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At the Precipice
Yves Ramette composer
St. Petersburg State Symphony Orchestra | Vladimir Lande conductor
AT THE PRECIPICE, the third release on Navona Records featuring the music of the late composer Yves Ramette (1921-2012), showcases four world premiere recordings of the composer’s works. Recorded with the St. Petersburg Symphony Orchestra in the summer of 2013 after his passing, these four orchestral pieces follow on the heels of Ramette’s albums CASCADING INTO REVERIE for piano and orchestra and WITH PASSION for solo piano, and offer interesting insight into not only the composer himself but also the times in which he worked.
AT THE PRECIPICE highlights Ramette’s rhythmically propulsive style, in which melodic fragments are presented, morphed, and expanded. As noted in his manuscripts, Ramette refers to Symphony 6 as a representation of “[my] firm belief in music… addressing the man and the technique that is a reflection of an era,” perhaps a reference to the dismissal of his work by the French musical elite in the 1950s.
Along with Symphony 6, the album includes Symphony 1, Symphony 2, and Symphony 4, all of which contain related motifs and concepts. Ramette was a prolific composer constantly searching for new sounds and ideas, but the underlying unity of his thinking shines through in this compelling collection.
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Artist Information
Yves Ramette
Composer Yves Ramette (b. 1921) was born in Bavay, France, where his father was the director of a school. From a very young age Ramette was instinctively attracted towards music. When he was seven years old he started learning musical notation as well as to play the violin and the piano. At age fourteen, while pursuing his secondary studies at the Beauvais Lycée, he also began taking advanced lessons in harmony.
Vladimir Lande
In 2008, Lande was appointed principal guest conductor of the St. Petersburg State Symphony, and in 2011 he led the orchestra on a 24-concert "Tour of the Americas” including New York’s Alice Tully Hall, Boston’s Symphony Hall, Philadelphia’s KimmelCenter, Baltimore’s Meyerhoff Hall, and the Society of the Performing Arts in Houston, as well as the most prestigious venues in Mexico, Argentina, Brazil, Ecuador, Costa Rica, Peru, Chile, and Uruguay.
