Symphonie gaspésienne / Suites de danses / Danses de Galánta

Description

After a trip to Gaspé in 1944, Claude Champagne composed Gaspésia, a "symphonic image" that, revised the following year, became the Gaspesian Symphony. This work holds an important place in the history of Canadian music, as it is one of the first of its kind. The Suite de danses, Sz. 77 (Táncszvit) was composed and premiered in 1923 by Bartók on the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of Budapest, born from the union of the two cities of Buda and Pest and the Óbuda district. To celebrate the eightieth anniversary of the Budapest Philharmonic Society in 1933, Kodály composed the Danses de Galánta (Galántai táncok). These dances are linked to the composer’s childhood memories and the gypsy music ensembles he had heard in Galánta. Composed in 1966 for the Charlottetown Festival (Prince Edward Island), Célébration by André Prévost was premiered the same year by the Halifax Symphony Orchestra. The work is part of the many festivities surrounding the centenary of Canadian Confederation, celebrated in 1967.