Javier Perianes performs Ravel

Rimsky-Korsakov’s dazzling Scheherazade forms one of the highlights of this unmissable concert. Themes of orientalism and the exotic, the rich orchestration and enchanting orchestral solos culminate in a vivid tone poem, inspired by the folk tales of One Thousand and One Nights. In contrast, the vision for Ravel’s Piano Concerto in G struck the composer ‘on a train between Oxford and London’, according to Ravel himself; the Concerto exhibits the vogue jazz idioms of Paris and the United States, where Ravel undertook a concert tour in 1928. Ravel’s compatriot Franz Liszt wrote thirteen symphonic poems, of which Les préludes (No.3) is one of his most popular – the striking dynamic ranges and kaleidoscope of orchestral textures create a dramatic symphonic work.