Details
Hellens Manor
Monks Walk
Much Marcle
Ledbury
Herefordshire
HR8 2LY
England
Programme
Claude Debussy – Danse sacree et danse profane
Gordon David – Tryptych (rameau arr. le Page)
Cage John – In a Landscape
Maurice Ravel – Introduction et Allegro
Erik Satie – Gymnopédie no.1
William Grant Still – Summerland
Philip Glass – Company
Charles Trenet – La Mer
Claude Debussy – Deux Arabesques: no.2, Allegretto scherzando
Yann Tiersen – Comptine d’un autre été – L’après-Midi
John Adams – China Gates
Erik Satie – Gnossienne No. 1 (arr. David Le Page)
Performers
David Gordon – keyboard
David Le Page – Conductor / violin
Orchestra of the Swan
Other concerts in this Series (+)
Programme Note
Two of the most well-known works for harp - Debussy’s Danse Sacre at Profane and Ravel’s Introduction and Allegro - form the backbone for this concert. Exploring aural landscapes and hypnotic reveries.
John Adams’s China Gates and Steve Reich’s Duet reveal a more complex and carefully structured aspect of American Minimalism, whilst John Cage’s In a Landscape hints at ‘Debussyian’ lushness and Javanese textures.
The spirit of Debussy is once again evoked in William Grant Still’s Summerland, a dreamy elegy to a past summer. Erik Satie’s sparse and eccentric style is encapsulated in his first Gnossienne and of course the famous Gynopedie No. 1, echoes of which are present in the cinematic style of French composer and pop musician Yann Tiersen - represented here with Comptine d’un autre été, l’après midi from the soundtrack to the film Amelie.
English composer Kenneth Hesketh’s astonishingly detailed and ingenious arrangements of Debussy’s Two Arabesques are the perfect accompaniment to Ravel’s Introduction and Allegro, a virtuoso showcase for the chromatic harp and a portrait of a composer at the height of his powers.
The enormously influential Jean-Philippe Rameau’s music is presented here in a new arrangement by pianist and composer David Gordon. This Triptych, comprised of music from his operas, is brimming with delightful surprises, gorgeous melodies, and ferocious fiddling.