STAGIONE SINFONICA 2022

RAVEL | SAINT-SAËNS | ČAIJKOVSKIJ

Martijn Dendievel, conductor

Steven Isserlis, cello

Teatro Comunale di Bologna Orchestra

6 Mar | H 4.00pm

Auditorium Manzoni

EVENT CONCLUDED

MAIN PARTNER

Martijn Dendievel

Steven Isserlis

PROGRAM

Maurice Ravel

Ma Mère l’Oye 

Age of composition: 1908
First performance: 1 Apr 1910
Movements: 

  1. Pavane de la Belle au bois dormant
  2. Petit pouce
  3. Laideronnette, impératrice des pagodes
  4. Les Entretiens de la Belle et la Bête
  5. Le Jardin féerique

I racconti di mamma Oca is a collection of fairy tales by Charles Perrault from which, in 1908, Ravel draws the title for a series of five pieces for piano with four hands, although, after the first two tracks (from La bella addormentata nel bosco and Pollicino)Take inspiration from the Green Serpentine of Madame d’Aulnoy, the Beauty and the Beast of Madame de Beaumont and a generic fairy garden. The five pieces, of great suggestion and refinement in simplicity, were transcribed by the author for orchestra in 1911 for a ballet with some additions, later expunged in the suite normally performed in concert. In this orchestration, Ravel gives further proof of his mastery of colors, as well as his interest in the world of fairy tales and childhood.

Camille Saint-Saëns

Concerto for cello and orchestra No. 1 in A minor, op. 33

Age of composition: Novembre 1872
Firs performance: 19 Jan 1873, Salle de Concert du Conservatoire Nationale de Musique, Paris
Movements: 

  1. Allegro non troppo
  2. Allegretto con moto
  3. Un peu moins vite

An erudite musician, very attentive to the trends of his time, the 38-year-old Camille Saint Saëns composed his first Concerto for cello and orchestra in 1873, combining admiration for Liszt, Schumann’s model and respect for classical forms. The score, in fact, is divided into the canonical three movements (Allegro non troppo, Allegretto con moto, Tempo I – Un peu moins vite), but without interruption, following the path already traced by Schumann, reference point for cello concerts throughout the nineteenth century. Everything is managed and developed by Saint Saëns with a great sense of balance, both in the alternation between soloist and orchestra, in the richness of the themes, and in the overall cyclical structure.

Pëtr Il'ič Čajkovskij

Symphony No. 1 in G minor, op.13 “Winter Dreams“

Age of composition: 1874
First esecution: 15 febbraio 1868, Società Musicale Russa di Mosca
Movements: 

  1. Sogni di un viaggio d’inverno. Allegro tranquillo
  2. Terra desolata, terra nebbiosa. Adagio cantabile, ma non tanto
  3. Scherzo. Allegro scherzando giocoso
  4. Finale. Andante lugubre – Allegro moderato – Allegro maestoso

1866: Freshly graduated from the Saint Petersburg Conservatory and just appointed professor of harmony in that of Moscow, the twenty-six-year-old Tchaikovsky is about to write his first symphony. A troubled debut, more in the gestation – made of doubts, insecurities, criticisms, previews not always happy, successive revisions – than in the real debut, happened with good success on February 3, 1868, under the direction of the dedicatee Nikolaj Rubinstein, teacher of Tchaikovsky as the brother Anton. On the wave of Western romanticism, the author gives a title to the Symphony, Winter Dreams, and to the first two movements (Dreams of a Winter Journey and Wasteland) in which his melancholy sensibility is already evident.

TEATRO COMUNALE DI BOLOGNA ORCHESTRA

With its long-standing tradition, the Orchestra of the Teatro Comunale di Bologna has been led by Musical Directors like Sergiu Celibidache,Zoltán Peskó, Vladimir Delman, Riccardo Chailly, Daniele Gatti, Michele Mariotti. Some of the conductors who have worked with the ensemble include Gary Bertini, Myung-Whun Chung, James Conlon, Pinchas Steinberg, Valery Gergiev, Eliau Inbal, Vladimir Jurowskij, Daniel Oren, Peter Maag, Neville Marriner, Kurt Masur, Riccardo Muti, Mstislav Rostropovič, Esa Pekka Salonen, Georg Solti, Christian Thielemann, Charles Dutoit, Georges Prêtre. The Orchestra of the Teatro Comunale is often invited abroad (The Netherlands, Romania, Spain, France, and Switzerland) and has played in many prestigious festivals (Amsterdam 1987, Parma 1990, Wiesbaden 1994, Santander 2004 and 2008, Aix en Provence 2005, Savonlinna 2006, Macao 2013, Muscat 2015, Guanajuato in Mexico 2017, Paris 2018). A special connection with Japan has brought to several tours, including the tour in June 2019 in Osaka, Tokyo, Yokohama, Fukuoka, with performances of Rigoletto and of Il Barbiere di Siviglia.

Its numerous recordings include La Favoriteconducted by Richard Bonynge; Oberto Conte di San Bonifacio conducted by Zoltán Peskó, Il Barbiere di Siviglia conducted by Giuseppe Patané, La Fille du Régiment conducted by Bruno Campanella, Le Maschere and La Bohème conducted by Gianluigi Gelmetti, La Scala di Seta conducted by Gabriele Ferro, Macbeth, Manon Lescaut, Rigoletto, La Cenerentola, Messa Solenne, and the video production of Vespri siciliani and Giovanna d’Arco and Werther conducted by Riccardo Chailly, Armide conducted by Daniele Gatti, Simon Boccanegra and Attila conducted by Michele Mariotti.

The Orchestra, conducted by Mariotti, has recorded a CD under the label Decca with sacred arias sung by Juan Diego Flórez, and an album under Sony with Romantic arias sung by Nino Machaidze; under Deutsche Grammophon Le Comte Ory with Flórez, and La Nuit de Mai – a selection or arias and songs by Leoncavallo – with Placido Domingo; and under the label PENTATONE it released a CD containing overtures by Rossini, to celebrate 150 years since the death of the composer. In April 2021 the Orchestra recorded under Deutsche Grammophon an album coming out soon with the tenor Benjamin Bernheim and Frédéric Chaslin on the podium.

In March 2013 the artistic ensembles of the Teatro Comunale di Bologna, led by Mariotti, opened the IV International Festival Mstislav Rostropovich in Moscow, where they performed Verdi’s Messa da Requiem. In October 2015, again with Mariotti on the podium, they opened the Lingotto Music Festival at the Auditorium Giovanni Agnelli in Turin, where they performed Stabat Mater by Rossini, and his Overture and Ballet Music from Guillaume Tell. The Teatro Comunale’s 2018 production of La Bohème conducted by Mariotti and staged by Graham Vick received the Abbiati Award as best show.

After working with the Rossini Opera Festival for nearly thirty years (from 1988 to 2016), the year 2017 brought new collaborations between the Teatro Comunale di Bologna and the Verdi Festival in Parma, where the Orchestra performed, among other productions, the Stiffelio directed by Graham Vick. Staged at the Teatro Farnese, the show was highly appreciated by audience and critics alike and was granted the Special Prize at the 37thedition of the “Franco Abbiati” Critics award. The Orchestra’s engagements with the Verdi Festival in 2019 included Luisa Miller at the Chiesa di San Francesco del Prato in Parma, and Aida at the Teatro Verdi in Busseto, and in 2020 a symphonic concert at the Parco Ducale in Parma conducted by Valery Gergiev.
Since January 2022, the Musical Director of the Teatro Comunale di Bologna has been Oksana Lyniv.