In Focus (Adella Premium) Ep. 8, Visions & Impressions

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About the Music

Takemitsu  Air (for solo flute)

Prokofiev  Visions fugitives, Opus 22a (15 movements for piano arranged by Rudolf Barshai for string orchestra)

Debussy  Syrinx (for solo flute)

Poulenc  Organ Concerto (for organ, strings, and timpani)

This episode looks at contrasts and musical impressions. Opening with a solitary flute and concluding with the largest and grandest of all pipe instruments, a quartet speaks to the ethereal and momentary nature of music.

Principal flute Joshua Smith performs two exquisitely enigmatic pieces for solo flute — Japanese composer Tōru Takemitsu’s Air and French composer Claude Debussy’s tender Syrinx evoking mythical beauty.

Between these, Franz Welser-Möst leads The Cleveland Orchestra strings in Prokofiev’s whimsical and effervescent Visions fugitives, drawn from an early cycle of piano miniatures. The program concludes with a thundering performance of the 20th century’s most intriguing organ concerto played by Paul Jacobs, “a virtuoso of dazzling technical acumen” (The New York Times).

In addition to the concert performances, each episode of In Focus includes behind-the-scenes interviews and features about the music and musicmaking.

Performing Artists

The Cleveland Orchestra
Franz Welser-Möst, conductor
Joshua Smith, flute
Paul Jacobs, organ

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