Maurice Ravel – Master Orchestrator

A chance to hear one of the nation’s brightest young starts, the winner of the Norwegian Soloist’s Prize, who performs a concerto of their own choosing with the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra under Principal Guest Conductor Sir Mark Elder.

The concert opens with Ravel’s bejeweled orchestrations of piano works by other composers, including Emmanuel Chabrier’s fragrant Menuet Pompeux, Debussy’s intimate Sarabande and lively Tarantalle styrienne and Chopin’s splendid image of a ballroom in full rhapsodic flow, his Grande valse brillante.

To end, we stick with Ravel in ‘arranger’ mode but hear something altogether more big-boned. Perhaps Ravel’s most famous orchestration of all is his injection of orchestral colour, power and panache into Mussorgsky’s most celebrated piano work, his enchanted musical response to a series of Pictures at an Exhibition.