Ravel & George Li plays Liszt

In this concert the young American piano prodigy George Li tackles Franz Liszt's Piano Concerto No. 1. Viennese music critic Eduard Hanslick ironically dubbed this work a "concerto for triangle" because of the prominent role Liszt assigned to this small percussion instrument in the piece. Others, like his compatriot Béla Bartók, were amazed by the innovative character of this concerto. This work is particularly demanding in terms of piano technique, as it presents successive challenges: ascending octaves, intricate ornamentations and lightning-fast arpeggios.

Maurice Ravel's most ambitious orchestral work is the ballet Daphnis et Chloé, commissionned by Sergei Diaghilev for the Ballets Russes. Choreographer Michel Fokine crafted the scenario, drawing inspiration from the pastoral romance of the same name by the Greek writer Longus. The protagonists, Daphnis and Chloé, are two foundling children raised respectively by a goatherd and a shepherd, in a pastoral setting. They fall passionately in love, but due to their lack of experience, they do not consummate their love, especially as they soon encounter ill-intentioned individuals... Ravel's score here features a rich palette of colors and timbres and particularly refined orchestration. While he draws inspiration from 18th-century French landscape painting, he also deploys the new sounds of the industrial revolution towards the end.

Created with the support of the Belgian Tax Shelter through Casa Kafka Pictures.