NOSPR Chamber Musicians / A Photograph from the Belle Époque - NOSPR

With his String Quartet of 1903, Maurice Ravel draws us into a new realm of sound, where sensitivity begin to transform musical language. The four string instruments sometimes resonate with the amplitude of a small orchestra, while at other times they conjure an atmosphere of transience and sensuality. The melody winds and curls like the fashionable art nouveau ornaments of the period.

Debussy spoke with admiration of this work by his younger colleague, even though their relationship later grew colder. Around the same time came Ravel’s Deux danses (Two Dances, 1904), a lighter piece designed to demonstrate the potential of the newly invented chromatic harp. Pleyel’s innovation did not prevail, but the Erard company responded to the competition by producing a new model of pedal harp and commissioned a similar composition from Ravel in 1905. It was performed in concert alongside the String Quartet. Our own programme captures a moment of the belle époque in music.

Adam Suprynowicz

Concert duration: approximately 70 minutes