Par TCHAIKOVSKI PIOTR ILITCH. Along with Swan Lake, The Nutcracker represents one of Tchaikovsky's most popular and most-performed works. Based on E. T. A. Hoffman's The Nutcracker And The Mouse King, the piece was commissioned in 1891 and first performed in St Petersberg the following year. The story of enchanted toys and Christmas magic has become a firm favourite, and the piece was the first historically to make orchestral use of the Celesta. As a work of previously unrivalled orchestration, the piece has become vital reading for those studying the development of the orchestra, or important Romantic works./ Répertoire / Orchestre

Solo for Oboe or Violin. Par BACRI NICOLAS. The title only appears frivolous to those who have lived little. With the passage of time, the seasons that pass, the differences in quantity and quality of light, of temperature and weather, become of ever greater importance in the meaning of our individual existence. This transformation follows the path of our lives and often mimes in front of our very own eyes, incredulous and wondrous, events that we can only experience once in a lifetime: our birth, our blossoming, our aging and our death. Such a subject could well take up ten years of my life. This was the case. Nevertheless, everything started very innocently with a proposition from my friend François Leleux to write him a double concerto that he could play with Natalia Gutman, initially named ‘Musica Concertante’. It was with this second proposition from François for another double concerto, this time with Lisa Batiashvili, that the idea came to me for a cycle of four concertos with, each time, a different instrument from the string quartet to join the oboe. The automnal colours of the cello are a perfect match for the retrospective nature of the first completed concerto in the cycle. ‘concerto nostalgico, l’automne’, whilst the love and the first child of the Leleux-Batiashvili couple could only bring Spring to mind, hence the ‘Concerto amoroso, le printemps’, was born. When Jean-Marc Bador asked me to be an associate of the Ensemble Orchestral de Paris for two years, it was quite naturally that I thought of completing this cycle for François Leleux, with winter ‘Concerto tenebroso’, created in January 2010 with Lise berthaud playing the viola. All that remained was for me to conclude, with a work that reunited all four protagonsits. It was summer, the ‘Concerto luminoso’, which took on this role’./ Répertoire / Orchestre

As seen in the mind-boggling Trans-Siberian stage show! This powerful piece soars and asks to be played large. Sure-fire excitement for any holiday program! The rock rhythm section contributes to an intense and very hip musical experience. An optional part for electric guitar can be used to add interest to the performance. This arrangement includes parts appropriate for a community or professional orchestra. The bowings are those that would be expected by professional players. Instrumentation: Full orchestra, timpani (G-B-D-E), drum set, opt. electric guitar, opt. piano, opt. electric bass. (3:25) / Orchestre

Par ARNOLD MALCOLM. Peterloo is the derisive name given to an incident on 16 August 1819, in St Peter's Fields, Manchester, when an orderly crowd of some 8,000 people met to hear a speech on political reform. On the orders of the magistrates they were interrupted by the Yeomanry, attempting to seize the banners they carried, and to arrest their speaker, Henry Hunt. Cavalry were sent in, eleven people were killed and four hundred injured in the ensuring panic. This overture attempts to portray these happenings musically, but after a lament for the killed and injured, it ends in triumph, in the firm belief that all those who have suffered and died in the cause of unity amongst mankind will not have done so in vain./ Répertoire / Conducteur