Ravel | de Falla | Lutosławski

Two impressionists – a Spaniard in Paris longing for his homeland and a Frenchman with Spanish roots, namely Manuel de Falla and Maurice Ravel. Their two works for piano and orchestra, which will sound in the interpretation of Kun-Woo Paik and the Szczecin Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Antoni Wit, were written on the request of pianists who were friends with the composers, and they are dedicated to them.

De Falla wrote "Nights in the Gardens of Spain" in Paris, where he spent seven years from 1907 until the outbreak of the First World War. He became friends with Debussy, Ravel and Ducas, and these acquaintances translated into a more impressionist style of the composer, so pronounced in "Nights ...". The idea of writing a composition for piano and orchestra was suggested to the composer by Spanish pianist Ricardo Viñes, also living in Paris, but the work had its premiere at Madrid's Teatro Real in 1916. In three movements, de Falla illustrated three gardens: the jasmine garden at the Alhambra, an unnamed garden filled with exotic dancers, and a garden in the Sierra de Córdoba which is characterized by Sufi dance.

Piano Concerto in D major for the left hand by Ravel is the famous order of the Austrian pianist Paul Wittgenstein, who lost his right hand during the First World War. This one-movement concert, written in 1930, is also one of the leading examples of jazz inspiration in Ravel's work. Even a year before the premiere of the piece in 1932, Alfred Cortot arranged the concert for two hands and in this form it is now often performed by pianists.

The Spanish-French program will be complemented by a Polish folklore inspiration, namely Concerto for Orchestra by Witold Lutosławski. Completed in 1954, the piece is a unique combination of Mazovian folklore and baroque forms – passacaglia, toccata, chorale.