This is particularly true for Mozart, who furnished his concertos with a kind of operatic narrative. But what could it have been that Mozart wanted to relate when he selected the key of C minor - an unusual choice for him, and the key of strife and rage to boot - to set the work's essential character? Attentive listeners can find the answer to this question tonight, with the hidden tale varying somewhat from performance to performance, depending on how the soloist and the orchestra interpret it.
It says a great deal about Ravel, who had a reputation for severity, that at aesthetics-themed friendly gatherings held at the home of his patrons, the Godebski family, he would regularly escape to the children's room to tell them stories. As Mimie, one of the children, recalled: 'I loved Ravel. […] He would sit me on his knee and immediately start to recount, 'Once upon a time...'' This was how he got the idea of telling stories to children in the form of a musical work as well. He originally wrote Ma mère l'Oye, that is, 'Tales of Mother Goose', as a piano piece for four hands, so that it could be premièred by the two Godebski children, who nevertheless proved unwilling to undertake the task. After the première, he also created ballet music and an orchestral suite out of the work, so that Mother Goose will now be regaling the audience with her stories through an orchestra.
The third story originates with Stravinsky. Originally written as a ballet, this work brought the then-unknown composer instant world fame. The story of The Firebird comes from the Russian world of legends and folk songs, in which the firebird, taking on the form of a fairy, defeats the evil sorceror. The work's popularity prompted him to create an orchestral suite out of the ballet in 1919, through which the audience will now get to hear the story in a concert hall, with no dancing and as a series of closed movements.


Presented by: Pannon Philharmonic