Ravels Pianoconcert voor de linkerhand en Saint-Saëns’ Danse macabre
About the event
The morning after Halloween, the Concertgebouw is still haunted: Saint-Saëns' Danse macabre makes the dead dance; hunters become prey in Franck's demonic journey. Jonathan Fournel plays the concerto that Ravel composed for a one-armed pianist. It is sad and gruesomely beautiful. Ravel's Piano Concerto for the Left Hand by Jonathan Fournel
Maurice Ravel composed his Piano Concerto for the Left Hand for pianist Paul Wittgenstein, who lost his right arm in the First World War. It is a gruesomely beautiful piano concerto in which the violence of war, swinging jazz, melancholy, and deep emotion go hand in hand. Master pianist Jonathan Fournel, who won the Queen Elisabeth Competition four years ahead of 'our own' Nikola Meeuwsen, knows his compatriot's music like the back of his hand.
Saint-Saëns' Danse macabre
Camille Saint-Saëns was a serious composer, counted among the greatest in France and far beyond. With his iconic facial hair, phenomenal piano playing, and compositions in every conceivable genre, he was a striking and highly respected man. Yet he was perhaps at his best at the intersection of jest and seriousness. For just like his magnificent parade of beasts in Le carnaval des animaux, Danse macabre is music with a wink. It is delightfully chilling in this dance of death, in which dancing bones seem to fly around your ears. At the same time, the music is masterfully beautiful. In César Franck's demonic journey Le chasseur maudit, hunters become prey. That promises some delightful chills this Sunday morning!
