A Concert Has Been Added

Wednesday, January 23, 2013, at 8:00 p.m.

Orchestre National d’lle de France
Salle Pleyel
Paris

Enrique Mazzola, Conductor
Cedric Tiberghien, Piano

Panufnik: Katyn Epitaph
Azarova: Mover Of The Earth [World Premiere]
Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 1
Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 3 (“Polish”)

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We decided we could handle three orchestra concerts on three consecutive nights, especially since the orchestras are different, the artists are different, and the programs are different.

Consequently, over three nights, we shall hear three of Paris’s four full-time concert orchestras (we shall miss Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France).

The Azarova in question is Svitlana Azarova, of whom I have never heard. From the program arrangement, it seems clear that the composer’s new piece is a very short one.

We left open the possibility of attending a performance at Palais Garnier on our final evening in Paris, Saturday, January 26.

A double bill of Zemlinsky’s “The Dwarf” (also known as “The Birthday Of The Infanta”) and Ravel’s “L’Enfant et les sortileges” will be presented that evening. I do not think that German Expressionism mixes well with French Neo-Classicism, and I think the operas should be paired differently. Consequently, we have a “wait and see” attitude toward the Zemlinsky/Ravel double bill. (The conductor, Paul Daniel, and the stage director, Richard Jones, a couple of British provincials, also scare us off.)