A somber waltz by Maurice Ravel: “La valse, poème chorégraphique” was performed by the European Union Youth Orchestra conducted by Gustavo Gimeno at the Young Euro Classic 2022 festival at the Konzerthaus Berlin.
French composer Maurice Ravel (1875-1937) is considered one of the primary representatives of musical impressionism. He often brought together novel rhythms and harmonies with traditional forms in his music, as in “La valse, a choreographic poem for orchestra”, which powerfully reinterprets the classical Viennese waltz. Under the influence of the First World War, the piece spirals further and further into ruin. Its cheerful beat becomes a bitter military march, its buoyant mood a frenzy of chaos.
Ravel originally wrote “La valse” as ballet music and called the piece a “poème chorégraphique”. But the commissioner, the director of the Ballet Russes Sergei Diaghilev, saw it differently. He decided as soon as he heard it that this was a masterpiece, but not real ballet music, which is why the piece was performed as a purely orchestral piece at its premiere in 1920.
Spanish conductor Gustavo Gimeno has been Music Director of the Orchestre Philharmonique du Luxembourg since 2015 and of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra since 2020/21. Conducting the European Union Youth Orchestra is a matter of honor for him as he also gained his first major stage experience with this orchestra as a young musician.
The European Union Youth Orchestra (EUYO) is considered the musical representative of the European Union. Founded over 40 years ago by Claudio Abbado, among others, the EUYO is made up of the best musicians from all EU countries, ranging in age from 14 to 24. The orchestra’s concerts are crowd pullers, not least because the young musicians play with the world's most famous conductors.
© EuroArts Music International
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8 сен 2024
