In La valse, Ravel uses splashes of color and implacable rhythms to create a ghostly portrait of a vanished age. While La valse mesmerizes as a mysterious trope on a classic dance, Ravel’s Piano Concerto in G Major simply delights. High spirits rule in an opening movement flecked with jazz references, tenderness softens the second-movement Adagio and its breathlessly beautiful piano solo, and the work culminates in tongue-in-cheek humor and keyboard fireworks. In contrast, Beethoven’s “Eroica” Symphony is majestic and muscular, a daring new view of the symphony that heralds the dawn of Romanticism.

Performers

Munich Philharmonic Orchestra
Valery Gergiev, Principal Conductor
Pierre-Laurent Aimard, Piano

Program

RAVEL La valse
RAVEL Piano Concerto in G Major
BEETHOVEN Symphony No. 3, “Eroica”