Pekka Kuusisto Directs Ravel and Haydn

BARTÓK Soldier Song (01’)

RAVEL Le Tombeau de Couperin (17’)
RAVEL Sonata for Violin and Cello : Mvt 1 (05’)
MESSIAEN Abîme des Oiseaux from Quatuor pour le fin de Temps (08’)
CRUMB God-Music from Black Angels (03’)
BIBER Battaglia (10’)
HAYDN Symphony No 45 in F-sharp minor, ‘Farewell’ (25’)

PEKKA KUUSISTO Director/Violin
MAXIMILIANO MARTÍN Clarinet
BENJAMIN MARQUISE GILMORE Violin
PHILIP HIGHAM Cello

Wayward genius… extraordinary sound… there’s not an inch of formality to Pekka Kuusisto. He is one-of-a-kind - a mesmerising player, with a riveting personality on stage who has earned himself a bit of a maverick reputation. His programme is a sort of musical ‘farewell’ through the last four centuries. 

The movements of Ravel’s light-hearted, reflective Tombeau de Couperin, themselves written as commemorations to friends of Ravel, dovetail with works written in times of conflict, including Messiaen’s Abyss of the Birds. 

This adventurous concert has “memorable” written all over it!

THERE’S NOT AN INCH OF FORMALITY TO HIS PLAYING: PEKKA KUUSISTO MIGHT AS WELL HAVE WANDERED AROUND THE HALL AND WHISPERED