A melodious Rêverie and beguiling Arabesque, two early piano works by Claude Debussy in the composer’s delicate arrangement for oboe and harp, emerge from the late summer silence as an amuse bouche to open Radius Ensemble’s twenty-sixth season. Next, the world itself emerges in Creation du Monde, Darius Milhaud’s balletic retelling of African creation myths through the lens of Harlem jazz, heard here in the composer’s arrangement for piano quintet. Miguel del Aguila’s Uruguayan roots illuminate the sharp contrasts of Submerged, a piece for viola and harp inspired by Alfonsina Storni’s romantic, surrealist poem “Yo en el fondo del mar,” and Valerie Coleman’s raucous Tzigane, a tribute to Maurice Ravel’s showpiece of the same name, brings the concert full circle, drawing us back to France and weaving a new strand from a fin de siecle Parisian web of cultural influence.
CLAUDE DEBUSSY – Rêverie and Arabesque for oboe and harp
DARIUS MILHAUD – Creation du Monde for piano quintet
MIGUEL del AGUILA – Submerged for flute, viola and harp
VALERIE COLEMAN – Tzigane for wind quintet
