Cambridge University Symphony Orchestra - Idealised Impressions

Cambridge University’s premier student-run orchestra presents an exciting programme of idealised impressions. The concert opens with Maurice Ravel’s well-loved 'Pavane pour une infante défunte' which the composer described as ‘an evocation of a pavane that a little princess might, in former times, have danced at the Spanish court’. Here, Ravel presents an idealised impression of Spanish taste and culture.

Inspiration for Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov’s symphonic suite Antar was derived from an Arabian legend in which Antar, a recluse living in the desert, kills a large bird to save a gazelle. Falling asleep, he dreams that the gazelle was the Queen of Palmyra, who, as a reward, grants him three joys: vengeance, power, and love. The first movement of Rimsky-Korsakov’s Suite depicts this narrative whilst the subsequent three explores each of the three joys respectively.

The concert will culminate with a performance of Dvořák's renowned Symphony No.9 ‘From the New World’, written in 1893 when the composer was director of the National Conservatory of Music of America. Many of this symphony’s well-loved and folk-like melodies were inspired by the African American spirituals which, he thought, could be the basis of an ideal ‘American’ classical music. He also looks back fondly to his native Bohemia for which he was homesick during his time abroad.

Programme:
Ravel Pavane pour une infante défunte
Rimsky-Korsakov Antar, Symphonic Suite Op. 9
Dvořák Symphony No. 9 - 'From the New World'

Cambridge University Symphony Orchestra
Conductors Robert Jones and Daphne Delfas