Jacques Ibert ： Encounters Talkative Girls

“Talkative Girls,” from Ibert’s collection Encounters, is a light-hearted miniature that evokes the lively atmosphere of animated conversation. Its crisp rhythms and exchanges of short motifs create a vivid impression of topics shifting from one moment to the next. It is important to maintain the overall flow while clearly conveying changes of character from one passage to another. In performance, the shorter notes should not be rushed; treating rests and accents as the pauses and inflections of conversation brings out the piece’s witty humor. Careful balance is also needed to keep the melody from being obscured, while preserving the subtle nuances within its buoyant character.