A long, nocturne-like monologue for the unaccompanied piano opens the slow movement. After a short middle section, the theme returns in the orchestra, with the piano weaving rich arabesques around it. This movement is remarkable for its easy and elegant flow, refined sonority and delicacy of lyrical expression. The French pianist Henri Gil-Marchex claimed that Ravel's source of inspiration for this movement was the slow movement of Mozart's Clarinet Quintet, though Ravel skillfully managed to conceal Mozart's model. The dazzling finale gives the distinct impression of a race between the piano and the orchestra. "Yelps from the clarinet", writes Gil-Marchex, "the theme snapped at by the piccolo and snarled at by the trombone, mark the succeeding stages of the hot pursuit." He further suggests that here "Ravel's art of illusion takes the form of leaving the listener in doubt as to whether the piano is the pursuer or the pursued." Orly Tal
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy NDUxMg==