Mäkelä leads Ravel's Bolero

Klaus Mäkelä conducts works by Debussy, Ravel en Beamish

Klaus Mäkelä is conducting the Concertgebouworkest - image: Milagro Elstak

Klaus Mäkelä bridges distances with dance music by Debussy, Ravel and Beamish, with artist in residence Martin Fröst (clarinet) and violinist Janine Jansen.

Ravel stretches a Spanish dance out into a seemingly eternal moment of ecstasy.

Concert programme

  • Claude Debussy

    Jeux

  • Sally Beamish

    Distans (commission, Dutch premiere)

  • -- interval --

  • Claude Debussy

    Images

  • Maurice Ravel

    Bolero

Performers

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.

Dates and tickets

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.

A preview