Orchestre de chambre de Paris, Zehetmair & Grosvenor: Ravel

About the Event

Thomas Zehetmair leads the Paris Chamber Orchestra in a series of works resounding with historical conflict. One hears the First World War in the Chant élégiaque that Théodore Dubois dedicated in 1916 to the memory of the dead. In the background of Beethoven’s Third Symphony, called the "Eroica", are the Napoleonic wars. The composer initially dedicated the work to Napoleon Bonaparte, whom he admired as the liberator of Europe. But after Bonaparte crowned himself emperor of Europe in 1804, Beethoven exclaimed, “Now he will become a tyrant!”

The serene Piano Concerto in G Major by Ravel, written in 1932 (with its both jazzy and Mozartian accents), will be followed by a new work by Philippe Manoury which promises to explore other resonances of the funeral march presented in Beethoven’s "Eroica".