Klaus Mäkelä bridges distances with dance music by Debussy, Ravel and Beamish, with artist in residence Martin Fröst (clarinet) and violinist Janine Jansen.
About this concert
Dance and music: they bridge cultures and bring lovers together – even if they happen to be miles apart. The coronavirus pandemic has distanced friends and family members. Sally Beamish has portrayed her own experiences in a work for the Concertgebouw Orchestra and its artists in residence of seasons 2020-21 and 2022-23, respectively: violinist Janine Jansen and clarinettist Martin Fröst. Making music, they bridge the distance separating them; their solo parts become interwoven with the orchestra in a richly contrastive double concerto featuring Scottish and Swedish folk music.
In his Images, Debussy brings the faraway up close: these musical postcards bring scenes of England, Spain and France to life in our mind’s eye. Jeux conjures up other images: flirtations on a sultry summer evening were Debussy’s inspiration for this ballet music. That ties in with Ravel’s Bolero , too, which some say is the most erotic piece of music of all time. Here, the Basque-French composer stretches a Spanish dance out into a seemingly eternal moment of ecstasy.
Ravel stretches a Spanish dance out into a seemingly eternal moment of ecstasy.
