The Gala of the Three Conductors: A Milestone Birthday for the Orchestre National de Lille

A Tribute to the Orchestre National de Lille

50 years already. Tonight, the Orchestre National de Lille celebrates its fiftieth anniversary and, incidentally, after two years of renovation work, the reopening of the Auditorium Jean-Claude Casadesus. An entire supplement of “La Voix du Nord” is devoted to the event. For this anniversary concert, three conductors will take turns on the podium: founder Jean-Claude Casadesus, Alexandre Bloch, its music director from 2016 to 2024, and Joshua Weilerstein, currently in post. Before giving way to the music, a speech by the orchestra’s general director Jean-Baptiste Henriat, followed by a short film, show us the work accomplished. Founded in 1976 by Jean-Claude Casadesus and Pierre Mauroy, the Orchestre National de Lille, with its 100 musicians, plays in the big leagues — “it’s in Ligue 1”! Internationally recognised, it has performed in 30 different countries across four continents. But it remains deeply rooted in its region. Committed to bringing classical music to all audiences, it has performed in 250 towns across the Hauts-de-France region. The film shows us moving moments, such as when the orchestra plays in a prison or a factory. It took over the city in 2004 for an open-air concert, when Lille was European Capital of Culture.

The Maestro Takes the Stage

In honour of the founder, Jean-Claude Casadesus, still as sprightly as ever (listen to our podcast)  opens the concert. He begins with the Festive Overture by Dmitri Shostakovich. It was composed in three days for the 37th anniversary of the October Revolution and premiered at the Bolshoi on 6 November 1954. It opens with a fanfare, followed by a cascade of flutes and clarinets. This brief piece is joyful, lively — the surge of the strings is spectacular — before a powerful, triumphant ending. It quickly became very popular and was frequently performed at ceremonies in the Soviet Union.

It is followed by Ravel’s celebrated Boléro. Jean-Claude Casadesus performs it with finesse, subtlety and sensitivity. The melody opens with the pure sound of the flutes, accompanied by the plucked strings of the cellos. The mesmerising rhythm, the haunting melody, its seemingly endless repetition right up to the final release, offer us a moment of pure musical pleasure.
A Deeply Romantic Symphonic Suite

Alexandre Bloch performs Richard Strauss’s Der Rosenkavalier (The Knight of the Rose) with fire and intensity. Premiered in 1911 in Dresden, the opera would go on to become highly celebrated. It tells a love story set in 18th-century Vienna. Tonight we hear the Suite, a shortened, purely orchestral version compiled in 1944. It opens with a love scene between the Marschallin and Octavian, a young knight. She entrusts her lover with the task of presenting a young woman, Sophie, with the rose symbolising the Baron’s marriage proposal. But the young couple fall in love, and faced with this genuine love, the Marschallin steps aside. The music is surprising — the Suite opens with jolts, stormy and somewhat erratic musical waves. Then comes a romance introduced by the flutes. The mood turns romantic, the theme melodious, transporting us to the Vienna of the Belle Époque. After a spectacular rupture, the waltzes follow one another to a dazzling, solemn conclusion in praise of love.

A Poetic and Philosophical Work

“Delight, languor, intoxication, ecstasy”: The Poem of Ecstasy sets these “four divine colours” to music. Alexander Scriabin (1872-1915) was a composer, pianist and… poet. The Poem of Ecstasy is a symphonic piece written between 1905 and 1908, based on his own 369-line poem! The composer was influenced by the Theosophical movement, a religious syncretism devoted to the search for truth. All of Joshua Weilerstein’s talent is needed to perform this complex work, which requires a gigantic orchestra. Scriabin creates an atmosphere that could be described as musical ecstasy. The music is soft, peaceful, inducing a meditative reverie. The ecstasy is not only amorous — it is also spiritual. This music envelops us delightfully in its mystery. It is also very modern in its dissonances and rhythmic ruptures. The bells ring out during the final orchestral crescendo, and we find ourselves in a manifestly religious apotheosis.

The audience turned out in large numbers and was enthusiastic. They gave a long standing ovation to the three conductors gathered on stage. For the occasion, the Orchestre National de Lille brewed a new beer with a fitting name: l’Entracte (The Interval). Tonight, at the end of the concert, the beer was offered free to the audience. This “Gala of the Three Conductors” was truly a celebration. We leave Le Nouveau Siècle with the hope, the conviction, that the sacred fire of the Orchestre National de Lille will endure for a long time, who knows, perhaps for fifty more years…