Performance on 3 - Performance on 3: Proms 2009 - Prom 61: Sibelius, Duparc, Ravel

Presented by Ian Skelly. A concert from the 2009 Proms season in which Mariss Jansons conducts the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra in Sibelius and Ravel, as well as some of Duparc's finest songs, featuring mezzo-soprano Magdalena Kozena. Both Sibelius and Duparc stopped composing decades before their deaths. The seven symphonies Sibelius left, however, securely place him among the greatest symphonists of the 20th century. Duparc left little more than a handful of songs, yet each is a gem of textual subtlety and melodic inspiration; lustrous-toned Czech mezzo-soprano Magdalena Kozena sings her own selection. Ravel's pastoral ballet Daphnis et Chloe - commissioned by Diaghilev in 1909, the year he met Stravinsky - was based on an ancient erotic novel; the Second Suite begins with a sunrise and ends in an orgy. Magdalena Kozena (mezzo-soprano) Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra Mariss Jansons (conductor) Sibelius: Symphony No 1 in E minor Duparc: L'invitation au voyage; Extase (orch Pierre de Breville); Le manoir de Rosemonde; Chanson triste; Phidyle Ravel: Daphnis et Chloe Suite No 2 Followed by music from Proms Plus: Rex Lawson performs Chopin's Scherzo in B flat minor on the pianola.