Under the baton of Pierre Boulez, the Cleveland Orchestra takes on Ravel’s surreal one-act opera ‘L’Enfant et Les Sortilèges’, as part of a programme celebrating impressionist composers. The opera has a bratty child torment his mother and then get his come-uppance when he’s assaulted by the furniture and even the maths book he’d refused to open to do his homework. From there it turns really weird as he ventures outside and gets similar treatment in the garden, until redeeming himself in the eyes of the animal kingdom by rescuing a squirrel. The programme also features Ravel’s ‘La Pavane pour une infante défunte’ and three works by Debussy.
