Anne Akiko Meyers and Fabio Bidini’s recital at The Wallis takes the audience on a journey to France from an earlier era, featuring works of Charles Gounod, Jules Massenet, and Maurice Ravel.
Opening the concert is Gounod’s Ave Maria, which began as a casual improvisation of the melody over the first prelude from Bach’s first book of the Well-Tempered Clavier. Written out by Gounod’s future father-in-law, the work has become one of the composer’s most beloved, along with his operas Faust and Romeo and Juliet.
The next work is Massenet’s Meditation, which is from his opera Thais, premiered in 1894. It is a beautiful composition and one of the most believed pieces in the violin repertoire. Closing the recital is the jazz-influenced Violin Sonata #2 by Maurice Ravel, which was premiered in 1927, the year before Ravel first visited the United States. It's second movement is called Blues and the Sonata concludes with a thrilling third movement marked Perpetuum Mobile.
PROGRAM
Gounod Ave Maria
Ravel Sonata No.2 in G Major
Massenet Meditation from Thais
An Evening with Violinist Anne Akiko Meyers and Pianist Fabio Bidini is made possible in part by generous support from the Colburn Foundation.
