PSO October 12, 2025 Concert "Happy Birthday Maurice Ravel"
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Contact: Mark Miller (908-561-5140)
Website: www.plainfieldsymphony.org
The Plainfield Symphony Orchestra will celebrate the 150th anniversary of the birth of French composer Maurice Ravel (1875-1937) in its season opening concert on October 11, 2025, starting at 7 PM. Maestro Charles Prince will conduct two iconic works associated with Ravel as well as his most famous orchestral arrangement. Come join us for this crowd-pleasing opening program.
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Ravel’s Mother Goose Suite (Ma mère l'Oye), originally written as a piano duet in 1910 and later orchestrated, is an enchanting work that brings to life the magical world of fairy tales. The suite takes its inspiration from the beloved stories of Charles Perrault, Comtesse d’Aulnoy, and from the novelist Marie Leprince de Beaumont.  There are five movements, each representing a different fairy tale. This work showcases Ravel’s mastery at musical storytelling.
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His last composition completed in the 1920s was Boléro (1928), which became his most famous and recognizable work. Ravel was commissioned to provide a score for a ballet company. This piece is characterized by two distinct Spanish-inspired melodies that alternate and are orchestrated with different instruments in increasing complexity and intensity over a relentless, machine-like snare drum rhythm.
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One of his other major works from the 1920s is the orchestral arrangement of Modest Mussorgsky's piano suite Pictures at an Exhibition (1922). It consists of 10 distinct pieces inspired by the artwork of Mussorgsky’s friend Viktor Hartmann. The musical suite is a "Promenade" through a gallery, with the "Promenade" theme representing the composer walking and stopping to look at different paintings, each represented by a movement.
