Sinfónico 15 by Strauss, Isasi, Ravel, -tól (2024/2024), Karmester Giancarlo Guerrero, Auditorio Nacional de Musica, Madrid, Spain

The program offered by our guest orchestra combines cosmopolitanism with the claim of the Basque as a vector of European musical culture, both through an international soloist like Asier Polo from Bilbao, and through Basque composers (on both sides of the Spanish-French border) Andrés Isasi and Maurice Ravel. Premiered in 1898, Don Quixote is a bold example of the calculated irreverence of the young Strauss towards classical forms, combining in a single work the solo concerto format –for cello–, the time-honored form of the variations and a literary program –the Cervantes classic immortal – typical of the symphonic poem. The Straussian model –seasoned with impressionist effects and some fleeting hint of zortziko– is recognizable in The Oracle by the Bilbao composer Andrés Isasi, composed and premiered in Berlin in 1913 and dusted off –after eight decades of oblivion– by the music stands of the Symphony Orchestra of Bilbao in 1996. The most universal Basque-French composer will close this program with his Dionysian Bolero .