In the third Great Performers Series concert of the NAC’s 2010-2011 season, acclaimed conductor Daniele Gatti leads l’Orchestre National de France and guest pianist Jean-Efflam Bavouzet in a concert of 20^th century classics in Southam Hall of the National Arts Centre on Monday April 11 at 8 p.m.

The program for the evening includes:
DEBUSSY           La mer
RAVEL                Piano Concerto in G major (Bavouzet)
STRAVINSKY    Le sacre du printemps

Claude Debussy (1862-1918) perfectly portrays the sea in his richly layered seascape La mer (The Sea) ... from shimmering light dancing on calm waters to the drama of crashing waves. In 1903, Debussy was high atop the world of modern French music when he composed the set of three “symphonic sketches” that comprise La mer – but it was several years before this orchestral masterpiece began to develop the reputation it enjoys today. Debussy so thoroughly transcended his musical influences, including Wagner and earlier French composers, that it is often more fruitful to compare him to the visual artists who surrounded him. Debussy and La mer have been labeled “impressionist,” suggesting deconstructed brushstrokes and blurry luminosity. However, Debussy’s materials — his lines, harmonies and orchestrations — are impeccably clear, and it is only in context and combination that they take on a strange and unexpected brilliance. La mer captures an ominous intersection of surge and repose, of chaos inked in clean lines.

Adapted from program notes by Aaron Grad

Maurice Ravel (1875-1937) crafted the Concerto for Piano (Left Hand) in D Major and the Piano Concerto in G major more or less simultaneously. He completed the latter concerto, his penultimate composition, in 1931, and conducted the premiere in 1932. Ravel told an interviewer, “A concerto can be gay and brilliant and need not try to be profound or strive after dramatic effects. It has been said of some of the great classical composers that their concertos were written not for but against the piano, and I think this is perfectly correct.” A key ingredient in the work’s “gay and brilliant” language was jazz, which Ravel had heard firsthand on a North American tour in 1928. Ironically, Ravel’s expansive harmony was a major influence on George Gershwin, who in turn inspired Ravel to add jazz figurations to his vocabulary. Gershwin reported that, upon asking Ravel for lessons, the Frenchman responded, “Why do you want to become a second-rate Ravel when you are already a first-rate Gershwin?”

Adapted from program notes by Aaron Grad

Igor Stravinsky (1882-1971) rose to fame with his music for Sergei Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes. Much  intrigued by a ballet based on prehistoric pagan sacrifice, Stravinsky’s score accompanying Le Sacre du printemps (The Rite of Spring) was premiered in Paris on May 29, 1913, setting in motion an audience melee that has become legendary -- with some cultural critics defining that night as the birth of Modernism. Vaslav Nijinsky’s disturbing choreography may have overshadowed the music at that first performance, but the watershed score made significant new demands on its listeners and performers. Modal and folk-like melodies wrap around exotic harmonies, with competing triads stacked and superimposed upon each other. These hybrid chords are novel in their own right, but the real breakthrough comes in their rhythmic treatment, with pounding accents unleashed at unpredictable intervals. Leonard Bernstein said, “Every accent comes at you like a body blow, always hitting when you least expect it. Left hook, right jab.” Concert performances of The Rite of Spring highlight the central importance of the orchestration, a new language of sparkling clarity and crushing force.

Adapted from program notes by Aaron Grad

Orchestre National de France
The Orchestre National de France (ONF), a Radio France formation, was the first permanent symphony orchestra to be established in France. Since its creation in 1934, the orchestra has made a habit of cooperating with the most prestigious artists in the world, including Leonard Bernstein, Pierre Boulez, Riccardo Muti, Seiji Ozawa, Yo-Yo Ma, Anne-Sophie Mutter, and Mstislav Rostropovitch. Désiré-Emile Inghelbrecht, first conductor of the ONF, established the Orchestra’s musical tradition as the pride of the French music world. Many conductors have led the Orchestra since then, including Manuel Rosenthal, Lorin Maazel, Charles Dutoit, Kurt Masur and Daniele Gatti, who assumed the position in September 2008. The ONF performs at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, its home in Paris, and at various venues around France and throughout the world while on tour. The ONF can be proud that it has premiered major 20^th century works such as the Turangalila-Symphony by Messiaen (1950, French premiere), Déserts by Edgar Varèse (1954), Jonchaies by Iannis Xenakis (1977), and Henri Dutilleux’s Le Temps l’Horloge (2008). Among the orchestra’s recent recordings are “Pelléas et Mélisande” by Debussy, voted "Best Classical Recording of the Year" at the Victoires de la Musique Classique awards, and Mahler's Sixth Symphony.

Daniele Gatti, conductor
Daniele Gatti became Music Director of the Orchestre National de France (ONF) in September 2008. In September 2009 he assumed the position of Chef dirigent of the Zurich Opera. He has also served as Music Director of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (1996-2009), Music Director of the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome (1992-1997), Principal Guest Conductor of the Royal Opera House Covent Garden (1994-1997) and Music Director of the Teatro Comunale di Bologna (1997-2007). Daniele Gatti has a close relationship with the Vienna Philharmonic and the Royal Concertgebouw orchestras, appearing in their concert seasons as well as on tour. He also regularly conducts the finest American and German orchestras. Daniele Gatti has conducted several new opera productions in Vienna, at La Scala, in Zurich, and at the Bayerisches Staatsoper in Munich. Last summer he conducted Elektra at the Salzburg Festival and Parsifal in Bayreuth (which he premiered in 2008). With the ONF, Daniele Gatti is undertaking a complete Mahler cycle. In 2010-2011 he and the ONF tour to the most important European and North American cities, including London, Vienna and New York.

Jean-Efflam Bavouzet, piano
Highlights of French pianist Jean-Efflam Bavouzet’s 2010-2011 schedule include a tour of North America with Orchestre National de France and Daniele Gatti, performances with the London Philharmonic under Vladimir Jurowski at the BBC Proms, with the Philharmonia Orchestra and Christoph von Dohnányi, with Konzerthausorchester Berlin with Gilbert Varga, and with RSO Wien with Ingo Metzmacher at Vienna's Musikverein. This season also sees him perform with the BBC Symphony Orchestra and Yan Pascal Tortelier, the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra under Pablo Heras-Casado, and the Sydney Symphony with Vladimir Ashkenazy. Future highlights include the Boston Symphony Orchestra in October 2011, the Deutsches Symphonie Orchester Berlin in spring 2012, and the Montreal Symphony Orchestra in spring 2013. An exclusive recording artist for Chandos, Jean-Efflam Bavouzet has won multiple awards for his recordings. The first volume of his new recital CD of Haydn's complete Piano Sonatas received the prestigious Choc de l'Année award in 2010. His recent recording of works by Ravel and Debussy with BBC Symphony Orchestra has also received much critical acclaim. In 1986, he won first prize in the Young Concert Artists Auditions in New York, an organization with which he maintains a close relationship.

L’Orchestre National de France performs in Southam Hall of the National Arts Centre on Monday April 11 at 8 p.m. Tickets are $20.45, $31.21, $42.51, $49.50, $53.81, $64.57, and $75.33 for adults and $11.38, $16.76, $22.41, $25.91, $28.06, $33.44, and $38.82 for students (upon presentation of a valid student ID card). Tickets are available at the NAC Box Office (in person) and through Ticketmaster (with surcharges) at 1-888-991-2787; Ticketmaster may also be accessed through the NAC’s website www.nac-cna.ca.

Subject to availability, full-time students (aged 13-29) with valid Live Rush™ membership (free registration at www.liverush.ca) may buy up to 2 tickets per performance at the discount price of $12 per ticket. Tickets are available online (www.nac-cna.ca) or at the NAC box office from 10 a.m. on the day before the performance until 6 p.m. on the day of the show or 2 hours before a matinee. Groups of 10 or more save 15% to 20% off regular ticket prices to all NAC Music, Theatre and Dance performances; to reserve your seats, call 613-947-7000, ext. 634 or e-mail grp@nac-cna.ca.

Our latest web offering -- coming soon -- NACmusicbox TIMELINE 200 orchestral works, 80 Canadian compositions, 1 interactive TIMELINE. Explore unlimited music connections and discover Canada's contribution to orchestral history. The interactive TIMELINE includes the addition of 65 Canadian works thanks to financial investment by the Virtual Museum of Canada at the Department of Canadian Heritage. We also acknowledge our partner CBC Radio 2 for providing broadcast-quality recordings of the NAC Orchestra’s archival performances.

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 Information:   
Gerald Morris
Communications Officer, NAC Music
613-947-7000, ext. 335  
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