Program

Renowned in particular for his film music, Frédéric DEVREESE is a composer who covers all musical genres. “Circle” which the audience will hear tonight is the orchestral version of a composition which was created in 2007, from which variations have been made as duos, trios and chamber music.

Written shortly before Rachmaninov’s stay in the USA, the Concerto number can be classed under the great tradition of “Russian Romanticism” due to its generous expressive phrasing. The piano enters into a musical dialogue with the orchestra in the third bar of the initial “allegro”, conjuring up a scene of kaleidoscopic images. This intense stunning exchange continues until it reaches a cadence allowing an extremely virtuosic display from the soloist. The second movement opens with an oboe solo which is deep in register with long phrases by the strings. As soon as the piano enters, it quietly develops variations based on the main theme. The finale is based on the initial theme with surging lyrical passages alternating with moments of reverie, right up until the coda which plays out the theme one last time in a very grand style. 

César Franck composed this symphony at a time when he had just been appointed President of the National Music Society of France. This no doubt led him to structure his work clearly in a formalist manner, with both concise orchestration stripped of any imagination. This can particularly be detected in the first movements of the work, in which the lack of colour and light emphasise the sobriety of the music. However, it is all change in the finale when the composer employs a huge “crescendo” to convey immense joy and light.