Concertgebouworkest plays Ravel, Loevendie and Smit

Maurice Ravel

Maurice Ravel's song cycle 'Shéhérazade', based on the Stories of 1001 Nights , exudes the atmosphere of the Middle East, which had a great attraction for Western Europeans in the early twentieth century. Exactly 100 years ago this month, Ravel himself conducted his 'Ma mère l'Oye' with the Concertgebouw Orchestra, based on another storybook, 'Fairytales of Mother Goose'. This concert full of color and rhythm connects Ravel to two important Dutch composers who studied in Amsterdam: Leo Smit (1900-1944) and Theo Loevendie (1930).

Theo Loevendie

Theo Loevendie is a jazz musician and has also developed into one of the Netherlands' most highly regarded composers since the 1960s. His interest in Turkish culture is reflected in 'Six Turkish Folk Poems'. It is played in an orchestral arrangement by his former student Wilbert Bulsink, who also wrote a prelude to the work for the Concertgebouw Orchestra. Just as for Loevendie, Ravel and jazz were permanent values for Leo Smit, as can be heard in 'Silhouetten'. The work, written during his composition studies in Amsterdam, was premiered by the Concertgebouw Orchestra in 1925.