Prokofiev Piano Concerto No. 2, Ravel Piano Concerto
Copy at Case Memorial Library
Marguerite Long wrote: "One day at a dinner in the house of Mme de Saint-Marceaux, whose salon, according to Colette, was 'a citadel of artistic intimacy,' Ravel said to me point-blank: 'I am composing a concerto for you. Do you mind if it ends pianissimo and with trills?' 'Of course not,' I replied, only too happy to realize the dream of all virtuosi. … Negotiations took place for a first performance of the Concerto in G in Holland, and the Concertgebouw even announced it … for 9 March 1931. But the news came that Ravel was ill and the work could not be ready. It was far from being finished and Ravel had great trouble in completing it. He told his friend Zogheb, 'I can't manage to finish my Concerto, so I am resolved not to sleep for more than a second. When my work is finished I shall rest in this world … or in the other.' In the meantime Ravel decided that the première of the Concerto should take place in Paris on 14 January 1932. Our Dutch friends … were asked to postpone their concert until the spring. They also agreed to free me from the contract to play in Amsterdam that same day" (quoted in Ravel Remembered, p. 73).
Marguerite Long wrote: "One day at a dinner in the house of Mme de Saint-Marceaux, whose salon, according to Colette, was 'a citadel of artistic intimacy,' Ravel said to me point-blank: 'I am composing a concerto for you. Do you mind if it ends pianissimo and with trills?' 'Of course not,' I replied, only too happy to realize the dream of all virtuosi. … Negotiations took place for a first performance of the Concerto in G in Holland, and the Concertgebouw even announced it … for 9 March 1931. But the news came that Ravel was ill and the work could not be ready. It was far from being finished and Ravel had great trouble in completing it. He told his friend Zogheb, 'I can't manage to finish my Concerto, so I am resolved not to sleep for more than a second. When my work is finished I shall rest in this world … or in the other.' In the meantime Ravel decided that the première of the Concerto should take place in Paris on 14 January 1932. Our Dutch friends … were asked to postpone their concert until the spring. They also agreed to free me from the contract to play in Amsterdam that same day" (quoted in Ravel Remembered, p. 73).
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