Bolero is among the best-known and most-loved classical works.
First, you’ll hear another unmistakable piece by Maurice Ravel: Rapsodie Espagnole from 1907, one of his first orchestral works. Here, you encounter Ravel’s sheer delight in Spanish folk music styles – his mother was born in Spain – and in repetition and ostinato. He applies his entire impressionistic palette and sense of rhythm and orchestration to these four movements, and includes celesta and castanets!
This is also an evening for wind instruments for the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra. British Ruth Gipps’ Sinfonietta from 1989 was composed for ten wind instruments and one drum. Ruth Gipps was an oboist herself (as well as a conductor, composer and pianist!).
Returning to Gothenburg is tonight’s conductor François Leleux, also a masterful oboist. While leading the orchestra, he picks up the oboe to play the mysterious Oboe Concerto in C Major, which is attributed to Joseph Haydn – though its authorship is unclear.
