Half Six Fix: French Connections by Berlioz, Debussy, Takemitsu, Ravel, From (2022/2022), Conductor Simon Rattle, Barbican Centre, London, United Kingdom

Hector Berlioz Overture: Le corsaire Claude Debussy Fanfare and Le sommeil de Lear from ‘Music to King Lear’ Tōru Takemitsu Fantasma/Cantos II Maurice Ravel La valse LSO Music Director Sir Simon Rattle celebrates the sheer beauty of sound, in a pocket-sized concert with a French flavour. Maybe it’s the effortless sense of style, maybe it’s that Parisian appetite for the finer things in life, but French music has a sound that’s entirely its own. Ravel waltzes elegantly through the end of the world, Debussy gives Shakespeare a very Gallic makeover, and Berlioz sets sail on the high seas, in his swashbuckling Le corsaire. And there’s a beautiful gem from Japan: a Zen garden in sound by the late, great Tōru Takemitsu. Sir Simon Rattle has always loved the sound that French music makes, whether elegant and ethereal like Debussy and Ravel, or as unashamedly out-there as Hector Berlioz. Today he introduces and conducts some personal favourites, as well as a ravishing miniature from a Japanese master who was also a personal friend. ‘I think and feel in sounds.’ ~Maurice Ravel