The Shenzhen Symphony Orchestra (SSO) is presenting the best of Ravel this Friday collaborating with young violinist Huang Mengla. Conducted by SSO artistic director Lin Daye, the program will include orchestral suites “Daphnis and Chloe,” violin concerto “Tzigane” and “Morning Song of the Jester” from the suite “Mirrors.”

    Often labeled as an impressionist along with his elder contemporary Debussy, Ravel however rejected the tag. Regarded as France’s greatest composer of the 1920s and 30s, Ravel developed a style of great clarity, incorporating elements of baroque, neoclassicism and in his later works, jazz. His best known works include “Daphnis and Chloe,” “Mother Goose,” “Tzigane,” “Bolero” and an orchestral arrangement of Mussorgsky’s “Pictures at an Exhibition.”

    Originally a ballet commissioned by Sergei Diaghilev, “Daphnis and Chloe” tells the love story between the goat herder Daphnis and the shepherdess Chloe. The nearly hourlong piece, one of the composer’s most passionate, is widely regarded as one of Ravel’s best, with extraordinarily lush harmonies typical of the impressionist movement in music. Ravel extracted music from the ballet to make two orchestral suites.

    A rhapsodic composition commissioned by Hungarian violinist Jelly d’Aranyi, great-niece of violin virtuoso Joseph Joachim, “Tzigane” was originally for violin and piano. Reminiscent of Liszt’s “Hungarian Rhapsodies,” the piece clearly demonstrates Ravel’s ability to imitate the late Romantic style of violin showmanship promoted by such composer-virtuosi as Paganini and Sarasate.

    “Morning Song of the Jester” is a technically challenging piece that incorporates Spanish musical themes into its complicated melodies.

    Violinist Huang is no stranger to local audiences. In 2002, he won the first prize at the prestigious Paganini International Violin Competition in Italy, where he also received the Renato De Barbieri Memorial Award for the best interpretation of Paganini’s caprices and the Mario Ruminelli Memorial Award.

    Huang studied at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music and the Royal Academy of Music in London.

    Huang is under contract as a recording artist for Universal Music. He plays a Giovanni Paolo Maggini loaned to him by Mr. & Mrs. Rin.

    Time: 8 p.m., March 10

    Tickets: 50-380 yuan

    Booking: 400-185-8666

    Venue: Shenzhen Concert Hall, intersection of Hongli Road and Yitian Road, Futian District (福田区红荔路和益田路交汇处深圳音乐厅)

    Metro: Line 3 or 4, Children’s Palace Station (少年宫站), Exit D(Debra Li)