Programme
Claude Debussy
›Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune‹
Francis Poulenc
›Concert champêtre‹ for Cembalo and Orchestra
Camille Saint-Saëns
Symphony No. 3 in C minor ›Organ Symphony‹
Artists
Marie Jacquot Conductor
- Jean Rondeau Harpsichord
- Thomas Ospital Organ
Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin
About the concert
Conducted by Marie Jacquot, who, after her brilliant DSO debut four years ago, last delighted the Berlin audience in November 2021, this programme features two instruments in leading roles that have rarely been entrusted with solo tasks in the orchestral repertoire from Classical to modern: the harpsichord and the organ. Francis Poulenc wrote his ‘Concert champêtre’ (roughly translated as ‘Outdoor Concert’) for harpsichord and orchestra in the late 1920s as a contribution to the neo-Baroque movement emerging at the time. In contrast to Manuel de Falla’s Harpsichord Concerto, which was written almost at the same time but with chamber music orchestration, Poulenc presents the contrast between the rather delicate keyboard instrument and the modern symphony orchestra with audible pleasure. In the opening solo of the last movement, for example, the composer pushes the reference to French Baroque music to the limit of copying the style. Elsewhere, he intersperses the work with harmonic surprises and glaring dissonances. Jean Rondeau, who is one of the most successful protagonists of the early music scene but is also well versed in jazz, takes on the solo part.
