Alain
Altinoglu

Daphnis et Chloé

‘My intention was to compose a large musical panorama in which, rather than the ancient reality, I wanted to depict the Greece of my dreams, which is closer to what the French artists of the late 18^th century portrayed.’ In his impressionist ballet Daphnis et Chloé, based on the famous love story by Longus, which he wrote for the Ballets Russes shortly before the Great War, Maurice Ravel’s first priority was not to capture the historical life of Greece in late antiquity. In his four-part Rhapsodie espagnole for orchestra, however, captured the essence of Spanish music, and in his Tzigane for violin and orchestra of Hungarian Gypsy music. Ravel, as always, shows himself to be a master orchestrator who conjures the finest shades of meaning from the orchestra. And who better to conjure these ultimate nuances from the orchestra of La Monnaie than its Music Director Alain Altinoglu?

PROGRAMME

• Maurice Ravel Rapsodie Espagnole pour orchestre seul (1907-1908)
• Maurice Ravel Tzigane (1924)
• Maurice Ravel Daphnis et Chloé, symphonie chorégraphique (1909-1912)