Introduction to Ravel's incredible Toccata

Easy?! By no means playable of course ;) , but the harmony and use of motivic material is quite straightforward. In this short introduction we examine some of the building blocks that Ravel used in his famous toccata. Although the harmonic language is full of extentions and colouring notes, the bass provides a good guideline and shows simple & familiar progressions. For this introduction I've limited myself to the exposition of this piece, as it contains already all the building blocks that will be used in the development and recap.

Piano performance by Brecht Valckenaers:    / @brechtvalckenaers5108  
Full Tombeau recording:    • M. Ravel | Le Tombeau de Couperin (M.68) |...  

Timestamps:
00:00 introduction
00:28 Toccata performance (exposition)
02:04 Analysis Theme 1
04:40 Analysis Transition
04:54 Analysis Theme 2
06:09 Analysis Climax + transition
06:40 Development
07:00 Outro + Denis Matthews review

#ravel #toccata #analysis #piano