Pulcinella

This program opens with the «zoological musical fantasy» that Camille Saint-Saëns wrote for the Carnival in 1886 to entertain his friends. It consists of 14 pieces in which he set out to illustrate animals such as chickens, kangaroos… fossils?!… pianists?! It is, therefore, a genuine musical satire. The turtles dance the slowest can-can in living memory, the disfiguration of creation by Jacques Offenbach. The elephants are given a Berlioz minuet, which is also greatly transformed. And the examples follow on from one another in this jocular tone. We then have the opportunity to listen to the sounds of the orchestra and the voices of the soloists that accompany the ballet Pulcinella, which was premièred at the Paris Opera in 1920 with set designs by Pablo Picasso and choreography by Léonide Massine. Freely based on scores by the eighteenth-century composer Giovanni Battista Pergolesi, this production had a distinct effect on the career of Igor Stravinsky, since the «discovery» of the music from the past showed him the neoclassical style that accompanied him from then on.

The music will dialogue with the sculptures of the artist and sculptor Francisco Tropa, responsible for the set design of the concert.