Jazz-infused Ballet | Milhaud | La création du monde ("The Creation of the World")

Darius Milhaud's La création du monde is a fun, jazzy ballet conducted by Louis Langrée featuring members of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and prominent alto saxophone.
The French composer Milhaud already had a fascination for jazz before he traveled to New York City in 1922, where he immersed himself in many jazz genres and styles. Shortly after, in 1923, Milhaud composed La création du monde (“The Creation of the World”) for the Ballet suédois, a Swedish dance company based in Paris. The piece is based on a scenario by the Swiss poet and novelist Blaise Cendrars on an African creation myth. Darius Milhaud adapted the instrumentation for his new work from Maceo Pinkard’s show Liza, of which Milhaud was fond.

[@TheMikester307]

Wonderful!!!

[@thelookingcat]

Classical Saxophone in a symphony? My dreams are coming true! The sound is so pretty! Is that James Bunte by any chance?

[@CincySymphony]

It is! It was a pleasure to have him join us for this piece!

[@thelookingcat]

@@CincySymphony And it is a pleasure to listen to him. I'm very grateful to be able to hear collaborations between my favorite orchestra and my favorite classical saxophonist!

[@Calinoma]

Go listen to Rachmaninoff's Symphonic Dances, 1st movement!

[@thelookingcat]

@@Calinoma Sure thing! Thanks for the recommendation!

[@TheMikester307]

@@thelookingcat There are some saxes in Vaughn Williams' "London Symphony" too.