Ravinia 2022, Issue 4

CHARLES BEST WAYNE MARSHALL, conductor, piano A celebrated interpreter of Gershwin, Ber- nstein, and other 20th-century compos- ers, British conductor, organist, and pianist Wayne Marshall recently served as chief conductor of the WDR Funkhaus Orchestra in Cologne and principal guest conductor of the Symphony Orchestra of Milan. Having studied variously at London’s Royal College of Music and Vienna’s University of Music, in 2004 Marshall received an honorary doc- torate from Bournemouth University and was named a fellow of the Royal College of Music in 2010. The government of Barbados honored him with its Golden Jubilee Award in 2016, and in 2021 he was named to the Order of the British Empire for his services to music. In the past year, Marshall made his conducting debuts with the Munich and Osaka Philharmonics; returned to the Paris and Tonkunstler Orchestras, Czech Philhar- monic, and Seattle, Bern, and Lichtenstein Symphony Orchestras; and led concert per- formances of Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess in Switzerland, having recently conducted a new production of the opera at the Theater an der Wien. In addition to numerous presentations of Porgy and Bess with such companies as Paris’s Opéra Comique, Washington National Opera, and Dallas Opera, Marshall’s theater conducting credits include Bernstein’s Candi- de and Weill’s Mahagonny at the Berlin State Opera, Harbison’s The Great Gatsby at Dres- den’s Semperoper, and Heggie’s Dead Man Walking at Montreal Opera. Throughout 2018 he played a major role in global Bernstein centenary celebrations, leading Mass with the Paris Orchestra, the Kaddish Symphony with the Toulouse National Orchestra, and the White House Cantata with the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic, along with concerts by the Philharmonia Zurich, Munich Radio Or- chestra, and Schleswig-Holstein Festival. As an organ recitalist, Marshall helped inaugu- rate the instrument at Walt Disney Concert Hall in 2004, and his recent and future per- formances include Royal Albert Hall, Phil- adelphia’s Kimmel Center, Hamburg’s Elb- philharmonie, and Paris’s Philharmonie. His discography spans all three of his disciplines, most recently including Dupré’s Passion Sym- phony for organ, Gershwin orchestral works, and piano arrangements of Rutter choral works. Wayne Marshall is making his Ravinia and Chicago Symphony Orchestra debuts. MARTIN THEATRE 7:30 PM THURSDAY, AUGUST 4, 2022 ALEXANDER MALOFEEV, piano † RACHMANINOFF Études-tableaux , op. 33 No. 1. Allegro non troppo in F minor * No. 2. Allegro in C major No. 3. Grave in C minor * No. 4. Moderato in D minor * No. 5. Non allegro—Presto in E-flat minor No. 6. Allegro con fuoco in E-flat major No. 7. Moderato in G minor * No. 8. Grave in C-sharp minor MEDTNER Piano Sonata No. 5 Tenebroso, sempre affrettando—Allegro assai— Interludium: Andante lugubre—Allegro assai –Intermission– SCRIABIN Five Preludes, op. 16 No. 1. Andante in B major No. 2. Allegro in G-sharp minor No. 3. Andante cantabile in G-flat major No. 4. Lento in E-flat minor No. 5. Allegretto in F-sharp minor SCRIABIN Two Impromptus, op. 12 * No. 1. Presto in F-sharp major No. 2. Andante cantabile in B-flat minor PROKOFIEV Piano Sonata No. 7 Allegro inquieto Andante caloroso Precipitato † Ravinia debut * First performance at Ravinia room. Porgy seizes Crown with his powerful hands and strangles him. While Porgy is de- tained by the police, Sportin’ Life takes Bess under the influence of “happy dust” to New York. A free man again, Porgy mounts his goat cart to follow Bess on the long road north. Legendary Broadway, Hollywood, and radio orchestrator Robert Russell Bennett created Porgy and Bess: A Symphonic Picture in 1942 on a commission by Fritz Reiner and the Pitts- burgh Symphony Orchestra. Bennett envelops the opera’s important themes (not in their running order) with his inimitable orchestral sumptuousness. The excerpts include “Scene in Catfish Row,” Opening Act III, Opening Act I, “Summertime,” “I Got Plenty o’ Nothin’,” Storm Music, “Bess, You Is My Woman Now,” The Picnic Party, “There’s a Steamboat Leavin’ for New York,” “It Ain’t Necessarily So,” and Finale (“Oh, Lawd, I’m on My Way”). In a brief program note for the premiere, Ben- nett described the work’s evolution: “[Dr.] Reiner selected the portions of the opera that he wanted to play and also set the sequence of the excerpts. He expressed his ideas as to in- strumentation, wishing to make generous use of saxophones and banjo, and to dispense with Gershwin’s pet instrument, the piano. “I proceeded not only to follow Dr. Reiner’s ideas faithfully, but also to remain complete- ly loyal to George’s harmonic and orchestral intentions. In other words, although carrying out Reiner’s approach, I have been careful to do what I knew—after many years of associa- tion with Gershwin—he, Gershwin, would like as a symphonic version of his music.”The Pitts- burgh Symphony Orchestra under Fritz Rein- er gave the first performance in Pittsburgh’s Syria Mosque on February 5 and 7, 1943. –Program notes © 2022 Todd E. Sullivan Robert Russell Bennett RAVINIA MAGAZINE • AUGUST 1 – AUGUST 14, 2022 26 CHARLES BEST