The BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra with chief conductor Donald Runnicles throws the musical focus on France, including a celebration of Henri Dutilleux's 95th Birthday.
'Tout un monde lointain' is one of Dutilleux's best loved works. Commissioned by the great Cellist, Mstislav Rostropovich, it ranks among the great cello concertos of the 20th century. The very French and vivid instrumental imagination and harmony evoke dreamlike qualities in Baudelaire's poems - the inspiration for this work. The masterly composition and orchestration of Maurice Ravel then take us to Spain, with his ever popular Bolero, and to Ancient Greece with his orchestral and choral masterpiece Daphnis and Chloë - written for the Ballets Russes in 1912. Ravel's slightly older contemporary, Debussy, also had his work Prelude a L'après-midi d'un faune staged and popularised by Diaghilev's Ballets Russes, and it sets up a world of breathtaking orchestral textures.
Debussy: Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune
Henri Dutilleux: 'Tout un monde lointain ...'
Ravel: Boléro
Ravel: Daphnis and Chloë
Lynn Harrell (cello)
Edinburgh Festival Chorus
The BBC Scottish Symphoy Orchestra
Donald Runnicles (conductor)
Presented by Andrew McGregor
'Tout un monde lointain' is one of Dutilleux's best loved works. Commissioned by the great Cellist, Mstislav Rostropovich, it ranks among the great cello concertos of the 20th century. The very French and vivid instrumental imagination and harmony evoke dreamlike qualities in Baudelaire's poems - the inspiration for this work. The masterly composition and orchestration of Maurice Ravel then take us to Spain, with his ever popular Bolero, and to Ancient Greece with his orchestral and choral masterpiece Daphnis and Chloë - written for the Ballets Russes in 1912. Ravel's slightly older contemporary, Debussy, also had his work Prelude a L'après-midi d'un faune staged and popularised by Diaghilev's Ballets Russes, and it sets up a world of breathtaking orchestral textures.
Debussy: Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune
Henri Dutilleux: 'Tout un monde lointain ...'
Ravel: Boléro
Ravel: Daphnis and Chloë
Lynn Harrell (cello)
Edinburgh Festival Chorus
The BBC Scottish Symphoy Orchestra
Donald Runnicles (conductor)
Presented by Andrew McGregor
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