Ravel Daphnis and Chloé

Making his debut with the LSO at this concert, the new Music Director of La Monnaie opera in Brussels, Alain Altinoglu, presides over three works from the first half of the 20th century.

Prokofiev’s Overture evokes the klezmer sounds of Jewish music, using Russian Jewish folk songs – although their provenance was never traced - as its basis. Also evoking the sounds of Russia, albeit that of a very different background, Shostakovich’s Cello Concerto is unmistakably satirical of the society in which he lived. Ravel’s music for the famous Ballet Russes production of Daphnis and Chloé has been described as his masterpiece for orchestra; some of the lushest, most passionate and overtly erotic ever written.