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The best concerts from across the UK and Europe. Available to listen online for 30 days

Experience the best concerts from across the UK and Europe. Available to listen online for 30 days

Radio 3 in Concert: City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra - Debussy, Messiaen, Bach

26/03/2018

City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra - Debussy, Messiaen, Bach

BBC Radio 3 - Radio 3 in Concert, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra - Debussy, Messiaen, Bach

City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra give a concert of Debussy, Messiaen and Bach.

City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra with Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla and assistant conductor Jonathan Bloxham, the CBSO Chorus conducted by Simon Halsey, and the organist Thomas Trotter give a concert of music by Debussy, Messiaen and Bach from Symphony Hall, as part of the Birmingham Debussy Festival. Tom Redmond presents.

"Le Martyre de Saint Sébastien is a masterpiece that has not yet been understood. Debussy wrote his Parsifal that day." So wrote Emile Vuillermoz in 1920, 9 years after Le Martyre de Saint Sébastien received its heavy censuring. But the scandal it caused wasn't really surprising, given its quasi-religious ecstasy and complex sexual implications - not least the cross-dressing of dancer and choreographer Ida Rubinstein. Debussy retorted "I have made mysterious Nature my religion". And what an influence this mysticism had upon disciple Messiaen, as we can hear in Messiaen's choral piece O Sacrum Convivium. This concert, given as part of the Birmingham Debussy Festival, explore the composer's links with the sacred.

Part 1
Debussy: (orch. Matthews) La cathédrale engloutie
CBSO 
Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla (conductor)

Bach: Toccata and Fugue in d BWV 538 ("Dorian")
Thomas Trotter (organ)

Messiaen O Sacrum Convivium
CBSO Chorus 
Simon Halsey (conductor)
Messiaen: La Nativité du Seigneur IX. "Dieu parmi nous"
Thomas Trotter (organ)

Debussy Danse sacrée et danse profane
Suzy Willison-Kawalec (harp)
CBSO 
Jonathan Bloxham (conductor)

INTERVAL (from CD)
Respighi: Quattro Liriche dal poema paradisiaco Di Gabrielle d'Annunzio
Marta Moretto (mezzo soprano)
Aldo Orvieto (piano)

Part 2
Debussy Le Martyre de Saint Sébastien
Katja Stuber (soprano)
Ilse Eerens (soprano)
CBSO Chorus 
CBSO
Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla (conductor).

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