***** ‘What comes over is Rattle’s love for the music and the orchestra’s wholehearted response… an outright winner.’
Recorded in January 2016, this beautiful programme of French music was chosen by Music Director Designate Sir Simon Rattle and features world class soloists Leonidas Kavakos and Julia Bullock.
Book-ending this concert are two works by the master of orchestral texture, Maurice Ravel. First, Le tombeau de Couperin; an expertly orchestrated version of a 1914-17 piano piece that brings sharpness to the original’s classical dance rhythms. The work calls for an oboe soloist of virtuosic skill, which is expertly handled here by LSO Principal Olivier Stankiewicz. At the other end, Rattle closed the concert with the popular second suite from Daphnis et Chloé.
Violinist Leonidas Kavakos presents his intepretation of Henri Dutilleux’s violin concerto L’arbre des songes. Composed between 1983 and 1985, the title translates as ‘The Tree of Dreams’ and the work is based on a process of continual growth and renewal, as the composer explained: ‘All in all the piece grows somewhat like a tree, for the constant multiplication and renewal of its branches is the lyrical essence of the tree.’ Rattle also presents a second work by Dutilleux, 1964’s Métaboles.
Rounding out the programme, American soprano Julia Bullock shines in Maurice Delage’s Quatre poèmes hindous. Written in 1912 for a chamber ensemble of two flutes, oboe, two clarinets, harp, and string quartet, this hidden gem has been described as ‘one of the first attempts to introduce the melodic and rhythmic forms of Indian music to the language of Western music’.
Ravel: Le tombeau de Couperin
1. I. Prélude. Vif
2. II. Forlane. Allegretto
3. III. Menuet. Allegro moderato
4. IV. Rigaudon. Assez vif
Dutilleux: L'arbre des songes
5. I. Librement, Interlude
6. II. Vif, Interlude 2
7. III. Lent, Interlude 3
8. IV. Large et animé
Delage: Quatre poemes hindous
9. I. Madras
10. II. Lahore
11. III. Bénarès
12. IV. Jeypor
Dutilleux:
13. Métaboles, I. Incantatoire
14. Métaboles, II. Linéaire
15. Métaboles, III. Obsessionnel
16. Métaboles, IV. Torpide
17. Métaboles, V. Flamboyant
Ravel:
18. Daphnis et Chloé Suite No 2, I. Lever du jour
19. Daphnis et Chloé Suite No 2, II. Pantomime
20. Daphnis et Chloé Suite No 2, III. Danse générale
