STAGIONE SINFONICA 2022
PAGANINI | BRUCKNER
Oksana Lyniv, conductor
Giuseppe Gibboni, violin
Teatro Comunale di Bologna Orchestra
PROGRAM
Niccolò Paganini
Violin Concerto No. 1, Op. 6
Age of composition: 1817-1818
Movements:
- Allegro maestoso – Tempo giusto
- Adagio
- Rondo. Allegro spiritoso – Un poco più presto
In 1818, Rossini’s Ricciardo e Zoraide brought the military band to the stage. His friend Paganini’s Violin Concerto in E flat major op. 6 is slightly earlier (1815-16). It is impossible not to notice a reciprocal influence in a score that smells of bel canto and in which Paganini foresees the possibility of involving the instruments typical of the band. Not only that, the paganinian virtuosity is also expressed through the technique of “forgetting”, already known in the Baroque age: the violin is not tuned in E flat, but a lower semitone, in D, so as to obtain a brighter and more intense effect. It is the triumph of the transcendent, diabolical style of the Genoese violinist, too neglected as a composer after his death.
Anton Bruckner
Symphony No. 4 in E-flat major, WAB 104 “Romantic”
Age of composition: 1887 – 1888
First performance: February 20th 1881, Großer Musikvereinsaal – Vienna
Movements:
- Mosso, non troppo veloce
- Andante quasi Allegretto
- Scherzo. Mosso; Trio.
- Finale. Mosso, ma non troppo veloce
It is difficult to explain the creative overtone of Anton Bruckner, already successful organist and teacher, with a better example of his Fourth Symphony, the only one for which the author has provided or at least approved a subtitle: Romantica. He began composing in 1874; the first performance took place on 5 December 1878 in the Großer Musikvereinsaal in Vienna, but the work continued for ten years. In almost three decades there are, thus, four versions and various intermediate revisions.
While the diatribe between the paladins of Wagner or Brahms rages, and Bruckner is enlisted among the first, the Fourth marks the first step towards his affirmation as composer, a year after the failure of the Third Symphony dedicated to his own Wagner.
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.