Kent Nagano conducts Ravel and Mahler

Maurice Ravel’s Introduction et Allegro for harp, flute, clarinet, and string quartet features soloists of the OSM. This very original work is dedicated to Albert Blondel, Director of the Erard harp-making company, which commissioned its composition as part of their promotion of their then newly-invented double action pedal harp. The model would eventually evolve into modern harp, ousting the chromatic harp of Erard’s competitor Pleyel from its place, despite the latter instrument’s association with Debussy’s Danse sacrée and Danse profane.

Mahler’s Fifth Symphony was the first of a trilogy of purely instrumental symphonies from the middle period of the composer’s creative evolution. Here Mahler compensates for the absence of voice by accentuating orchestral polyphony. From a poignant funeral march and desperate atmosphere to a monumental expression of triumph and joie de vivre by way of a chorale apotheosis, Mahler’s Symphony No. 5 is reminiscent of the character of Beethoven’s own Fifth.