Romeo, Giulietta e... Petruška

S. Prokof’ev, Romeo e Giulietta (1935, trascrizione di Fabrice Pierre, 2022)
I. Stravinskij, Petruška (1911, trascrizione di Yuval Shapiro, 2020)

The friendship and esteem that for many years has joined the artists performing this evening, Ensemble Metamorphosi has laid the ground for this original project. The first spark that set the musicians moving was the discovery of a transcription by the Israeli violinist Yuval Shapiro of Stravinsky’s Petrushka for this formation of musicians; with its special, evocative mix of timbres it aroused his enthusiasm. Fabrice Pierre has now assembled a marvellous version of Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet for six instruments. In one evening, therefore, two suites of two of the loveliest and best known ballets of the last century will be played. Fabrice Pierre recalls that his first recollection of Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet was a concert in Paris in the 1970s, where the French National Radio Orchestra was conducted by Sergiu Celibidache. He was struck by the beauty of the music, the colors of the orchestration, and how Shakespeare’s universal story had been transposed into music. Pierre’s diary describes his feelings: “the fact that two wind instruments, two strings, and two pianos sounded like a small orchestra made me want to write this transcription so as to have the pleasure of playing it with my friends.”