Karina Canellakis conducts Ravel, De Raaff and Janácek

Maurice Ravel - Une barque sur l'océan, Robin De Raaff - L'azur (Dutch première), Leoš Janáček - Glagolitic Mass. Programme Maurice Ravel Une barque sur l'océan Robin De Raaff L'azur (Dutch première) Leoš Janáček Glagolitic Mass After performances at the Lucerne Festival and Musikfest Berlin, it is high time that L'Azur by Robin de Raaff is heard in the Netherlands, with Janácek's impressive Glagolitic Mass as the apotheosis. Azure blue It is the church bells in the poem L'Azur by French poet Stéphane Mallarmé that tip the scales for Robin de Raaff. This poem will form the basis for a composition dedicated to Pierre Boulez. De Raaff writes it in 2025 as a tribute to this leading composer and conductor, whose hundredth birthday is being celebrated. The overwhelming blue sky is central to the poem. Azure blue is also the ocean on which Maurice Ravel sets his boat sailing, to music that undulates and glimmers and makes the orchestra and hall sway. Cathedral of sound From his country retreat, Leoš Janácek took long forest walks: 'I felt a cathedral rise up from the enormous expanse of the forests.' Janácek is inspired to write the Glagolitic Mass, for which he uses Old Church Slavonic, a language that was used in his native region of Moravia as early as the ninth century. He composes an energetic, jubilant mass with powerful brass fanfares and an impressive organ part. A work that is in good hands with Karina Canellakis, who proved that with her impressive series of Janácek operas in the Matinee.