October 6, 2023 | Svetlanov Hall of the MIPAC
XII Moscow Music Festival «Vladimir Spivakov Invites...»
The opening concert. «A Corner in France»
Conductor – Vladimir Spivakov
Bizet – Shchedrin. «Carmen Suite»
Faure. Pavane, Op. 50
Ibert. «Paris», suite
Ravel. Bolero
The 12th edition of the Moscow Festival “Vladimir Spivakov Invites…” will open with one of the most loved NPR's programs “A Corner in France”, admired both in the capital and in many other Russian towns. Vladimir Spivakov is known as a fine connoisseur of French culture, and he will treat again music lovers with exquisite renditions of well-known gems by French composers.
There will be played excerpts from Georges Bizet's opera “Carmen” in Rodion Shchedrin's famous transcription (“Carmen Suite” written for Maya Plisetskaya); Pavane by Gabriel Fauré, the “French Schumann's” reminiscence of the old-time slow processional court dance; the “Paris” Suite by Jaques Ibert, a witty musical tour around the French capital in six parts (Le Métro, Faubourgs, La Mosquée de Paris, Restaurant au Bois de Boulogne, Le Paquebot “Ile-de-France”, Parade foraine); Maurice Ravel's legendary Bolero, a piece that reflects the author's passion for Iberian culture, probably owing to his Basque mother.
Vladimir Spivakov describes the program as a travel to Paris which will be possible thanks to music. ‘I am well acquainted with France and have been there many a time, also with concerts, and now I feel inclined to «bring» France into Russia. You will hear works by Ibert, Ravel, Fauré and the Carmen-Suite by Rodion Shchedrin which had been danced by great Maya Plisetskaya… Ibert’s Paris Suite is compiled of very vivid sketches such as suburbs (faubourgs), the underground, the Île-de-France sea-liner, a restaurant in the Boulogne Forest, a Mosque and a mere street fest. Following Hemingway’s thought that Paris is a movable feast I would add that it is an eternal feast.’