Danse du cocher

Ibert's Petite suite en 15 images (1943) is a set of fifteen miniature character pieces written for young pianists during the Occupation — small, witty, deliberately approachable, but with the harmonic ear of a French composer who had absorbed Ravel and Poulenc. Danse du cocher ("the coachman's dance") closes the set: a fast, marcato C-major sketch with a jaunty rhythmic personality.

Technically the piece tests rhythmic precision and articulation contrast. The right hand carries a brisk, mostly four-square dance line with sharp accents; the left hand provides a steady oom-pah accompaniment with the occasional walking-bass passage. The dynamic profile is bright (mf to f) and the articulation alternates between staccato and short tenutos, both of which need to be heard cleanly.

Two pitfalls. First, students smooth out the staccatos in pursuit of speed — the dance loses its bounce. Train the articulation slowly first, then bring the tempo. Second, the accents are sometimes flattened; the score relies on a clear contrast between accented downbeats and lighter weak beats to make the dance lift.

Listening: PD recordings of Ibert's larger piano works (Histoires, Petite suite) are now widely available on Musopen and IMSLP audio — they calibrate the kind of crisp articulation and dry French wit the piece asks for.