30 May, 2025
IT’S ALL ABOUT JAZZ
Echegaray Theatre, 8 p.m.
- Paul Nero (1917-1958)
- The Hot Canary for violin and piano
- Anna Margrethe Nilsen violin
- Josu de Solaun piano
- Kurt Weill (1900-1950)
- 'Speak Low' from the musical One Touch of Venus (Venus Was a Woman), for voice and piano
- Nils Georg Nilsen tenor
- José Gallardo piano
- George Gershwin (1898-1937)
- 'I Loves You, Porgy' from the opera Porgy and Bess, for voice and piano; 'Summertime' from the opera Porgy and Bess, for voice and piano
- Susanne Hvinden Hals soprano
- José Gallardo piano
- Maurice Ravel (1875-1937)
- Violin Sonata No.2 in G major, M.77
- Anna Margrethe Nilsen violin
- Josu de Solaun piano
- Erik Satie (1866-1925)
- Parade, for piano four hands
- José Gallardo piano
- Josu de Solaun piano
- Paul Schoenfield (1947-2024)
- Cafe Music, for piano trio
- Jesús Reina violin
- Benedict Kloeckner cello
- José Gallardo piano
- Dmitri Shostakovich (1906-1975)
- Waltz No.2 from Jazz Suite No.2 for Orchestra (arr. Paul Lavender)
- Grigory Kalinovsky violin I
- Anna Margrethe Nilsen violin I
- Clemence de Forceville violin II
- Jesús Reina violin II
- Eleanor Kendra James viola
- Bruno Hock Merino viola
- Christophe Morin cello
- Benedict Kloeckner cello
- Guest Artist double bass
When ragtime and jazz emerged in America around the early 1900s, it gained enormous popularity with admired performers like Paul Nero. Arriving to the New World as an immigrant, Kurt Weill saw the advantage of rhythmic and harmonic freedom in jazz, as well as melodic simplicity and directness.
Considering this new style American folk music, George Gershwin brilliantly adopted elements into his compositions, like Porgy and Bess, pioneering a fresh direction within classical music.
Gershwin’s strong influence in Paris resulted in several French composers following suit, one of them being Maurice Ravel, while the eccentric Eric Satie had however, quite early on, already drawn inspiration from ragtime and jazz, as can be appreciated in his “scandalous” Parade.
In this program we also get to enjoy the entertaining Cafe Music by Paul Schoenfield, and one of Shostakovich’s contributions to the then newly founded jazz state orchestra of the Soviet Union.