Debussy, Prokofiev, Brahms

Daniel Harding conducts the Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia at the Auditorium Parco della Musica for Debussy’s Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune, a masterpiece of musical literature inspired by Stéphane Mallarmé’s poem The Afternoon of a Faun (L’après-midi d’un faune) from 1876, considered the manifesto of musical impressionism that in 1894 inaugurated a new era in the history of music, in which Debussy evokes a faun who in the heat of a summer afternoon plays the flute immersed in thoughts of love for two nymphs. Lyrical and evocative, the symphonic poem translates into music all the beauty of Mallarmé’s work.

This is followed by Sergei Prokofiev’s Second Violin Concerto, performed by world-renowned Georgian violinist Lisa Batiashvili, Santa Cecilia’s first artist in residence in 2017-2018. Composed between 1935 and 1936, it is widely considered one of the greatest violin concertos of the 20th century. The concerto is composed of three movements, each of which expresses the innovative and expressive musical language of the great Russian composer. The evening closes with Johannes Brahms’s Second Symphony, composed in 1877 during a visit to the Austrian Alps. Often compared to Ludwig van Beethoven’s Sixth Symphony (Pastoral), it is characterized by joy and stillness and is imbued with an almost pastoral simplicity which instils a sense of profound peace.

Photo credits: courtesy of the Auditorium Parco della Musica