Dominique Meyer, Theatre des Champs Elysees

A great concert evening with famous Russian composers with Orchestre National de France conducted by Neeme Järvi and with Igor Tchetuev as piano soloist in Tsjaikovskijs Piano Concerto no 1 ended great with a surprising “Au Revoir” to Dominique Meyer, the general manager of Theatre des Champs Elysees through many years, as he is moving to be General Manager of The Wienna State Opera.

After the normal concert we first got an encore Tsjaikovskijs introduction and Waltz tfrom The Sleeping Beauty, where after the orchestra was showing up boards who formed the following text: “Au Revoir Dominique”, then Dominique Meyer first received the applause from the audience to his place at the balcony, but shortly went on stage, where the 59 strings and 1 pauke under the leading of Neeme Järvi played Jean Sibelius Andante Festivo to Dominique Meyer
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The concert was first class, as it use to be with Orchestre National de France. This evening with only Russian famous composers, Nicolas Rimsky-Korsakov´s Capricio Espanol. Folloved byPeter Tsjaikovskys 1 Piano Concerto with an outstanding Russian pianist Igor Tchetuev as soloist, and ending up with Sergei Prokovievs Symfoni no 5.

In Capricio Espanol the concertmaster Luc Hery took good care of the playfull soloviolin parts. But he was not the only outstanding soloist in the orchestra. I noticed especially the Flute, Cello soloists, the Harp and the Triangel.

Igor Tchetuev

FIREWORK:

In Peter Tsjaikovskys 1. Piano Concerto with Igor Tchetuev as brilliant soloist at the piano, I enjoyed the romanticisme and the softnes which the soloist and the conducter had made more clear than I remember from earlyer in the concerts 1 part. Therefore the 1 part was not being compact, but playfull and more light, even more beautiful. Both the first cadance, and the second larger one were pianofireworks
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The opening of the second part allways reminds me of the wide Russia landscape with floating rivers. An outstanding performance. And of course the soloist, Igor Tchetuev, answered the ovations from the audience with an encore.

With his Symphony no 5 , from 1944, Sergei Prokoviev is with great success returning to a kind of composing music that he not has done since he came back first time to Russia in 1927, after he has left his homecountry in 1918.

But for the “normal” listener and specially them who knows his ballet and operamusic we do hear references to his ballets Romeo and Juliet, and La Cenerentola, and also to his opera Love to the Three Oranges, but in a positive way. The big symphonic lines in the Symphony no 5  embrases many inspiring themes and could have been a wonderful ballet music with shining trumpets and violins and sorrow full cello and deep string sounds.

Neeme Järvi

This evening it was unteresting to enjoy the developing of Russian music through three outstanding Russian composershaving each their style, and spite in that Rimsky-Korsakov  and Tsjaikovsky lived at approximately the same time to listen how different they were. Rimsky-Korsakov with his outstanding orchestration talent and using the whole orchestra. Tsjaikovsky Romantic and lively, and ending up with Prokofiev renewing use of istruments and sounds and combinations, and giving the blowing sections and by using the whole orchestra in another way than Rimsky-Korsakov.

With only 40 minutes of plying time for the Symphoni no 5 it became a fast version, which suited the music and the orchestra sounding well.