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Margo Kline: Philharmonique Brings International Flair to Granada
Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, conducted by Myung-Whun Chang and Swedish soprano Anne Sofie von Otter, brought an elegant program of Maurice Ravel’s music to The Granada on Tuesday night.
It was one of the International Series by the Community Arts Music Association, and it delivered some Impressionist works to a nearly full house. The orchestra is large; 141 instrumentalists filled the Granada stage.
Korean-born Chang has been with the Philharmonique since 2000, and the pairing obviously has worked to everyone’s advantage.
Tall, blond and elegant, von Otter worked her way through the three movements of Ravel’s Shèhèrezade with her characteristic flair. Shèhèrezade has a somewhat unusual format — a long first movement, Asie, followed by two brief ones, La Flȗte Enchentèe and L’indiffént. First published in 1903, Shèhèrezade gave the very Gallic Ravel an opportunity to express his fascination with the Oriental and exotic. Von Otter used her fine voice and dramatic gestures to excellent effect, while wearing a teal satin and gold brocade evening ensemble that fit in with the Asian theme.
The evening began with Ma mere L’Oye, the “Mother Goose” suite originally created by Ravel in 1910 as a piano duet for two children of family friends. Two years later, he created a ballet suite by adding sections and orchestrating it. Movements include dances for Sleeping Beauty, Beauty and the Beast and Tom Thumb.
After the intermission, the orchestra played Suites No. 1 and 2 of the ballet Daphnis and Chloe. Ravel called this music “a choreographic symphony”; it dates from 1912 and was commissioned by Sergei Diaghilev for the Ballets Russes. The story originated as a pastorale by Greek poet Longus in the 3rd century AD. It carries even more historic weight in that the original ballet featured Vaslav Nijinsky and Tamara Karsavina dancing the roles of the goatherd Daphnis and the shepherdess Chloe, respectively.
Ravel called his original ballet of Daphnis et Chloe a “choreographic symphony.” The composer extrapolated two suites from the ballet, which comprised the music played on Tuesday evening. Ravel, regarded as an Impressionist, modern and an innovator in his own time, mined the ancient Greek myths with lyric effect.
The program ended with La Valse, Ravel’s tribute to the Viennese music of Johann Strauss II. Although written with Diaghilev’s ballet company in mind, La Valse was not staged by the Russian, but was played in concert in 1920 to great acclaim.
La Valse swells from an initial grand waltz in the Viennese style to something darker and more cacophonous, apparently Ravel’s gesture to the recently ended World War I. It ends with an explosive burst of sound.
Again, CAMA brought a remarkable evening of fine music and international artists — to the great acclaim of the audience, which stood for the curtain calls.
Click here to view the program as performed Feb. 5 at Cité de la Musique, Grand Salle, Paris.
— Margo Kline covers the arts as a Noozhawk contributor.
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