Raoul Laparra: Valse Lente (1911)

Very beautiful romantic waltz, which is distinct from the Chopin tradition and similar. Often I find pieces that look nice, but are admittedly very much crafted along known paths. I always like pieces which try something new, it doesn’t have to be much, but still appeal. This piece feels quite low-key and a little bit impressionistic to me. There are a lot of “dolce“ and “espressivo“ markings, and a big part of the piece is in piano. The harmonic flavours are elegantly chosen and the whole piece shows a lot of attention to details, for example some hand-crossings in the execution. Raoul Laparra (13 May 1876 – 4 April 1943) was a French composer. Born in Bordeaux, Laparra studied at the Conservatoire de Paris with André Gedalge, Jules Massenet, Gabriel Fauré and Albert Lavignac. In 1903 he won the Premier Grand Prix de Rome with his cantata Alyssa. Laparra worked as a music critic for the magazines Le Ménestrel and Le Matin and taught at the Conservatoir