Chicago Philharmonic 2021-2022

14 THE CHICAGO PHILHARMONIC SOCIETY | 2021-2022 SEASON Chicago Philharmonic 2021 2022 SEASON OTTORINO RESPIGHI (1879-1936) Trittico botticelliano (1927) Mandolin Concerto was commissioned by e Munich Philharmonic, e Chicago Philharmonic Society, and e Mobile Symphony, with additional funding from e Adele and John Gray Endowment Fund, and from Avi Avital. JENNIFER HIGDON (b. 1962) Mandolin Concerto (2020 “Nothing is more inspiring to a composer than hearing and seeing a truly gi ed musician perform. WhenAvi Avital approachedme about writing a concerto, I enthusiastically accepted for just this reason. His extraordinary skill level, innate musical sense, and passion for the mandolin inspired me to create a concerto with the poetic lyricism and joy that he brings to playing this wonderful instrument. In this 2-movement work, I wanted to give room for the soloist to have melodic dialogues between himself and the orchestra. Because the mandolin is one of the quietest of traditional classical instruments, I felt it would be important to also have the orchestra’s musicians to sometimes play as a chamber group when musically interacting with Avi. is makes for a more colorful conversation between the grace of the mandolin and the full power of a symphony orchestra.” Jennifer Higdon AVI AVITAL e rst mandolin soloist to be nominated for a classical Grammy, Avi Avital has been compared to Andres Segovia for his championship of his instrument and to Jascha Hei tz for his incredible virtuosity. Passionate and “explosively charismatic” (New York Times) in live performance, he is a driving force behind the reinvigoration of the mandolin repertory. More than 100 contemporary compositions have been written for him, including 15 by composers such as Anna Clyne, Avner Dorman, and Giovanni Sollima. An exclusive Deutsche Grammophon artist, he has made ve recordings for the label, most recently solo Bach (2019). He has also recorded for Naxos and SONY Classical. Increasingly in demand as a concerto soloist, Avital has performed with the BBC Symphony Orchestra, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Deutsche Symphonie Orchester Berlin, Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, Tonhalle Zurich, Israel Philharmonic, Dresden Philharmonic, Norwegian Radio, Orpheus, e Knights, Detroit Symphony, Seattle Symphony, and Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal under conductors such as Mehta, Nagano, Vänskä, Sado, Jonathan Cohen, McGegan, Koopman, and Antonini. Born in Be’er Sheva in southern Israel, Avital began learning the mandolin at the age of eight and soon joined the ourishing mandolin youth orchestra founded and directed by his charismatic teacher, Russian-born violinist Simcha Nathanson. He studied at the Jerusalem Music Academy and the Conservatorio Cesare Pollini in Padua with Ugo Orlandi. Winner of Israel’s prestigious Aviv Competition in 2007, Avital is the rst mandolinist in the history of the competition to be so honored. He plays on a mandolin made by Israeli luthier Arik Kerman. In 1927, Respighi and his wife, soprano Elsa Respighi, took a tour of America generously funded by proli c arts patron Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge. (Among Coolidge’s many commissioned works are Copland’s Appalachian Spring and Bartók’s String Quartet No. 5.) Respighi pledged to dedicate his next work to Coolidge, and thus Trittico botticelliano was created, based on three celebrated paintings by 15th century artist Sandro Botticelli. e piece takes inspiration from many di erent places: Respighi’s lifelong love of the Italian Renaissance, tone poems by Richard Strauss, and Ravel’s orchestration of Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition . Respighi unexpectedly wrote the piece for chamber orchestra and not a full symphony, perhaps due to Coolidge’s a nity for chamber music. e rst movement is based on Botticelli’s Primavera (pictured below), which paints a lush scene of classical mythological gures under a canopy of fruits and owers. e music shimmers, with heralding fanfares and rustic dances. L'Adorazione dei Magi shows a Christian image of the holy family raised above adoring kings. Again, the music matches the tone of the painting, evoking shepard’s pipes and Gregorian chant. Perhaps the most famous painting of the three is La Nascita di Venere ( e Birth of Venus), accompanied by undulous waves of music, oating ever closer to shore like Venus herself.