STRAVINSKY'S FIREBIRD AND RAVEL'S L’ENFANT. Ludovic Morlot

Repertoire

Maurice Ravel: L’enfant et les sortilèges (1919-1925) 45′
Igor Stravinsky: The Firebird. Complete ballet (1910) 45′

ARTISTS

Chloé Briot, soprano
Liv Redpath, soprano
Rihab Chaieb, mezzo-soprano
Rinat Shaham, mezzo-soprano
Jean Sébastien Bou, baritone
Nicolas Courjal, bass
Martin Bakari, tenor
Sylvia Schartz, soprano
Orfeó Català
Children’s Choir of the Orfeó Català
Ludovic Morlot, conductor
Barcelona Symphony Orchestra (OBC)

Programme

A lyrical fantasy based on a poem by Colette is Ravel’s work with the delightful title L’enfant et les sortilèges. The title emphasises the magical aspect of a child’s view of the world, who sees reality through games and imagination and not rationally or -above all- pragmatics. This relatively unknown opera includes a great many characters and, therefore, voices -at times dissonant- performed by a large vocal line-up completed by the Orfeó Català and under the baton of Ludovic Morlot.

The second work programmed is one of the most popular ballets by Stravinsky: The Firebird -here in its full, original version, written for Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes company- is based on a mythological story musically arranged to accompany dance. The première at the Opéra de Paris on 25 June 1910 was an unquestionable success and was described by Henri Ghéon in the Nouvelle Revue Française as “the most exquisite marvel of equilibrium we have ever imagined between sounds, movements and forms”.