Rahvusooper Estonia Sümfooniakontsert - MAURICE RAVEL 150

Conductor: Arvo Volmer
Chorus Master: Heli Jürgenson

Estonian National Opera Orchestra and Chorus

PROGRAMME
Song Cycle “Schéhérazade” M. 41
Soloist: Helen Lokuta (mezzo-soprano)

Lyric fantasy “The Child and the Spells”
Choreographic symphony “Daphnis et Chloé” M. 57b

This year we celebrate 150th anniversary of Maurice Ravel, one of the most original and versatile composers of the 1st half of the 20th century. The concert is dedicated to his music.

Maurice Ravel’s Song Cycle “Schéhérazade”, M. 41
The exoticism of the “Arabian Nights” continued to interest Ravel. In the early years of the 20th century, he met the poet Tristan Klingsor, who had recently published a collection of free-verse poems under the title “Shéhérazade”, inspired by Rimsky-Korsakov’s symphonic suite of the same name, a work that Ravel also much admired.
Ravel’s song cycle sets the words of Klingsor’s “Asie”, “La flûte enchantée”, and “L’indifférent”. It was first performed on 17 May 1904 at the Salle Nouveau Théâtre, Paris, with the soprano Jeanne Hatto and an orchestra conducted by Alfred Cortot. The first part of the cycle, “Asie” evokes visions of “islands of flowers”, Persian cities, “dark amorous eyes,” viziers, “potbellied mandarins,” and an enchanted palace. In the second part, “La flûte enchantée”, a young slave girl tends to her sleeping master and hears her lover playing his flute outside. The music is both sad and joyful and seems to her like a kiss flying to her from her beloved. In the third part, “L’indifférent”, the imaginary poet is taken with the charms of and androgynous youth, but fails to persuade him to come join his or her house to drink wine.
Ravel’s “Shéhérazade” has remained a standard repertoire piece and has been recorded many times.

Maurice Ravel’s lyric fantasy “The Child and the Spells”
The first half of the concert ends with the concert performance of Ravel’s lyric fantasy “The Child and the Spells” (“L’enfant et les sortileges”, 1925). It is an enchanting fairy tale that offers full scale enjoyment. At the dress rehearsal, Ravel characterised the style of “The Child and the Spells” as “it is a naïve fairy-tale that does not go without irony. Music is an amalgam of all epochs and styles from Bach to Ravel!”
    It is a story of a child who is alone in his room and refuses to do his homework. The objects of his tantrum – the armchair, grandfather clock, teapot and teacup, fireplace and the characters in the wallpaper – come to life and turn against him. He runs into the garden, but even the creatures there – a nightingale, frog, bat – complain of his behaviour towards them. After a tussle, the boy bandages a squirrel’s wounded paw and regrets his behaviour. The animals and objects forgive him and the bond of love between him and his mother redeems him.

Intermission

Maurice Ravel’s choreographic symphony “Daphnis et Chloé” M. 57b
In 1909, Sergei Diaghilev commissioned a ballet on a pastoral romance “Daphnis and Chloé” by the Greek writer Longus. Maurice Ravel: “The three-part choreographic symphony was commissioned by the leader of the Ballets Russes Sergei Diaghilev. The libretto was written by the ballet master of the famous troupe, Mikhail Fokin. I decided to create the piece as a large musical fresco that would not include so much of the authentic ancient Greek mythology, but the Hellas of my dreams, closer to what the French writers and artists of the end of the 18th century depicted.” It has become one of the most beloved works of the composer that is frequently performed on concert stages and that also includes a chorus. Already at the lifetime of the composer the music was considered his masterpiece for orchestra with extraordinarily lush harmonies and soundscape typical of the Impressionist composers.