Orange Subscription Series 8

Slovenian Philharmonic Orchestra
Slovenian Chamber Choir
Consortium Musicum Choir
conductor Alain Paris
Urška Žižek soprano

Q. Chen: The Five Elements (Wu Xing)     
F. Schmitt: La Tragédie de Salomé, op. 50
F. Poulenc: Stabat mater
_________

The musical language of Qigang Chen is a subtle blend of Eastern and Western sensibilities. The Five Elements, composed on a commission from French Radio in 1998, is a suite of five two-minute movements.
Florent Schmitt’s ballet La Tragédie de Salomé, which is a happy blend of the exoticism of Rimsky-Korsakov and the impressionism of Debussy and Ravel, was dedicated by the composer to Igor Stravinsky. After 1913, when the music was heard in a staging by the celebrated Russian Ballet, the composer made two further arrangements of the work – a symphonic poem for large orchestra and a version for piano quintet.
Alongside his Gloria, the Stabat Mater is the greatest vocal-instrumental achievement of Francis Poulenc. This fearsome work of art, whose sadness is alleviated by a translucent elegance, was composed in 1951 in memory of a deceased friend, the painter Christian Bernard.