A Letter from Kessa Mefford
Founder of Whimsical Birdsong and The Ravel Project
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In summer of 2018, I had just decided to attend the Mannes School of Music for my MM in Piano, studying under the incredible Simone Dinnerstein. We had a phone call over the summer before school started to discuss my goals for my master’s and for my career generally. I expressed interest in playing the complete solo piano works by Ravel, to which she said that was a nice idea, but it had been done before many times. She pushed me to think bigger, which led me to developing Whimsical Birdsong, a concert series in which I present ALL of the piano-inclusive works by Ravel; not just solo music, but also art songs, chamber music, and concertos. The goal of the project is to become a modern-day expert in Ravel, and by extension, help my audiences understand more about his life and music as well.
Kristina and I started working together not long after the conception of the series. We had known each other for years already at that point and had worked together in an opera rehearsal context, but not ever on art songs. We already greatly admired each other’s musicianship, so I asked her to collaborate with me on the first Whimsical Birdsong concert outside of Mannes, singing Shéhérazade. Even though Shéhérazade is an orchestral cycle, and therefore not technically for piano, it is one of Ravel’s most famous song cycles, so I decided to include it on that particular program. At our first coaching session on L’indifferent, the final song in the cycle, our coach had a book of Ravel’s songs that he already owned. We performed the song for him. He held up the book and told us “That was amazing. I’ve never heard Ravel like that. You should record this entire book.” The rest is history. We have been rehearsing, researching, and recording Ravel’s songs together now for over three years.
This album contains 37 tracks. We chose to include all 32 works Ravel wrote and scored originally for piano and solo voice, which is why the Vocalise-étude, despite not having words, is included. The second disc also includes five bonus tracks. Those will be the complete Shéhérazade, since that was the cycle that originally got us working together, as well as a unique version of the Deux épigrammes de Clément Marot in its original old French dialect.
Thank you so much for showing your support for this project by purchasing an album. If you listen enough times, I am confident you will all also become experts in Ravel’s art songs. Enjoy!