Pablo Heras-Casado: Poems and Paintings

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BOULANGER D'un soir triste
RAVEL Le tombeau de Couperin
--interval--
BOULANGER D'un matin de printemps
MENDELSSOHN Symphony No. 4, Italian


Celebrate the evocative power of music in a programme alive with Impressionist brush strokes and vivid memories.

"This is Italy! …And I am loving it." Mendelssohn wrote home to his family – and the unbridled excitement opening his Italian Symphony shares his thrill of the new sights and sounds. The vision of a religious procession in Naples inspired the subtle second movement while the symphony closes with a fiery saltarello dance.

But first, three French works tinged with sadness. Le tombeau de Couperin, Ravel's take on a Baroque dance suite, is light and playful – but forms a gentle tribute to friends lost in World War I.

Though close to death, Lili Boulanger's final two orchestral works showcase her masterly control of harmony and orchestration in a burst of creativity. D'un soir triste is dark and passionate, as towering brass flow into delicate cello and celeste melodies, while D'un matin de printemps is carried by fleet-footed woodwind and lush strings to depict a spring morning overflowing with life.