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APRIL 2008 | |
| SHINING A LIGHT ON MASTERWORKS AND PREMIERES | OTHER APRIL FEATURES ON CSO.ORG | ||||
Valery
Gergiev  |
Esa-Pekka
Salonen |
Kent
Nagano |
Golijov
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 Gergiev and the CSO explore the shared heritage between French and Russian masterworks.
Chicago Symphony Orchestra
Valery Gergiev conductor Isabel Leonard soprano Michael Schade tenor Laurent Naouri bass Chicago Symphony Chorus Duain Wolfe chorus director
Berlioz Romeo and Juliet
Chicago Symphony Orchestra
Valery Gergiev conductor Vadim Repin violin
Stravinsky Symphony in
Three Movements
Prokofiev Violin Concerto No. 1 Debussy Prelude to The Afternoon of a Faun Stravinsky The Firebird 
Valery Gergiev, principal conductor of
the London Symphony Orchestra, returns
to Chicago for two weeks as part of the CSO's
yearlong journey exploring the music of
France and Russia. In his first program,
Maestro Gergiev leads the CSO and the
Chicago Symphony Chorus in Berlioz's
sumptuous Romeo and Juliet.
The work's beginning can be traced to a postconcert
encounter between the composer and
Niccolò Paganini, the great violin virtuoso.
So overwhelmed by a performance of Berlioz's
works, the ailing Paganini knelt before the
composer in gratitude, kissed his hand, and
days later sent a gift of 20,000 francs with the
message: "Beethoven is dead, and Berlioz alone
can revive him."
With this gift, Berlioz paid off his debts and set
out to write a masterpiece on a grand scale, full
of passion, drama and vast invention. The result
was this massive choral symphony, dedicated
to Paganini, and inspired by, and written in
homage to, the genius of Shakespeare and
Beethoven. At the sold-out premiere of Romeo
and Juliet, the city's intelligentsia crowded into
the Paris Conservatory to hear more than 200
musicians perform Berlioz's emotional work,
which its generous benefactor did not live long enough to hear.
In the second program of his residency,
Maestro Gergiev presents wartime
impressions reflected through Stravinsky's
Symphony in Three Movements, a voluptuous
Debussy soundscape, featuring one of the most
celebrated and ravishing flute solos in orchestral
literature, and a Russian fairy tale recounted
through Stravinsky's Firebird.
In Prokofiev's Violin Concerto No. 1, the CSO
collaborates with soloist Vadim Repin, who
looks forward to these performances, and to
making music with one of the greatest orchestras
on this planet, meeting my many friends, and
enjoying one of my favorite American cities.
Like all great violin concerti, [in the Prokofiev
First] there are challenges in terms of style,
fantasy, and technical problems. And all the while
you have to try to make Prokofiev's ideas shine
through. Please dream! It's a uniquely picturesque
concerto. As in a fairy tale, you encounter
extraordinary images along the way.
— Vadim Repin
CSO Thursday series
concerts are sponsored
by Fidelity Investments.
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