Claude Debussy, who passed away exactly a century ago, and Dmitri Shostakovich are on the program for the concert at the Nice Opera this Saturday.
For Debussy, it is the Fantaisie for piano and orchestra (L.23). The composer always remained dissatisfied with this work, to the extent that he refused to have it played or published during his lifetime. It was not premiered until 1919, a year after his death, and it immediately became successful.
The second part of the concert will feature Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 9 in E-flat major (opus 70). Written in less than a month in 1945 in Leningrad, the work provoked Stalin’s anger upon its premiere. Indeed, it was supposed to grandly celebrate the resounding triumph of the Red Army over Nazi Germany, but its irreverent writing and short duration (a half-hour) did not meet the expectations of the “Little Father of the Peoples.”
During this concert, the Nice Philharmonic Orchestra will be led by its musical director, György G. Ráth, and Armenian pianist Marianna Shirinyan, considered one of the best pianists of her generation, will be at the keyboard for Debussy’s Fantaisie.
