Kazuki Yamada conducts Boulanger and Ravel

“I think and feel in sounds” said Ravel, and his ballet Daphnis and Chloé conjures a paradise of gods and nymphs: a love story for all time, set in a world where every dewdrop (and every kiss) springs to vivid, glistening musical life. Lili Boulanger, meanwhile, died tragically young, but she wrote music of such irrepressible dramatic power that it leaves you reeling.

Boulanger’s Faust et Hélène is a drama of seduction and damnation, but in a great performance it evokes the tensions of a turbulent age, just as Ravel’s sumptuous ballet gains an extra dimension when (like today) it’s played complete, with the magical voices of the BBC Symphony Chorus. Guest conductor Kazuki Yamada has caused a sensation wherever he performs: the perfect guide for a musical adventure beyond the imagination






Produced by the BBC Symphony Orchestra.

Image by Zuzanna Specjal.





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