麻豆社

Music is reborn again and again in an orchestral concert of breathtaking originality: from Ravel鈥檚 jazz infusions of the 1920s to Wigglesworth鈥檚 time-tripping Concerto, you are invited to a world of limitless possibility.

Elizabeth Ogonek鈥檚 All These Lighted Things asks the orchestra to dance, drawing fascinating new sounds from every instrument. The composer remarks that the piece is about the casting away of darkness; that it expresses an 鈥渙verwhelming鈥�happiness and joy鈥�. Inspired by Thomas Merton鈥檚 poem about the oneness of the spiritual universe, the third movement in particular depicts the orchestra as a kind of 鈥渃ommunity鈥�

Ravel had a revelatory visit to the United States in 1928, where he heard George Gershwin at the Cotton Club in Harlem. He gave a lecture the same year, instructing American musicians to 鈥淭ake Jazz Seriously!鈥�, and took his own advice by paying a generous tribute to it in his sassy, sumptuous Piano Concerto in G. A few years earlier, Ravel had composed La Valse, a kind of 鈥渂iography鈥� of the waltz from elegant beginning to increasingly wild end.

Ryan Wigglesworth鈥檚 Piano Concerto slowly awakens into an intriguing soundworld, then looks back through musical history. Piano and orchestra engage in a quizzical, sometimes combative conversation on the subject of folksongs, chorales, and gigues.

Steven Osborne鈥檚 versatile and responsive style is perfect for both concertos: the playful Ravel and the intriguing, understated Wigglesworth.