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Archived performance

Performance details

7 June 2019 at 7.30pm
Melbourne Town Hall

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About this performance

Program
De Falla The Three-Cornered Hat Suite No.2 (Three Dances)
Boccherini/Berio Ritirata notturno di Madrid
Ravel Rapsodie espagnole
Rodrigo Concierto de Aranjuez
Ravel Boléro

Featuring
Benjamin Northey conductor
Slava Grigoryan guitar

The concert
Off the back of his second consecutive ARIA win, celebrated Australian guitarist Slava Grigoryan dips into the melting pot of Spanish music and its myriad influences in the famous Aranjuez concerto. Classical and folk traditions converge in this work, but it’s the cor anglais melody that seduces at the start of the slow movement. This melody came to Rodrigo whilst he was waiting for a tram; commuting never sounded so inspirational!

Ravel once said the tune that underpins his pulsing ballet Boléro was inspired by sounds he heard in one of his father’s factories. That tune never changes, nor does the hypnotic rhythm on the snare drum. The movement, the variations and the song’s life is instead found in the orchestration, and of the volume!

Running time
1 hour and 50 minutes, including a 20-minute interval.

Pictured: Slava Grigoryan

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