The French Heritage

This programme is made up of works whose rich colours and subtle orchestration are the hallmarks of French symphonic writing, and which render all the poetry, exoticism, and exuberance of the repertoire.

Description

A free conference will be presented 1 hour before the concert (except where noted).

The Overture Le Corsaire is a stunning display of compositional virtuosity. Inspired by the novel by Byron (The Corsair), it was composed, for the most part, not long after Berlioz’s celebrated Fantastic Symphony.

Saint-Saëns’s final piano concerto, L’Égyptien, takes its title from the exotic twists in the work, its evocation of Arab music, and because Saint-Saëns actually composed the work in Egypt, at the ancient site at Luxor. The composer even depicts a cat from one of the Nile’s shipmasters.

Ravel’s Mother Goose Suite is made up of a sequence of five finely-chiselled tableaux representing five enchanting moments taken from childhood tales: Sleeping Beauty’s Pavane, Tom Thumb, Little Miss Ugly Face, Empress of the Pagodas, Conversations between Beauty and the Beast, The Enchanted Garden. The orchestration in this work is filled with delicious musical depictions, such as evocations of a mythical China in Little Miss Ugly Face, the double bassoon solo which represents the Beast in Conversations, and the magic and majesty of the Enchanted Garden.

Debussy’s La mer has become an essential part of the symphonic repertoire. It is one of the most vivid examples of musical Impressionism, an enchanting fresco depicting the sea’s changing complexions: now calm and placid, now agitated and blustering. A feeling of grandeur and breadth exudes from this lively, refined, and luminous score.