The Philadelphia Orchestra
Part of: Mitsuko Uchida
Performers
The Philadelphia Orchestra
Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Music and Artistic Director
Mitsuko Uchida, Piano
Program
RAVEL Piano Concerto in G Major
VALERIE COLEMAN Concerto for Orchestra, "Renaissance" (NY Premiere)
DEBUSSY La mer
Encore:
R. SCHUMANN "Aveu" from Carnaval, Op. 9
Event Duration
The printed program will last approximately two hours, including one 20-minute intermission. Please note that there will be no late seating before intermission.Listen to Selected Works
At a Glance
Maurice Ravel was at the height of his international fame in 1928 when he toured America, where he deepened his enthusiasm for jazz. Upon his return to France, he began composing the Piano Concerto in G Major, which he interrupted to write the Piano Concerto for the Left Hand, both pieces jazz-inspired.
The concert continues with the New York premiere of a Philadelphia Orchestra co-commission: the Concerto for Orchestra, “Renaissance,” the fifth piece American composer Valerie Coleman has written for the Philadelphians. The concerto for orchestra is a tradition that dates back to the Baroque era and that found new expression in the past century. Coleman says that this work “is centered on honoring and reflecting upon the Great Migration and the Harlem Renaissance.”
Composers tend not to like labels, and it is perhaps understandable that Claude Debussy rejected the term “Impressionism” when it was first applied to his works. Yet equally understandable is that critics and listeners would make connections between his music and currents in French painting of his time. La Mer, subtitled “symphonic sketches,” shows his marvelous ability to evoke three scenes associated with the sea: “From Dawn to Midday at Sea,” “Play of the Waves,” and “Dialogue of the Wind and the Sea.”