No, it’s not a new posthumous novel by Robert Ludlum. (Brian Moore already beat him anyway with The Mangan Inheritance.) What it is, or will be, is a little ditty performed by organist Olivier Latry on Sunday afternoon, at the end of his recital (the first) on the Gillespie pipe organ.
It seems that Latry, an organist at the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, will include an improvisation as part of his program. The Orange County Performing Arts Center (actually, a person who works there, not the complex) asked me to submit a theme for Latry to use in his improvisation, and I agreed to do so. The blurry image above is the theme I chose. I’m sure one of you can name it. (Please do so in the comments below).
If he butchers it, I’ll bury him.
Is it Stravinsky?
Nope. But not a bad guess.
Must be Berlioz then!
No sir.
Something from Spencer’s latest wind quintet?
Nope. I don’t want to give too many hints. But it’s a famous piece and a well known theme.
French composer …
Espana?
We have a winner! It’s Emmanuel Chabrier’s “Espana,” a “Rhapsody for Orchestra.” Among the best recordings was made by Ernest Ansermet and L’Orchestre de la Suisse Romande.
Cool, I won something! Oddly, when I first played through it quickly, it sounded like it could have been from Petroushka. Slowing it down a bit and with your clue, I figured it out. I would have never guessed that I could confuse Chabrier with Stravinsky!
By the way, “I’ll bury him”??? Does this mean that if you don’t like it, you’ll also run to the front of the stage and start banging your shoe? The Nikita Improvisation.
Chabrier is a key, forgotten, figure in the development of Impressionism. Ravel greatly admired him, and wrote a piece in homage. Poulenc wrote a book about him. Chabrier collected paintings by Manet, Monet and others. His music, including ‘Espana’ and ‘Dix Pieces Pittoresques,’ for piano, were written in an early Impressionistic style.