Cyprus Youth Symphony Orchestra
TIMELESS MASTERPIECES
Lefkosia: Monday 4 September 2023
Strovolos Municipal Theatre, 20:30
The Cyprus Youth Symphony Orchestra under the baton of its Artistic Director, Yiorgos Kountouris, inaugurates the new season with two timeless masterpieces by Maurice Ravel and Sergei Rachmaninov, featuring pianist Elena Mitella at the piano solo.
Rachmaninov’s 2nd Piano Concerto has been widely described as the greatest piano concerto ever written. It was composed in 1900 and premiered the following year with Rachmaninov himself as the soloist. It is one of his most emblematic works, reflecting his deeply idiosyncratic musical personality: unrestrained emotional expression, nostalgia, pessimism, emotionally charged and memorable melodies. Its lyricism inspires popular artists of our time such as Céline Dion. The composition makes massive soloistic demands with regards to speed, virtuosity and stamina as well as sensitivity to the subtle dynamic and rhythmic shades. Significantly, the 2nd piano concerto was the first composition that Rachmaninov wrote after a three-year period of artistic stagnation and depression, and has been dedicated to his psychotherapist Dr. Nikolai Dahl.
The concert will conclude with Maurice Ravel’s ever popular Boléro, which will guide us through the art of orchestration used to build up its dramaturgy. Boléro grew out of a ballet project commissioned by Ravel’s friend Ida Rubinstein, to orchestrate piano pieces from Isaac Albéniz’ Iberia. Ida Rubinstein was a former dancer with Diaghilev’s “Ballets Russes” who had formed her own troupe. When the original commission could not come to fruition, Ravel had to come up with alternative music material to orchestrate, as there was no time to compose something new. During his summer holiday in 1928, he came up with a theme over an ostinato rhythmic pattern, typical of the Spanish dances Fandango and Boléro and then had the ingeniously simple idea to repeat it over and over, gradually adding more and more instruments and using different instrumental combinations, thus leading to an ecstatic climax. The composer also hinted to his pupil and biographer Roland-Manuel that the relentless rhythm was also inspired by his memory of the machines of his father’s factory. The premiere of the ballet Bolérowas given in November 1929 in New York, conducted by Arturo Toscanini and was received with great enthusiasm and a standing ovation. The work was recorded on gramophone twice in 1930, which has significantly contributed to its popularity.
PROGRAMME
Sergei Rachmaninov: Piano concerto no. 2 in C minor, op.18
Maurice Ravel: Boléro
Elena Mitella piano
Yiorgos Kountouris Artistic Director and Conductor
Ticket prices: €12 / €7 (concession)
Concession tickets are available to:
Students, soldiers, pensioners, large and five-member families on presentation of ID.
Free entrance for people with disabilities.
Ticket presales:
Information: 22 463144, www.cyso.org.cy
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