Michal Oren conducts the Salomon Orchestra in the second suite from Ravel’s Daphnis et Chloë, Symphonic Dances from Bernstein’s West Side Story and Rachmaninoff’s second Piano Concerto, featuring Misha Kaploukhi as Soloist.
Ravel’s ballet Dapnhis et Chloë was commissioned by Diaghilev in 1909, and first performed in Paris in 1912. Ravel’s longest work was subtitled symphonie chorégraphique, and wonderfully demonstrates the composer’s inimitable skill for orchestration. The second suite dates from 1913, and is essentially part III of the ballet.
The original 1957 Broadway production of West Side Story ran for 732 performances, and the show enjoyed an even longer run in London’s West-End. This remarkable re-invention of Shakespeare’s Romeo & Juliet marked (lyricist) Stephen Sondheim’s Broadway debut, and features some of Bernstein’s most memorable music.
Rachmaninoff’s second piano concerto is arguable his best-known work, and has remained a staple of the concert repertoire around the world since it’s premier in Moscow in 1901. It’s place in our Music for Screen and Stage series comes from it’s extended use in the soundtrack to David Lean’s 1945 cinematic hit Brief Encounter.
