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Orchestre de Paris / Manfred Honeck

Igor Levit - Ravel, Gershwin, Bartók
Symphonic Concert
Grande salle Pierre Boulez - Philharmonie
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.

Karina-Canellakis

Grande salle Pierre Boulez - Philharmonie

See the venue

Getting here

Porte de Pantin station
Paris Underground (Métro) Line 5
Tram 3B 

Address

221 avenue Jean-Jaurès, 75019 Paris

To leave after this concert

taxi G7
Parking vélo surveillé (payant sur réservation) (open in a new tab)