Gustavo Gimeno makes his debut with the acclaimed Orchestre de Paris: on 8 and 9 September, he leads the Orchestra at the Philharmonie de Paris in an all-Ravel programme. Gimeno steps in for Riccardo Chailly, who is unable to perform due to health reasons.

Starting off the programme are the Valses nobles et sentimentales, a set of seven waltzes and an epilogue, written originally for piano and orchestrated in 1912. It is followed by La Valse, a frenzied waltz depicting the decline of an entire world, symbolically represented in the most popular dance of the Austrian Empire. The programme continues with Alborada del Gracioso and the Rhapsodie espagnole, Ravel’s first published piece written specifically for orchestra. The last piece of the night is one that the French composer described as his ​“one and only masterwork – unfortunately not containing any music”: for Boléro, he created a single theme over a simple rhythmic pattern, repeated over and over in different instrumental combinations leading up to a furious, turbulent finale.