City of Light: Paris 1900-1950 Philharmonia Orchestra, 
Esa-Pekka Salonen, Mitsuko Uchida piano, Royal Festival Hall

A great programme of classical music: London, February 2015 welcomes Mitsuko Uchida to the Southbank Centre.
There have been few cultural landscapes as fertile as Paris’s in the first half of the twentieth century – its music, under the hand of a group of influential composers – the Impressionists - focused on suggestion and atmosphere, creating a sound we now think of as quintessentially Parisian.  
The Philharmonia Orchestra of London, with the help of Mitsuko Uchida and under the baton of their resident conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen, promises to conjure the spirit of this magical time in a concert featuring the work of Henri Dutilleux and Maurice Ravel.
The concert’s to open with ‘Correspondances ’, a song cycle for soprano and orchestra by the lesser known Dutilleux. This work, written shortly before the composer’s death in 2003 pays homage to the Impressionist movement Dutilleux was seduced by growing up – it fuses the unmistakable harmonic language of Ravel, with more modern influences in a work which has grown rapidly in popularity over the last few years. 
Perhaps more exciting though, are the two works of Ravel’s which will sit alongside.  Before the interval is his Piano Concerto in G of 1931 – its explosive outer movements will show off the skills of decorated Japanese-English pianist Mitsuko Uchida, and the beautifully melodic middle movement, her musical sensitivity.  The second act is his one-act opera  ‘L'enfant et les sortilèges’; semi-staged and with subtitles, it’ll be sure to display the broad raft of influences Ravel incorporated into his music, from jazz to eastern flavours. 
For the piano concerto alone, the concert will be worth the modest ticket price. Book now.