Modern Harmony - Lesson 10: Ravel

[@kell_0741]

I would've never thought the harmonic structure was so diatonic, and the hints of chromaticism are few and effective. I am forever in awe at Ravel's ability to conjure emotional yet complicated writing within a harmonic structure and form that stays fairly traditional. He truly is the master of orchestration!

[@gustavertboellecomposer]

Wow, the example at 7:39 really is an eye-opener! I would have never imagined that Noctuelles would sound like that without the proper phrasing - and I guess you easily forget just how much of an effect musicality and balance will have of the harmonic perception of a piece. Like sometimes the same harmony orchestrated in two different ways will feel completely different harmony-wise; as if the notes are dissonant in one context but not the other.

[@OdinComposer]

agreed!

[@bigdog38au]

Love the concept of diving into different composers styles.

[@davidmarquiss7969]

Fantastic to see the return of this series. Thank you!

[@lovaaaa2451]

Thank you! It is very good to find a source that actually goes to understand some of what's going on in Ravel and similar music, as you say naive approaches fail miserably. I have been very annoyed at people who just say this composer uses that and that mode or chord and nothing about how it works. I have never been able to understand Ravel for real because the only resources I've found has been to identify the chords, modes, scales etc and it hasn't helped at all. I'm very much looking forward to the rest of the series!

[@ssmith5048]

Excellent as always!

[@jjaguirremusic]

This is so great

[@benjamincourtois2204]

Amazing, thank you

[@IKIRosa]

Amazing!

[@SaintDeus]

Cool!!

[@mikuor]

but i think from m.16 to the middle of m 18, a descending fourths sequence appears and make the piece stray into Gmaj

[@rubenmolino1480]

excelent ¡¡

[@mikuor]

好

[@ChernobieffPiano]

I don't think the phrase "it let's it breathe" works. Maybe you could explain that in more depth.