Sofi Jeannin is best known in the UK as chief conductor of the BBC Singers. Here she made her debut with the BBC National Orchestra and Chorus of Wales in an unusual programme of music in France of the early 20th century. It created a richly resonant picture.
Ravel probably didn’t intend his 1905 cantata L’Aurore to see the light of day: too painful a reminder of his failure to win the Prix de Rome that year. Some beautiful moments pointing to the master-orchestrator and colourist he would become suggest he may indeed have been robbed. Tenor soloist Roland George’s voice emerged strongly from within the ranks of the chorus, whose acclamation of the risen sun rose to an exultant climax.
