A flute-playing faun, half man, half animal, seduces two sleeping nymphs – this is the story of Stéphane Mallarmé’s poem ‘L’après-midi d’un faune’, which provided more than ample inspiration for Debussy’s piece of the same name. This ground breaking piece, an instant hit at its 1894 premiere, was like nothing anyone had heard before; shimmering ambiguity and transparent harmonies glisten with faintly Eastern inspired melodies, subtle nuance and sheer beauty. Simply stunning…
It was not on the beaches of Bali that Thierry Pécou composed the Cara Bali Concerto, but from his home in Rouen during a covid lockdown. Deeply inspired by gamelan music, the concerto, written for today’s soloist Alexandre Tharaud, uses the percussivity of the piano to evoke the gongs and metallophones of the gamelan ensemble and the spirit of Bali. We hear this alongside Martinů’s Third Symphony, written as a spontaneous gesture to celebrate the twentieth anniversary of Serge Koussevitzky’s association with the Boston Symphony Orchestra. To conduct we welcome award-winning conductor Marzena Diakun.