Andy Emler's Ravel Moves Your Soul
According to French composer and pianist Andy Emler, the hardest part when playing Maurice Ravel’s work is to go along with the original composition, then improvise and return to the original arrangement. ‘It’s really difficult to do that,’ he said in an interview with Finland Today at Villa Hakasalmi in Helsinki on August 28, 2022, where he performed an intimate concert titled ‘Andy Emler: My Own Ravel.’ Photograph: TONY ÖHBERG/FINLAND TODAY
Even if Maurice Ravel reportedly didn’t play his compositions very well, Andy Emler, the French pianist and composer, who toured Finland in late August, played phenomenally his own compositions that sounded like Ravel.
After Emler had entertained the intimate crowd at Villa Hakasalmi in Helsinki located next to the Finlandia Hall not too far from the Töölö Bay, by playing solo piano and sharing stories of the former French composer (1875–1937)—who is noted for his musical craftsmanship and impeccable form and famously known for composing “Bolero” for a large orchestra—Emler joined forces with Finnish double bassist Eero Tikkanen.
Emler started fingering a song called “Pres De Son Nom,” a haunting ballad with underlying tones reminiscent of Ravel’s Piano Concerto in G Major.
This was, hands on keys, a Humdinger with a capital H.
Tikkanen joined, and the two maestros went for lengthy improvisations while sharing stares without batting an eyelid. This was the penultimate number! And the crowd that had sat quiet and attentive for most of the concert, erupted in cheery applause.
“We were definitely on the same wavelength,” Emler said after the show.
Andy Emler in deep focus. Photograph: TONY ÖHBERG/FINLAND TODAY / Click to view the gallery.