Salonen: Helix / Ravel: Piano Concerto For The Left Hand / Prokofiev: Romeo And Juliet Suite

Featuring

Esa-Pekka Salonen
Los Angeles Philharmonic
Sergei Prokofiev

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Historical Context

The Los Angeles Philharmonic, founded in 1919 by multi-millionaire William Andrews Clark, Jr., opened the Frank Gehry-designed Walt Disney Concert Hall in October 2003, which has been praised for its acoustics and visual drama.

Composer's Artistic Vision

Maurice Ravel intended his Piano Concerto for the Left Hand to give the impression of a texture as full as a part written for both hands, avoiding any hint of it being a 'stunt'.

Compositional Technique

Esa-Pekka Salonen's "Helix" is structured as a nine-minute accelerando, where the tempo gets faster, but the note values of the phrases become correspondingly longer, creating a spiral-like effect.

Composition History

Maurice Ravel's Piano Concerto for the Left Hand was commissioned by Austrian pianist Paul Wittgenstein, who lost his right arm during World War I but was determined to continue his concert career.

Performer Biography

Esa-Pekka Salonen, the conductor, is in his 15th season as Music Director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, making his tenure the second-longest in the Philharmonic's history.

Performer Biography

Jean-Yves Thibaudet, the pianist, is an exclusive recording artist for Decca with over 30 releases and was the soloist on the 2005 Oscar-nominated soundtrack of Universal Pictures' Pride and Prejudice.

Recording & Production

This album is a live recording from Walt Disney Concert Hall, the first live recording made there by Esa-Pekka Salonen and the Los Angeles Philharmonic for Deutsche Grammophon.