous namesake composition (Vivaldi) and, at the same time, underlined the cultural differences between Europe and the heart of South America. In his "Four Seasons," there are no winter chills or violent summer storms, no singing birds or barking dogs. The "weather," or rather, the ambience, is always the same --- thick air, highly charged with sensuality. Within these works, though, there are countless variances of emotion, from utmost tenderness, to nearly violent passion.

Mussorgsky's inspiration for Pictures at an Exhibition were the paintings of his brilliant young artist and architect friend Victor Hartmann, whose early death at 39 so grieved Mussorgsky that he decided to write a piece in his memory. The 1874 memorial exhibition of Hartmann's work in St. Petersburg gave Mussorgsky impetus for this piano suite. In turn, the solo piano version cried out for the glorious orchestration given it by Maurice Ravel in 1922.

The fifteen movements of the work are punctuated by four "Promenade" sections suggesting the starting and stopping of a walk through an art gallery. To hear the return of the majestic theme lends both integrity and continuity to the work as a whole. "Gnomus" is based on Hartmann's drawing of a toy nutcracker in the form of a gnome with huge jaws while "The Old Castle" refers to Hartmann's watercolor of an Italian castle with a troubadour standing before it holding a lute. "Tuilleries" or "Dispute between Children at Play" pictures the French garden near the Louvre with, as the title suggest, children at play in it. "Bydlo" is the musical interpretation of a Polish oxcart. The cheeping, chirping scherzo, "Ballet of the Unhatched Chicks," is based on Hartmann's costume designs for the ballet Trilbi. "Samuel Goldenberg and Schmuÿle" is often retitled as "Two Polish Jews, Rich and Poor" in which a beggar tries to wheedle something out of a rich man on a street corner in a Polish ghetto. "The Market at Limoges" pictures the bustling market in the city of central France. In "Catacombs" Hartmann depicts the subterranean tombs of Paris where the architect himself studies a pile of skulls. The "Cum mortuis in lingua mortua" is a darker restatement of the "Promenade" theme and is best explained by its translation from Latin: "With the Dead in a Dead Language." (Mussorgsky's own footnote to the music reads: The creative spirit of the departed Hartmann leads me to the skulls, calls out to them, and the skulls begin to glow dimly from within.) "The Hut on Fowl's Legs" portrays a carved clock on the hut of Baba Yaga, a witch of Russian legends, who rides through the air in a mortar which she uses to grind up human bones for food. The final "Great Gate of Kiev" represents Hartmann's drawing of a monumental gate for Tsar Alexander II. Mussorgsky's music evokes a great procession and the ringing of bells. The Promenade theme recurs for the last time, binding together the entire suite. While Hartmann's drawing won the design competition for the gate, the gate itself was never built.