With their lasting applause, the audience would not let Maestro Matvejeff and the masterful Rijeka Symphony Orchestra leave the stage! Without sparing their palms, the spectators of the concert “Fauré, Saint-Saëns, Ravel” thus showed how much they enjoyed the concert and how happy they were that the performance was conducted by Finnish maestro Ville Matvejeff, who has grown dear to the hearts of the Rijeka audience, and who with each curtain call lifted his hand to his heart, showing the spectators how much it meant to him, while his “thank yous” could be clearly read on his lips.
The concert program is one that even the ears of our loyal visitors are not accustomed to, though at first glance they are all famous French composers! However, something different was carefully selected for the program: the gentle and romantic Fauré, the innovative and powerful Saint-Saëns and the fairy-tale, picturesque and soothing Ravel, which in the warmth of the Theater reminded many of the warmth of home and the embraces of those who used to tell them famous fairy tales before sleep. After such a warm musical story, some of our audience members shared their impressions before heading home to bed:
“A special concert, very nice. I’m not an expert, so it’s hard for me to say…but it was a very nice program, not at all pretentious, easy and likeable. The Ravel at the end really calmed me down; it truly had a meditative effect and impressed me the most. A very interesting work. As for Saint-Saëns’s Second Symphony – it was great. I’d never heard it live before. I hadn’t even heard of Fauré. After so many years, I’m still learning new things with the Rijeka Symphony Orchestra.”
“It was great! My favorite was Saint-Saëns’s Second Symphony.”
“A beautiful concert. The first part was perhaps a little too romantic and slow for me; Saint-Saëns suited my soul much better. And Ravel at the end with “Mother Goose” … such a beautiful, interesting piece. It’s a shame that I couldn’t follow the stories from Ravel’s synopsis for ballet in parallel, which would have made the experience even better. As for the maestro – a treat. We missed him so much! I’m at every concert. I have to say that our Maestro Egel is brilliant, too! We are so lucky.”
You can hear Maestro Matvejeff and the Rijeka Symphony Orchestra again already on Friday, February 26 at the revival of the opera Julius Caesar in Egypt – Anew.
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