jmc's classics
I attended the second to last concert of the SLSO of the season yesterday. The program included Esa-Pekka Salonen's Nynx, Maurice Ravel's Sheherazade and Hector Berlioz's Symphonie Fantastique. Isreale Soprano Rinat Shaham was the soloist for Sheherazade. Conuctor designate Stephane Deneve conducted the orchestra. He wore a St. Louis Blues jersey for the introduction where he spoke of the program for the evening. Salonen (1958-) is a Finnish composer conductor. Nynx was a figure in Greek Mythology. She was the mother of sleep and death. This piece is about this charter in Greek mythology. Salonen also shows influence from German writer Frederick Nietzsche (1844-1900).
Ravel's Sheherazade is based on Arabian legends. Ravel (1875-1937) is known for his Bolaro which was used in the movie Ten. He was fascinated with Ancient Greece. He wrote music about ancient Greece. This is a song cycle which I have never heard. Nickoli Rimski-Koriskoff also wrote a piece called Sheherazade. The Ravel work is a song cycle. Which is a group of songs. This piece also has some influences of Debussy. I had not heard this piece before. The finale piece on the program was Hector Berlioz's(1803-1869) Symphonie Fantastique which was the only piece that I was familiar with. It dates from 1827. it is about an unnamed artists obsession with a woman. It may have been based on his obsession with an actress around the same time. Berlioz was a fan of Shakespeare. He wrote several works base on Shakespeare's works. It is in five movements: Passions, A Ball, Scene in the countryside, March of the Scaffold and Witches Sabbath. This work was considered groundbreaking for its time. This piece is often compared to the effects of opium in a dream. the copy of this work that I have is of Charles Munch conducting the Orchestra of Paris on the EMI label. In 1831 Berlioz wrote a wequel "Lelio ou Le Retour a la Vie or Lelio the retrun to life. I have not heard this work. THe season starts up again in September.
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