Written for the 1905 Prix de Rome competition, Ravel’s L’Aurore for mixed choir and orchestra is a fitting opening to this concert, featuring the ±«Óãtv National Chorus of Wales and Swedish conductor and mezzo soprano Sofi Jeannin, who has established herself as one of the finest and most respected choral specialists around today.
Stravinsky’s Symphonies of Wind Instruments draws on Russian folk elements and the original meaning of symphony, that of sounding together. Short litanies between the different instruments draw together contrasting episodes at three different but still related speeds. In contrast, Boulanger’s Vieille prière bouddhique employs a rich form of oriental incantation alongside exotic flute solos, which develop the choral music and evoke Far Eastern musical timbres and sinuous arabesques.
Overflowing with inventiveness and sensuous instrumental colours, Ravel’s Le Tombeau de Couperin is less an homage to Couperin, but to the French music of the 18th Century. Crisp tonal colours meld with subtle but incisive rhythmic inflections, highlighted by inventive woodwind solos and a bustling vivacity. Equally inventive is Stravinsky’s Symphony of Psalms which uses modes reminiscent of traditional Gregorian chant, paired with fugal counterpoint and ecstatic dance motifs to portray the text of the psalms… a pure work of genius!