Jacques Ibert studied at the Paris Conservatory in the years before World War I, in a cohort that also included Honegger and Milhaud, two future members of the group of young French upstarts that a critic dubbed “les Six.” Ibert was away from Paris in 1920 when “les Six” were anointed, having won the prestigious Rome Prize on his first try in 1919, but his breezy style and willingness to buck conventions were well aligned with that trendsetting clique.

One of Ibert’s breakout pieces was Escales (Ports of Call), inspired by the Mediterranean cruise he and his new bride took as their honeymoon before they settled in Rome for his residency. One requirement of the Rome Prize was sending back work samples, and this orchestral triptych, drafted between 1920 and 1922, served that purpose. In the first movement, Rome – Palermo, “the sounds of a tarantella occasionally appear against the heavy swells of the sea,” Ibert wrote, referring to an energetic Italian folk dance. The middle movement depicts the port of Tunis as well as an inland city in Tunisia, Nefta, where Ibert heard a melody that inspired the sinuous oboe theme. The finale, Valencia, uses castanets and folk-like tunes to pay homage to that vibrant Spanish port.

– © 2023 Aaron Grad

Originally performed September 16, 2023.