The Community Arts Music Association (CAMA) will put the famed L’Orchestre de la Suisse Romande (the Orchestra of French Switzerland) on The Granada Theatre stage at 7 p.m. Monday. Charles Dutoit will conduct, with pianist Nikolai Lugansky serving as guest soloist.
The program consists of “Ibéria,” the second of Claude Debussy’s Images pour orchestre (1905–1908); Sergei Rachmaninov’s Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, Opus 43 (1934); Igor Stravinsky’s symphonic poem Chant du Rossignol (1917); and the Second Suite of Maurice Ravel’s ballet, Daphnis and Chloé, 1912.
Dutoit is clearly out to showcase his orchestra’s fabulous sound, and his own control of same. All the works on the program — especially the Rachmaninov — require the utmost in tact and discipline if they are not to vanish into clouds of mist or tubs of mush. Fortunately for us, tact and discipline have always been trademarks of L’Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, which was founded in 1918 by Ernest Ansermet, who continued as music director for the next 49 years, retiring in 1967.
Ansermet and his band made so many recordings that The Telegraph in London could justly observe that “There was probably not an LP collection anywhere across the globe that didn’t include at least one.”
For a lot of works, including some of those on this program, Ansermet’s recordings, on London (Decca, U.K.), were the only commercially available recordings. They were splendid performances, and they were great for filling in the gaps.
Ansermet was determined to have a Swiss orchestra, with Swiss musicians, playing Swiss music. Eventually, L’Orchestre got to be about 80 percent Swiss musicians, and they have been admirable in their unwavering support for Swiss composers such as Arthur Honegger or Frank Martin.
Some of the orchestra’s original mission must still be in place, since the Stravinsky and the Rachmaninov were both written in Switzerland, by exiles from an extinct world. In their cultures, France and Russia are inextricably cross-referenced.
Daphnis and Chloe was premiered in 1912, with the orchestra conducted by Pierre Monteux and the choreography by Michel Fokine. The same year was to have seen the premiere of Le Sacre du Printemps, but Sergei Diaghilev, for very good reasons, set the premiere off until the following year — with choreography by Vaslav Nijinsky, who was the lead in Daphnis and Chloe, and the orchestra conducted by the incomparable Monteux. Composer or conductor, Diaghilev sure could pick ’em.
Single tickets to this concert are $38, $48, $73, $93 and $103. Click here to purchase tickets online, or call 805.899.2222. Tickets also are available at The Granada Theatre box office, 1214 State St.
— Gerald Carpenter covers the arts as a Noozhawk contributing writer. He can be reached at gerald.carpenter@gmail.com. The opinions expressed are his own.