If the political music of the stations it hosts annoys more than one, the great classical music concerts of the new school year, at the Auditorium of the Maison de la radio, are not to be missed. Brahms, Debussy, Elsa Barraine, Richard Strauss, Berlioz… Ask for the program.
Does the name Elsa Barraine mean nothing to you? Too bad. So I advise you, without further ado, to rush to the opening concert of the season, at the Auditorium of Radio France, this Thursday, September 12. It’s at 8 p.m. With violinist Julia Fisher who will perform the Violin Concerto by Brahms. Also on the programme are the Images for orchestraby Debussy. And precisely… the Symphony No. 2 by Elsa Barraine.
Live broadcast on France Musique and on Arte-Concert
Daughter of a violinist and a choral voice, a student in the composition class of Charles-Marie Widor then of Paul Dukas (whom she would become friends with), Elsa Barraine (1910-1999) won the prestigious Prix de Rome at just 19 years old, for a cantata: The Warrior Virgin -you will have recognized Joan of Arc – on a poem by Armand Foucher. The Munich Accords push Elsa Barraine, also a pianist and conductor, to join the Communist Party. Having entered the Resistance under the name of Catherine Bonnard, she will become, after the war, a music critic for Humanityamong others. She had the good idea of breaking with the Party in 1949.
Elsa Barraine is responsible for a great deal of film music, as well as stage music – from Jean Grémillon to Jean-Louis Barrault, including Jacques Demy. She continued to teach before joining the Ministry of Culture as an inspector of lyric theatres. She is also the composer of Four Jewish Songs (1937), from a ballet on the Song of the Unloved (1959), of several cantatas: Good Friday Cantata (1955) or the one called The Peasantson a poem by André Frénaud (1958)… In 1967, Elsa Barraine signed a Ritual music for gong organ, tam-tam and xylorimba! Percussive, isn’t it?
Please note that Thursday’s concert – conducted by Cristian Macelaru, the musical director of the Orchestre national de France – will be broadcast live that same evening on France-Musique and on Arte Concert.
Slavic notes to finish
The back-to-school program for Radio-France musical groups continues this Friday 13th under the auspices of the Radio France Philharmonic Orchestra and Finnish conductor Mikko Franck, with the Summer Nights (Berlioz), sung by the mezzo Lea Desandre, and the immortal Alpine Symphony (Richard Strauss). To close, a world premiere: the Dawn Chasm – pretty title –, a work by the prolific Tatiana Probst (For the record, Tatiana Probst, born in the inner circle in 1987, pianist, composer, actress and soprano, is the granddaughter of Gisèle Casadesus and Lucien Pascal, and the niece of Jean-Claude Casadesus).
To end this musically busy week, meet this Sunday at 4 p.m. for a choral concert – Lionel Sow on the podium – under the sign of Slavic culture, with Tchaikovsky and Rachmaninov as stars, around whom gravitate a few lesser stars, such as Diletsky, Bortnianski, Penderecki or Alexander Kastalsky.
Details and reservations on: https://www.maisondelaradioetdelamusique.fr
