COMPOSERS: Irony and Sound: The Music of Maurice Ravel.

Clifton, Keith E.

Irony and Sound: The Music of Maurice Ravel. By Stephen Zank. (Eastman Studies in Music, no. 66.) Rochester, NY: University of Rochester Press, 2009. [xii, 449 p. ISBN 9781580461894. $85.] Music examples, illustrations, appendix, bibliography, index.

The year 2010 marks the thirty-fifth anniversary of the publication of Arbie Orenstein's biography of Maurice Ravel, an indispensible resource to which any new study will inevitably be compared (Ravel: Man and Musician [New York: Columbia University Press, 1975; reprint, New York: Dover, 1991]). Orenstein's seamless integration of historical background, biographical insight, and stylistic analysis makes his book, if not the first Ravel biography in English, then arguably the most accessible. The unwavering popularity of Ravel's music and concurrent growth of scholarly research has not, however, erased significant lacunae, including the absence of a complete works edition. Crucial aspects of Ravel's meticulous art remain elusive or underappreciated.

Stephen Zank's new study proposes to reexamine Ravel's oeuvre through the lens of irony, a topic more commonly associated with literary theorists than music historians. While Ravel himself was reticent to use the term, his colleagues were not, and Zank locates numerous references to Ravel and the ironic; one notable example comes from French politician Jean Jeay, who slated at Ravel's funeral that the composer possessed the "weapon of irony" (p. 1). Rather than employ a chronological or genre-based approach, Zank supports his comments with an eclectic selection of examples drawn from across Ravel's creative life, demonstrating how the music consistently thwarts expectations regarding harmony, form, instrumentation, timbre, and other elements. There is no claim at comprehensiveness. Zank's obvious penchant for instrumental music means that Ravel's vocal works, with a few notable exceptions, receive comparatively less attention.

Starting from the premise that scholarly investigation of Ravelian irony remains terra incognita, Zank writes that "the present study cannot be about irony writ large, or about musical irony per se, but rather about retracing Ravel's music in view of contingent influences acknowledged frequently by him (and many others)" (p. 16). He interprets Ravel's initial interest and eventual refusal to join the National League for the Defense of French Music as ironic, calling the group "a rather unrecognized event in French musical history" (p. 21). While more work needs to be done regarding Ravel's political inclinations, scholars including Jane F. Fulcher--never-cited by Zank--have explored Ravel's ambivalence towards the League and advocacy for both Jewish artists and contemporary music in general (see Fulcher, "The Preparation for Vichy: Anti-Semitism in French Musical Culture Between the Two World Wars," Musical Quarterly 79, no. 3 [Fall 1995]: 458-75). In 1927, for example, Ravel invited Schoenberg to present his works at a concert of the Societe Musicale Independante, a bold gesture considering the ban on Austro-German music advocated by French conservatives.

At its core the book contains five chapters centered on Ravel's use of dynamics, counterpoint, registration, the exotic, and multisensory perception--topics that frequently intertwine, despite clear chapter divisions. After describing Ravel's use of crescendo as "multifaceted," (p. 41), Zank considers how the composer defies conventional paradigms in several works, chiefly the piano concerti, Jeux d'eaux, Sheherazade, and La valse. Zank's analyses are dense, requiring a high level of analytical acumen, and despite the presence of copious music examples, readers are advised to have complete scores close at hand. Some assertions are puzzling and flimsily supported, including his assessment of the recapitulation in the opening movement of the Concerto in G Major as "enigmatic" (p. 54). In fact, this moment, with its downbeat on the dominant followed by a fanfare-like presentation of the main theme, fortissimo, is one of Raven's clearest examples. Zank also overlooks the likely influence of Gershwin---and especially Rhapsody in Blue, premiered eight years before--on the "highly unusual Romantic vein" (p. 56) of the concerto.

The significance of counterpoint in Ravel's music has been little explored, despite its crucial role in the musical training he received at the Conservatoire. Mirroring Ravel's own comments, Zank attributes much of his contrapuntal skill to teacher Andre Gedalge. Evidence of an abiding interest in contrapuntal writing may be seen as early as Ravel's first published work, the Menuet antique (1898). For Zank, Ravel's reluctance to emulate Germanic music led to unique solutions, especially regarding sonata form--for example, superimposing themes in the development and recapitulation--and "audacious juxtapositions" (p. 96) of thematic ideas in the Piano Trio and elsewhere. True enough, but Zank's assertion that the middle section of the Trio's second movement "rings a bit prosaic, of the cabaret or music-hall" (p. 98) is unconvincing. Zank's detailed analysis of the Sonata for Violin and Violoncello (one of Ravel's greatest chamber works) is more incisive. He shows how the work reveals "Ravel's most learned and intense use of counterpoint" (p. 106) as the composer creates "the illusion of several virtuoso players" (p. 110). Zank also briefly investigates connections between Ravel and Bartok, who greatly admired the sonata for its progressive elements.

Ravel's longstanding interest in registration is clearly evident in passages from Daphnis el Chloe, Bolero, Rapsodie espagnole and elsewhere. After a brief consideration of registral extremes in both piano concertos, Zank explores Ravel's use of ostinato, harmony--especially chords with added sixths and sevenths--and pedal points. Here, as throughout the book, he covers a broad spectrum of works, often quite briefly; as a result, promising ideas occasionally receive short shrift. Ravel's pedals, a crucial aspect of his compositional style, are categorized as "interior," "exterior," "pseudo," "perpetual," "plagal," "piccolo," and "false." Although this is a useful taxonomy, Zank's assertion that the B[??] pedal in "Le Gibet" from Gaspard de la nuit represents an "ironic exemplar of renounced registration" (p. 163) is never adequately-elucidated.

The author then investigates Ravel's penchant for exoticism by dividing selected works into the categories of "oriental," "bizarre," or "pittoresque." After considering the unjustly neglected Sheherazade overture, he examines the eponymous 1903 song cycle. Demonstrating that "the stylistic distance traveled in such short time between overture and song cycle is very great" (p. 187), Zank traces the influence of Debussy on the Sheherazade songs and the "Laideronette" movement from Ma mere l'oye, reaffirming Ravel's enthusiasm for the Javanese gamelan. Here and throughout the book, Zank wisely avoids the (still) contentious "Debussy vs. Ravel" debate, focusing instead on salient connections and mutual influences.

A careful reading of the "Aoua" movement from the Chansons madecasses is one of Zank's most penetrating, giving nearly equal space to the music and Parity's controversial colonialist text. After revealing similarities between Ravel's dramatic opening vocal gesture and Madagascaran music as cited in Julien Tiersot's article "La musique chez les Negres d'Afrique" (in Encyclopedie de la musique et dictionnaire du Conservatoire, ed. Albert Lavignac and Lionel de La Laurencie [Paris: C. Delagrave, 1913-1931], part 1, vol. 5, 3197-3225), he examines Ravel's harmonic language in the set as a whole. He cites the use of cluster chords and "progressively condensed, bitonal intensifications" (p. 208) as examples of Ravel's growing enthusiasm for modernist techniques.

The last major chapter focuses on synaesthesia, "the simultaneous stimulation and/or perception of different senses" (p. 223). With roots in German romanticism, the concept has been associated, variously, with Scriabin's tasliera per luce and Messiaen's "color chords." Starting from the bold--and not fully justified--premise that "nearly all of Ravel's keyboard works before 1907 solicit a synaesthetic response of some kind" (p. 239), Zank focuses on piano music, especially Sites auriculaires and Gaspard. While he devotes special attention to "On-dine," illuminating connections between the original story and the music, specific instances of synaesthetic correspondences--beyond references to Ravel's "topos of the bell" (p. 241)--are limited. Zank also considers pianist and scientist Marie Jaell, an overlooked contemporary who related keyboard performance practice to various senses, chiefly sight and touch. Her theories merit closer scrutiny beyond Zank's concise introduction.

Irony and Sound concludes much as it began, with reflections on Ravel's use of irony by early biographers Roland-Manuel and Vladimir Jankelevitch. Zank raises crucial questions in these final pages concerning Ravel's role in modern music (echoing Theo Hirsbrunner, is he a genius or merely a master?); his artistic and compositional legacy (especially the lack of a Ravel "school" and general disregard by post-1945 composers such as Boulez); and the inexplicable dismissal of his late works. Zank is clearly less concerned with providing definitive answers than assuring that Ravel continues to be part of the conversation on modern music.

Taken as a whole, Zank's study represents a thoughtful and important contribution to Ravel studies and a welcome respite from the customary "life and works" approach. It is also a challenging read. The author presupposes not only an intimate knowledge of Ravel's entire oeuvre but also a solid grasp of aesthetics, advanced music theory, and academic French and German (several key passages, especially in the endnotes, are regrettably left untranslated). Zank's intricate, dry prose is frequently interrupted by numbered lists of key points, emphatic italics, and an overabundance of endnotes--upwards of five citations in a given sentence and over 300 in the introduction and opening chapter alone. A few minor errors are also evident, including a reference to the Monte Garlo premiere of L'enfant et les sortileges as 1926, rather than 1925 (p. 171).

More attention should also have been paid to current scholarship. Zank's bibliography, which favors early Ravel sources, extends only as far as the Cambridge Companion to Ravel (eel. Deborah Mawer [Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000]), now a decade old. Certainly a reference to Michael J. Puri's recent work on sublimation is called for, as it resonates strongly with Zank's focus on irony (see Michael J. Puri, "Dandy, Interrupted: Sublimation, Repression, and Self-Portraiture in Maurice Ravel's Daphnis et Chloe [1909-1912]," Journal of the American Musicological Society 60, no. 2 [Summer 2007]: 317-72). For those whose knowledge of Ravel encompasses mostly well-known warhorses such as Bolero and the Pavane, the book is best undertaken after digesting a more accessible monograph. On the other hand, scholars, enthusiasts, and intrepid general readers will discover illuminating insights that will provide fruitful paths for further inquiry.

KEITH E. CLIFTON

Central Michigan University