BASQUE LUXURY FIRM: TREVIÑO
BASQUE LUXURY FIRM: TREVIÑO
The subject of Ravel’s “Basque-ness” is quite a complex subject to address, there is a basic fact, we know Ravel’s mother was absolutely Basque, and for me the subject can almost completely stop there. Why perhaps you may ask, we often use the term “mother language” when referring to our “core” language, but the true root of that is exactly what the term means “our mother’s language”. Most of us the first voice we hear is that of our mother’s, its most understood as the most nourishing character in the traditional family unit. This is absolutely true about Ravel, and what is quite interesting is some years ago I was working on his brilliant opera “L’enfant et les sortilèges” and with a well-respected French professor they said Ravel’s French is unique, his musical stresses don’t fall on the “usual” places that one would expect in Parisian French. This is clear once one understands the type of French that is spoken in the Basque Region of France, then these slightly different nuances make enormous sense. In addition, in the two albums the Basque National Orchestra and I recorded, we divided Ravel’s major orchestral works by: Ravel the French Basque and Ravel the Spanish Basque. In this way we covered what is very known to all Basque people, the border between Spain, France, Navarre, etc. are merely imaginary lines on a map and this remains true even today.
On an aesthetic point, I’ve long believed Ravel did not fit into the standards and aesthetic norms of his time in France. Quite remarkably as an American studying in Conservatory, it was always discussed the historical relevance of Ravel with regards to the First World War, and I personally was always confused on this, his music as I heard it in the past was always so beautiful, never really outwardly sad, nor outwardly happy, there was always something to his music that escaped me. That was until I came to Euskadi for the first time, when I encountered his people, and I very quickly understood that this was not music of “light and color”, but rather a music of enormous depth, quiet/reserved force, and a directness with brevity, like in the Basque people. Suddenly his music spoke to me as never before, the quiet tears were revealed, and the elegant power was given full expression.
What I have tried to do in my time as Music Director of the Basque National Orchestra is to reclaim Ravel, as ours. France has been a dominating country in the history of music, and rightfully so, this has allowed them with little challenge to claim Ravel completely as theirs, it’s true he was French, but as anyone who lives in St. Jean de Luz knows, they are French and Basque, and so I think it’s only fair we claim back some of his “Basque-ness”.
As for how the world has acknowledged or even been affected by Ravel is a very difficult thing to pinpoint. He has always been considered among the greatest masters of orchestral color, and in that every composer studies his works religiously. The brevity of most of his works, somehow fits more the modern era of brevity, so I think there isn’t a modern composer who hasn’t learned how to make something short feel absolutely complete. The Basque National Orchestra and I have started to succeed in getting people around the world to refer to Ravel as French Basque, rather than just French, and for me, that is something all of us can celebrate in the Basque Country.
Robert Treviño
Music Director of the Basque National Orchestra (2016-2025)
Principal Guest Conductor Sinfonica Nazionale della RAI
Photograph: Juantxo Egaña.
