Featuring

Melbourne Symphony Orchestra
Jaime Martín conductor

Program

Ravel Rapsodie Espagnole
de Falla El Amor Brujo
de Falla Three Cornered Hat: Suites 1 & 2
Ravel Boléro

About this performance

Be transported to the landscape of Spain with vivacious and colourful works from Ravel and de Falla.

• Maurice Ravel had a lifelong affinity for Spanish culture and music; his mother hailed from Basque Country straddling the border of France and Spain. Rapsodie Espagnole was Ravel’s first composition for orchestra. A mysterious, intoxicating four-note motif dominates the opening, followed by two passages inspired by dance forms and a festive conclusion.
• Manuel de Falla was originally commissioned to write El Amor Brujo for a mother daughter dance pair, Pastora and Rosario de la Mejorana Imperio, in collaboration with poet and choreographer Gregorio Martínez. The orchestral suite arrangement features four passionate songs for contralto.
• de Falla’s Three Cornered Hat began life as the accompanying music of a pantomime play. At the encouragement of Serge Diagilev of the Ballet Russes, de Falla expanded the score into a full ballet. The two orchestral suites string together vignettes from the completed ballet in the original order.
• Boléro is one of the most famous pieces in the orchestral repertoire. Ravel gradually builds a crescendo over fifteen minutes, floating winding melodies over a persistent snare drum.

Duration: approx. 105 minutes including interval