Pictures at a French Exhibition

JoAnn Falletta, conductor
Alon Goldstein, piano
Women of the Virginia Symphony Orchestra Chorus
Robert Shoup, chorusmaster

Debussy: Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun
Saint-Saëns: Piano Concerto No. 2
Debussy: Nocturnes
Roussel: Bacchus et Ariane Suite No. 2

To accompany the Chrysler Museum’s major exhibit of works by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, the Virginia Symphony Orchestra brings a concert of turn-of-the-century French works that dance and dazzle in colorful arrays. The music of orchestral favorite Claude Debussy in both his Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun and Nocturnes bookend Camille Saint-Saëns’ second piano concerto performed by the graceful Alon Goldstein. The program concludes with Albert Roussel’s Bacchus et Ariane Suite No. 2. Like the Parisian dancing girls of Toulouse-Lautrec’s famous images, Roussel’s ballet conceals the mischievous Bacchus behind a veil of enchantment.