Repertoire

Maurice Ravel: Ma mère l’Oye. Suite
Gabriella Smith: Rewilding. National premiere. L’Auditori co-commission
Johannes Brahms: Symphony No. 1 Op. 68

Artists

Ludovic Morlot, conductor
OBC

Programme

Ravel’s Ma mère l’Oye (1908–1910) is a suite inspired by children’s stories, featuring delicate orchestral textures and a refined use of timbres that depict narrative scenes. This return to innocence goes beyond nostalgia. Awareness of origins seems to guide the creation of Rewilding, which Gabriella Smith concluded in 2025. This new national premiere – there will be 13 throughout the season! – is also the result of a co-commission from L’Auditori. This young composer from the United States explores rhythms and textures while evoking natural regeneration processes.

A new beginning – known as the incipit in symphonies – took a long time to arrive in the case of Johannes Brahms: several generations of Romantics later, he was still in Beethoven’s long shadow. Perhaps that is why his Symphony No. 1 in C minor, which he premiered at the age of 43, opens with the sound of a timpani that seeks to break new ground and exorcise fate to develop a unique style: a powerful construction of themes, dramatic crescendos, and an absolutely beautiful and powerful resolution, with the declamation of a recurring theme. Brahms’s First allowed him to come into his own and contribute decisively to the symphony genre.