Cultural Kiosk at UN Geneva & CERN

It was incomprehension and failure that greeted Debussy’s Images for orchestra when they were first performed on 20 February 1910 (Iberia), 2 March of the same year (Rondes de printemps under the direction of the composer) and 26 January 1913 (Gigues). Only Maurice Ravel was “embraced to tears” while the young Ernest Ansermet had attentively followed Debussy’s rehearsals at the podium and spent an entire afternoon with the composer. Rarely given in full concert, the Images are colourful paintings of the soul at the same time as they describe a fantasized Spain, ending with an orchestral study of great refinement. Without having become popular, they are at the pinnacle of French music of the early 20th century.

Gone are the days when the Geneva press treated Concerto No. 2 in B flat major as a “great cadaver”. Brahms has long been adored by the public, who constantly ask for more.

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Jacques Ibert and Arthur Honegger were very close, to the point of writing a four-hand opera together: L’Aiglon, based on the drama by Edmond Rostand. Their friendship did not, however, obscure their difference in style. Both coming from the French school, they followed very different paths. The symphonic triptych Escales describes a voyage in the Mediterranean that had a strong influence on Ibert. He brought back these three picturesque and refined pieces. Deeply affected by the Second World War, Honegger felt the need to compose music “against the tide of barbarity, stupidity and suffering”. His ‘Liturgique’ Symphony is a cry of distress as well as a powerful and moving appeal for peace between peoples. Gone are the days when the Geneva press called Concerto No. 2 in B flat major a “great cadaver”. Brahms has long been adored by the public, who constantly ask for it.

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The return of our former musical director takes on a special significance with the hearing of Johannes Brahms’ German Requiem. This powerful work is rarely on the programme of our concerts and will be with the participation of two of today’s greatest voices. Brahms composed his longest choral work following two emotional shocks, the death of his mother and that of his friend Robert Schumann. Long matured, this Requiem does not follow the Catholic liturgy, it finds its origin in texts carefully chosen by Brahms in the German translation of the Bible.

No room for the dark threats of the Last Judgement in this peaceful score which on the contrary brings words of consolation to reassure the living. The message is addressed to all believers whatever their confession. A work of transition, it represents a decisive step between the composer’s youth and the style of his full maturity.

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This program, typical of the OSR’s DNA, begins with Les Quatre Éléments (The Four Elements) composed by Frank Martin in 1963 on the occasion of the 80th birthday of its founder Ernest Ansermet. The evocation of natural phenomena gave the Genevan composer the opportunity to express both his love of nature and his admiration for the indomitable energy of the conductor who had been the creator of a large part of his works at the podium of our orchestra.

Composed in 1830, Chopin’s Piano Concerto No. 2 is a musical gem that features enchanting melodies and remarkable piano technique. It is considered one of Chopin’s masterpieces.

Claude Debussy’s La Mer was the first disc recorded by the OSR for the Decca company. It was to be followed by three other versions as sound recording techniques progressed, each time winning great critical success.

The brilliant and wild second suite of Ravel’s Daphnis et Chloé has long been one’s hobbyhorse of our concerts with its fantastic final bacchanal which always produces a great effect thanks to its incantatory power and its dazzling orchestration.

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 ‘Are you giving me flowers, Charlie?’

‘Blue ones or pink ones? Mmmmm… they smell so good! Can you imagine if they didn’t have any colour? or worse, if we couldn’t see them? The world would be so sad… I love our walks in the spring, in the streets, in the parks, under big trees, marveling at the city lights…’ 

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Created in 2015 in Paris by our guest Antoine Tamestit, the Viola Concerto by the German composer Jörg Widmann is very demanding since it asks the soloist to be an actor, dancer, conductor, and incidentally, to play the viola! Placed in the middle of the orchestra at the beginning of the piece, he fights against the community represented by the musicians. It’s up to you to discover how his perilous adventure will end…

Reducing fourteen hours of music into just over an hour is another challenge taken up by conductor Lorin Maazel with his arrangement without vocals of Richard Wagner’s Ring. The challenge was to string together the musical excerpts by giving them a sound coherence without juxtaposing a series of pieces. Listening to the Tetralogy like a great symphonic poem, forgetting the singing and the stage without drowning in the Rhine, is the crazy bet taken up this evening by Daniel Harding.

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