I can't speak for everyone, but in my inner and exterior life, there are artists or composers that just show up on one's doorstep. For instance, one thinks of Maurice Ravel first thing in the morning, and then his name pops up in a book that you are reading, and then the wife brings the composer up during dinner conversation. Which is not a total surprise because my wife has been working on a project for the past two years involving with Ravel's music. Still, on Record Store Day, instead of locating that Serge Gainsbourg soundtrack limited edition, I purchased Charles Libove and Nina Lugovoy's performing Ravel's work for violin and piano on vinyl and very much out-of-print.
Speaking which, "Ravel for Violin" is a recording made in 1980 and in that time, these series of Ravel works were undiscovered. One is an early piece written in 1897, and the others were composed in the early 1920s. Ravel is very much a riff-master. When I think of Ravel, I also think of Led Zeppelin's "Kasmir" because it's a riff, but with textures and layers to serve as a foundation for that 'riff.'
On all the pieces on "Ravel for Violin" there is a strong Hungarian and Spanish melodies, but with touches of the Jazz Era of that time as well. The violin leads, but the piano follows. Libove (the violinist) and Lugovoy (the pianist) work as a duo, and one can tell the time spent together that they had a groove and the ability to convey are Ravel's music in its complexities as well as in its rhythmic possibilities. A fun album full of Ravel's unique approach to composition, as well as aspects of making a fist and punching it in the air.
