Chamber Music – Commented Concerts

Synopsis

During four days, soloists of the Lisbon Metropolitan Orchestra will occupy the LU.CA stage with four commented concerts, guiding us through melodic talks amongst instruments or even through a musical fantasy burgeoning with animals. Without musical instruments, but with a surprising aesthetic, Inês Veigas Oliveira accompanies the concert with original illustrations.

Once Upon a Time There was a Talk

Works to be announced

Musical instruments speak a lot to one another. Sometimes they play in harmony, like great friends. Other times, they seem to be at odds and argue energetically. In the midst of this uproar another type of sound can be heard. The sounds themselves enter into a dialogue: the high notes with the bass notes, the soft notes with the piercing ones, the loud with the more discreet… They all have something to say. This concert is highlighted by two components. The first counterpoints the flute with a trio of strings formed by a violin, a viola and a cello. The second confronts music from the past with music from the present. The soloists of the Metropolitan promise that all will end well.

Narration and Commentary Janete Santos

Janete Santos (flute), Ana Pereira (violin), Joana Cipriano (viola), Ana Cláudia Serrão (cello)

The Soldier’s Tale

Originally, The Soldier’s Tale was an itinerant theatre production with live music. It debuted in Switzerland over one hundred years ago, during the First World War. Igor Stravinsky only needed seven musicians to accompany this story by Charles Ferdinand Ramuz, which can be read, acted or danced. A soldier turns his back on war and begins to head home. Along the way, he finds an old butterfly hunter who asks him to play the violin in exchange for a magic book that will bring him everything he desires. However, there is a catch: the hunter is the devil in disguise, and ambition always has a price to pay.

I. I. Stravinsky – The Soldier’s Tale (libretto C.F. Ramuz)

Narration José Teixeira

Nuno Silva (clarinet), Lurdes Carneiro (bassoon), Sérgio Charrinho (trumpet), Trombonist to be announced, Fernando Llopis (percussion), José Pereira (violin), Vladimir Kouznetsov (double bass)

The Carnival of the Animals

The Carnival of the Animals is a «zoological musical fantasy» composed by Camille Saint-Saëns in 1886 with the simple purpose of entertaining his friends during Carnival. This explains the amusing musical tone portraying kangaroos, chickens, fossils… pianists? In truth, it is a satire of the musical milieu of the time. The turtles dance the slowest cancan of all time, in an undisguised reference to Offenbach and his operettas. In turn, the elephants dance to the sound of a (very) adulterated Berlioz Minuet. The mocking disposition is so blatant that the composer never allowed for its public performance. Posthumously, it became his most popular composition. This programme presents a transcription for a wind quintet, similarly to the twelve Georges Bizet pieces inspired by children’s games.

I. G. Bizet – Children’s Games (transcription by G. Davies)
II. C. Saint-Saëns – The Carnival of the Animals (transcription by D. Bussik)

Narration and Commentary Nuno Inácio

Nuno Inácio (flute), Carla Pereira (oboe), Jorge Camacho (clarinet), Rafaela Oliveira (bassoon), Jérôme Arnouf (trombone)

Children’s Album

What was it like to be a child 150 years ago? How did younger generations dress? What were their favourite sweets? How did they study? How did they play? And why did they work?! Alas, all adults were once children, even the very old ones. In this talk/concert we are introduced to the stories they were told and the dreams they dreamt. In order to do this, we invited four musicians from the Lisbon Metropolitan Orchestra to play some pieces composed by Tchaikovsky and dedicated to his nephew Vladimir Davydov, who at the time was only seven years old. We know the music that some children listened to. Yet it is harder to guess what type of wonder it awoke within them.

I. P. I. Tchaikovsky – Children’s Album (version for string quartet)

Narration and Commentary Rui Campos Leão

Anzhela Akopyan, Daniela Radu (violins), Andrei Ratnikov (viola), celloist to be announced.

Conductor Pedro Neves