Kazuki Yamada & the Monte-Carlo Philharmonic Orchestra © Sasha Gusov
The Monte-Carlo Philharmonic Orchestra opens the 2025-26 season with a programme of music by Saint-Saëns and Richard Strauss. Led by Music Director Kazuki Yamada, and featuring Spanish cellist Pablo Ferrández, the Orchestra plays Saint-Saëns’ symphonic poem Phaéton, Op 9, his Symphony No 1 in E-flat Major, Op 2, and Strauss’ tone poem Don Quixote, Op 35.
Camille Saint-Saëns composed Phaéton in March 1873, and the work was premiered by Édouard Colonne and his orchestra at the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris on December 7 of that year. The story of Phaéton is one of the folly of pride. Related by Ovid in his Metamorphoses, Phaéton’s mother tells him that he is the son of Apollo, the sun-god. Phaéton, wanting to prove this, takes Apollo’s chariot, with its team of flying horses, despite having been warned that only Apollo can manage them. He loses control of the flaming vehicle, scorching the earth and evaporating the rivers of North Africa – the reason, according to mythology, for this being a desert. Zeus, father of Apollo, intervenes and strikes Phaéton to earth with a deadly bolt. The symphonic poem doesn’t follow the myth exactly, but gives a general picture of the disastrous events.
Camille Saint-Saëns – courtesy Wikimedia Commons
As a child prodigy, Saint-Saëns made his concert debut at the Salle Pleyel at the age of 10, and went on to become a church organist first at Saint-Merri and then at La Madeleine, the official church of the French Empire. He taught for a few years at the École de Musique Classique et Religieuse in Paris, and, as a champion of the need for a French school of composition, this was an important development in French music. His pupils included Gabriel Fauré, among whose own later pupils was Maurice Ravel, both of whom were strongly influenced by Saint-Saëns.
Saint-Saëns enjoyed one of the longest and most illustrious musical careers, being equally at ease with both chamber and orchestral music. He wrote his First Symphony in June and July of 1853, and the work was premiered in Paris in the same year. MusicWeb International wrote in March 2020 that “Symphony No 1 is revealed as a work worthy of more performances”, and it is truly a delightful work, his flair for melody being distinctly noticeable.
Pablo Ferrández is described by the Los Angeles Times as a cellist with “Pop-idol magnetism, superb technique and exhilarating musicality“, and Le Figaro writes: “With Pablo Ferrández, Spain offers a new cello genius”. He has performed with many of the world’s major orchestras, including the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Czech Philharmonic, Filarmonica della Scala, Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, Vienna Radio Symphony, Royal Philharmonic, Academy of St Martin in the Fields, Israel Philharmonic, Cleveland Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony and Orchestra National de France. He is also frequently invited to festivals such as Verbier, Salzburg and Dresden.
Ferrández is the soloist in Richard Strauss’ tone poem Don Quixote. This work is based on the 1605 novel by Miguel de Cervantes, The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha, and is a set of variations on a theme of the unusual behaviour of Don Quixote in his quest to find “the beautiful Dulcinea” – a figment of his imagination. The work, said to be Strauss’ most admired, was composed over 14 months – Strauss apparently wrote of having his first idea of the theme in October 1896 and finishing the piece in December 1897. The tone poem depicts Don Quixote’s attack on the windmills, his attack on a herd of sheep, his dispute with his squire Sancho Panza, an attack on a group of pilgrims, his longing for Dulcinea, the supposed journey of the knight and his squire through the air, the ride to the enchanted boat, his encounter with two priests and finally his adventure with the Knight of the White Moon, which ends his knightly career. The Finale signals the return of his reason and at last the cello marks the end of his follies and of his life.
Pablo Ferrández © Kristian Schulleer
Kazuki Yamada leads the Monte-Carlo Philharmonic Orchestra and guest artist Pablo Ferrández in works by Camille Saint-Saëns and Richard Strauss on 21st September at the Auditorium Rainier III. Details of ticketing can be found on the Monte-Carlo Philharmonic Orchestra website.
Information sourced from:
OPMC program notes
Phaeton
Saint-Saëns Symphony No 1
Don Quixote
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