# Please help me with Jeux d'eau



## Blue

Hi! Okay, I know it's not the best etiquette to immediately start a new discussion as a newbie, so I apologize! I wouldn't do it if I weren't at my wit's end with this question.

Here's the background: I'm going to college in the US as a piano performance major in August, but I'm currently an expat in Australia with no teacher or musical connections. I thought that it would be a good idea to work on some pieces over the summer so I chose Jeux d'eau (among others) because I'd only played one Ravel prelude and it seemed a good entry-level piece to Ravel's body of work.

I've got most of it figured out but one section is completely confusing me: the 'le chant un peu dehors', measures 38 to 40. It sounds extremely dissonant in a way that doesn't fit the character of the piece. The left hand C#s clashes with the RH D naturals in the beginning of the measure. Then when the RH plays an E min broken chord, the LH plays a Cmaj7! It just sounds so weird to me after all the lovely augmented and minor stuff.

I've checked notes and listened to Youtube versions- but in the ones I've listened to, the left hand is so soft I can barely hear it. Can someone with better listening skills then me please tell me if it's meant to clash so strongly and I should just "cover it up" or if it sounds fine and I have some notes wrong?


----------



## hreichgott

I haven't played this but my impression is that that section has a lot of chromatic scales in it, so half steps and dissonances are built in. You could treat it like a bit of a cadenza, with "tutti" coming back in at 1er Mouvt a couple of pages later. I like Pascal Rogé's interpretation; he really leans into the chromaticism and makes it sound like a contrasting section. Jean-Yves Thibaudet is quite good too, different approach, very fast and sparkling. Both are on Spotify.

It could be that thinking horizontally would help, rather than worrying about what's happening vertically, but that's just a conjecture for something I haven't played.

I do know that you shouldn't cover anything up. Ravel meant every note he ever wrote


----------



## Turangalîla

I have played this. Bring out the melody, a lot. For example, the melody for the first few notes is D, C sharp, F double-sharp, G sharp, and B. Really, the first and third notes are appoggiaturas on the second and fourth and are bound to create dissonance. Let the melody float_ above_ the watery harmonies, not within them. This section is also supposed to create tension, so the dissonances are normal.

Oh, and if you are looking for other good "entry-level" Ravel pieces, I would learn the Sonatine...I learned that right before the Jeux d'eau and it went swimmingly


----------



## Blue

Thank you both so much! Both those comments really help. Thibaudet's and Roge's interpretations truly give completely different viewpoints, don't they? It's really interesting to hear the contrasting approaches.

CarterJohnsonPiano, thanks especially for pointing out the melody. I was overlooking the way those notes are actually eighth notes- now, when I "sing" those, it makes the section work, woohoo!  And I'll definitely take a look at the Sonatine. Now on to conquer that 1er movement part!


----------



## tdc

Blue said:


> *Then when the RH plays an E min broken chord, the LH plays a Cmaj7!* It just sounds so weird to me after all the lovely augmented and minor stuff.


Those two chords share 3 notes, so the E minor over a Cmaj 7 would essentially be one big Cmaj7 chord.


----------



## Blue

Very true, tdc, thanks for pointing that out.


----------



## Kcenter

I always think this is madness. People seem to think _Jeux d'eau_ is a beginner piece but I had more trouble with it than I did Scarbo. I think it went _Jeux d'eau, Ondine, Scarbo_ in terms of difficulty for my hands (brain was a totally different story).

Regardless, it's an absolutely beautiful piece. I was always encouraged to bring out the melody more too, but depending on where you plan to perform it, you may want to leave it creepy, mysterious and, of course, "water-y". I don't necessarily hear drops of water that much louder than other drops of water... of course I really just loathe banged out melodies, in Bach especially.

Good luck, Blue. I'd like to hear it when you think it's ready!

KC


----------

