Igor Levit © Felix Broede / Sony Classical

Orchestre de Paris / Manfred Honeck

Igor Levit - Ravel, Gershwin, Bartók

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Symphonic Concert

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Grande salle Pierre Boulez - Philharmonie

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Duration: about 1h39 with 1 intermission

Program

Distribution

Maurice Ravel

La Valse

George Gershwin

Concerto en fa

Intermission

Béla Bartók

Concerto pour orchestre

Orchestre de Paris

Manfred Honeck , conducting

Igor Levit , piano

Three faces of modernity are contemplated in this program, which presents itself as an ode to orchestral timbres: Ravel's distanced homage to the waltz, Gershwin's irresistible swing, and Bartók's reinvented folklorism.

Originally conceived as ballet music in homage to the Viennese style of Johann Strauss, La Valse by Ravel is an extraordinary sensory experience, bursting all boundaries to become a fantastic musical whirlwind, almost demonic in its paroxysmal frenzy.

In contrast, Bartók's sumptuous Concerto for Orchestra, with its subtle symmetries, presents the classicism of a relaxed and peacefully hedonistic modernism. Irresistible, at times imbued with Slavic colours but all animated by the spirit of the Charleston and the blues, Gershwin's famous Concerto in F, which also enchanted Ravel, closes this sumptuous orchestral triptych: occasionally fiery and full of rhythmic sap, it does not forget the pleasures of instrumental virtuosity and sonic discoveries, in the continuity of the famous Rhapsody in Blue.

Download Event Program (PDF – 854 ko)