Classical Landscapes • Falla and Dvořák

Following their breathtaking Mozart Masterpieces concert in May 2025, the RTÉ Concert Orchestra welcome back French conductor Swann Van Rechem for a programme showcasing the Romantic period into early Modernism. Join us for a night of Debussy, Falla, Borodin and Dvořák.

We open with Debussy’s Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune, inspired by the poetry of Stéphane Mallarmé. The faun’s dreams, desires and ultimate sleep are portrayed through sensuous melodies and innovative orchestrations.

From the forests of France, we move south for de Falla’s Nights in the Gardens of Spain, where shimmering harmonies and Andalusian rhythms invoke the romance and colour of Southern Spain.

A journey on horseback through the vast plains of Russia is depicted in Borodin’s In the Steppes of Central Asia, intertwining Asian and Russian melodies. Borodin dedicated the piece to master of the tone poem, Franz Liszt.

We bring the evening to a close with Dvořák’s Symphony No. 8 – one of Dvořák’s most triumphant and joyous works – concluding the night with the euphoria of Bohemia’s rolling hills in folk-infused movements.

An unforgettable evening of lush melodies and vivid classical landscapes brought to life by the RTÉ Concert Orchestra.