
Information to ticket-buyers
As a result of the current situation regarding Covid-19, Danse Macabre has been cancelled.
Information regarding reimbursement
We are happy to announce that Malmö Live Concert Hall will reimburse bought tickets for this show. You will recieve a giftcard with the same amount that you have payed for your tickets (including food & beverages) that is valid for two years. Your giftcard will be emailed to you. Make sure to check your inbox!
Pénélope in waiting
The prelude to Fauré’s opera Pénélope begins the concert. This is an understated, undulating piece that strikes a mysterious tone for Homer’s classical saga of Queen Penelope and her stoical wait for her wandering husband Odysseus. She waits for ten years while fending off the brash advances of suitors for her hand in marriage, all keen to gain the throne. Odysseus finally returns disguised as a beggar and thwarts their intentions.
The opera premiered in Monte Carlo on 4 March 1931.
Pavane pour une infante défunte
Maurice Ravel’s Pavane for a Dead Princess was written for piano in 1899 and arranged for an orchestra 11 years later, with the horn bearing the melody. This proved to be a good decision. Certainly, the beautiful melody in all its simplicity is quite capable of being borne by the piano; however, an orchestral palette creates a wonderful emotional depth to the work.
The word pavane comes from the Italian city of Padua (Padova in Italian) and was originally a courtly dance that in Spain came to be associated with mourning. However, one should avoid ascribing any deeper meaning to the title; Ravel chose the words primarily because he enjoyed their alliterative quality.
Music about making music
Henri Dutilleux worked throughout the second half of the twentieth century and up until his death in 2013. With its odd tones, Mystère de l’instant (Mystery of the instant) provides a thrilling contrast to Ravel’s Pavane. Among other things, the score calls for a hammered dulcimer (cimbalom), an eastern European instrument somewhat reminiscent of a zither. The work is constructed from ten continuous movements, the titles of which all have something to do with the act of musical creation. The work premiered in 1989.
Long live Death!
The harp chimes midnight in Camille Saint-Saëns’ symphonic poem Danse Macabre and skeletons rise from their graves in a whirling, chaotic dance in three acts. Composed in 1874, the work is based on a poem by French physician and poet Henri Cazalis, which begins with Death playing the fiddle and tapping time with his heel on a tomb, ”Zig et zig et zig...”. The xylophone represents the rattling bones of the skeletons and the solo oboe the crowing cock, while the horn proclaims the arrival of dawn. “Ah! A beautiful night for the poor world! And long live Death and Equality!” concludes Cazalis.
In defence of neoclassicism
In the immediate post-war years, a debate arose on aesthetics in which the younger generation of composers dismissed Stravinsky’s neoclassicism in favour of atonality and serial composition. Poulenc’s Sinfonietta – with its allusions to the bittersweet melodies of Stravinsky, as well as to Mozart and Hayden – can be viewed as a polemic against this narrowmindedness. The work consists of four movements and was first performed in London in 1948.
Medverkande
Malmö SymfoniOrkester
Malmö SymfoniOrkester (MSO) grundades 1925 och består av ca 90 heltidsanställda yrkesmusiker från nästan 20 länder. Orkestern är stolt bärare av den traditionella symfoniska repertoaren, men strävar också efter att föra den symfoniska musiken framåt genom samarbeten med nutida tonsättare och utveckling av nya konsertkoncept.
Flera inspelningar med Malmö SymfoniOrkester har under åren blivit internationellt uppmärksammade med första pris i tävlingar som Cannes Classical Awards och Diapason d’Or. I augusti 2013 inledde orkestern tillsammans med chefsdirigent Marc Soustrot det omfattande arbetet att spela in all symfonisk musik av Camille Saint-Saëns, allt som allt åtta CDs, på skivbolaget Naxos.
Läs mer om Malmö SymfoniOrkester genom att klicka här.
Marc Soustrot dirigent
Malmö SymfoniOrkesters chefsdirigent Marc Soustrot tillträdde 2011. Hans djupa kunskaper i fransk orkesterlitteratur har gjort färgstarka avtryck i orkesterns repertoar såväl som i den förfinade orkesterklangen. Verk av Ravel, Debussy, Berlioz och Fauré har passerat revy och det franska dominerar också de talrika inspelningar som MSO genomfört under maestros ledning. Soustrot är född och uppvuxen i Lyon, och piano och trombon blev tidigt hans instrument. Han övergav dock Lyon för musikstudier på Pariskonservatoriet och erhöll flera priser för sina framgångsrika studier innan dirigeringen tog över. Marc Soustrot är en välsedd gästdirigent i Skandinavien och 2015 accepterade han erbjudandet om att bli chefsdirigent även för Aarhus Symfoniorkester. Soustrot har innehaft flera positioner som chefsdirigent, bland annat i Bonn och Eindhoven. Hans prisbelönta inspelningar inkluderar samarbeten med bland andra cellisten Mstislav Rostropovitj.
2019 efterträddes Marc Soustrot av Robert Trevino som chefsdirigent.
Last updated 2020-03-26
CANCELLED: Danse macabre
SCENE: Konsertsalen
DURATION: approax. 1 hour 30 minutes incl. intermission
PROGRAM:
Fauré Prelude de Pénélope
Ravel: Pavane For a Dead Princess
Dutilleux Mystère de l’instant
- intermission -
Saint-Saëns Danse Macabre
Poulenc Sinfonietta
ARTISTS:
Malmö Symphony Orchestra
Marc Soustrot, conductor
CONCERT INTRODUCTION:
Concert introduction at the Canal stage 6pm with
CONCERT SERIES: This concert is included in Platina & Silver Torsdag
ORGANIZER: Malmö Live Konserthus