In the first half, the Istanbul State Symphony Orchestra, under the baton of the American conductor Ryan McAdams, is to accompany the Spanish guitarist Pablo Sáinz Villegas in the ever-popular Concierto de Aranjuez, a concerto for the classical guitar by Joaquín Rodrigo (1901-1999). In the second half, meanwhile, the orchestra will play Igor Stravinsky’s Petrushka ballet suite. This event is one of the DenizBank Concerts.
Joaquín Rodrigo, who had gone blind at the age of three after contracting diphtheria, wrote his works in Braille. After studying music in Valencia, he received lessons in composition from Paul Dukas (of The Sorcerer’s Apprentice fame) at the École Normale de Musique in Paris, subsequently studying musicology there. From 1947 onwards he was a professor of music history at the Complutense University of Madrid, which was founded in 1293 and is one of Spain’s most prestigious institutions of higher learning. The Concierto de Aranjuez was inspired by the gardens at the Royal Palace of Aranjuez. In later life, he and his wife said that it had been written as a response to the miscarriage of their first child.
Petrushka, by the Russian composer Igor Stravinsky (1882-1971), was written for the 1911 season of the impresario Sergei Diaghilev’s Ballets russes company. It was premiered in Paris in June 1911 with choreography by Mikhail Fokine; Vaslav Nijinsky danced the title role. The story concerns three puppets – Petrushka (the Russian version of Punch and a descendant of Pulcinella, the commedia dell’arte clown/trickster archetype), the Ballerina and the Moor – who are brought to life in a puppet theatre by the Charlatan during a fair in Saint Petersburg. Petrushka is in love with the Ballerina, but she rejects him in favour of the Moor. He challenges the Moor to a duel and is killed by the Moor’s sword. The crowd who are watching this drama play out are horrified, but the Charlatan reassures them that Petrushka is only a puppet. The crowd disperses, leaving the Charlatan alone on the stage; Petrushka then rises above the puppet theatre and threatens the Charlatan, making him run away. Finally, Petrushka collapses and dies a second death. In 1946, Grace Roberts (a former ballerina who was the author of The Borzoi Book of Ballets) wrote: ‘Although more than thirty years have elapsed since Petrushka was first performed, its position as one of the greatest ballets remains unassailed. Its perfect fusion of music, choreography and décor, and its theme – the timeless tragedy of the human spirit – unite to make its appeal universal.’
In 1946 Stravinsky re-orchestrated the original Petrushka, reducing the orchestration, especially in the woodwind and brass departments; the result is a highly entertaining kaleidoscope of masterfully-crafted orchestral texture and colour.
