Pianist Lee Dionne performs a program of Bach, Mozart and Ravel, culminating in Ravel's piano masterpiece, the brilliant and fantastical Gaspard de la Nuit.
From Lee:
"Gaspard is a thrilling and highly unusual work. The first movement depicts a water nymph "Ondine," whose siren song invites the listener to a alluring but menacing home beneath the waves. The second movement depicts the silhouette of a hanged man against a scorching sunset. The third is "Scarbo," whose title character laughs and dances at us from the shadows: a sort of 19th-century horror movie villain.
In each movement, Ravel employs a kind of musical wizardry to conjure atmospheres and textures we can hardly imagine from the piano, instilling in us a rare combination of joy and terror. This emotional extreme is part of what makes the work so unique. I am interested in the place these emotions have in the Bach and Mozart as well, earlier works that nonetheless feature many highly extraordinary moments and a rare degree of creative risk-taking."
Audiences aged 12 and up.
Program:
Bach: Sinfonia from Partita No. 2 in C Minor
Mozart: Piano Sonata in F Major, K. 533/494
Ravel: Gaspard de la Nuit