Ravinia 2024 Issue 2

Reconciling Lenau’s introspective verses with the clearly delineated, extroverted personalities of Strauss’s music, though, has resulted in nu- merous and extremely varied interpretations. The opening musical segment explodes with heroic energy, which many have identified with the impulsive Don Juan. This material returns several times like an orchestral refrain. Between these valiant episodes, Strauss interjected tender interludes. Some authors have suggested these lyrical segments represent three of the Don’s fe- male conquests. The tone poem concludes with a coda in which quiet chords descend slowly, ending with a series of pizzicatos. Many inter- preters, disregarding the emotional denoue- ment in the final Lenau quotation, imagine Don Juan’s suicide-death in the duel with Don Pedro. Strauss, Lenau, and other artists who have con- fronted the highly complex figure of Don Juan might actually have relished these ambiguities. MAURICE RAVEL (1875–1937) Daphnis et Chloé Suite No. 2 Scored for two flutes, alto flute, and piccolo, two oboes and English horn, two B-flat clarinets, one E-flat clarinet, and one bass clarinet, three bassoons and contrabassoon, four horns, four trumpets, three trombones, tuba, timpani, bass drum, cymbals, triangle, snare drum, tambourine, side drum, castanets, celesta, glockenspiel, two harps, and strings Longus, a third-century Greek writer, com- posed the epic pastoral romance Daphnis and Chloe that provided the scenario for Ravel’s bal- let. Serge Diaghilev commissioned this score for his Ballets Russes in 1910. From the outset, dif- ferences in artistic vision separated Ravel from the choreographer Michel Fokine and stage designer Léon Bakst. The composer conceived the ballet from an idealized French perspective, “a vast musical fresco, less thoughtful of archa- ism than of fidelity to the Greece of my dreams, which identifies quite willingly with that imag- ined and depicted by late-18th-century French artists.” His Russian collaborators, on the other hand, envisioned a colorful, stylized “restoration of ancient music,” as Fokine described it. This dissention, which the choreographer later at- tempted to downplay, almost derailed the proj- ect. A cautious and typically slow worker, Ravel could not complete the musical score in time for the 1911 season. Diaghilev contemplated aban- doning the ballet, but eventually postponed the production until 1912. Ravel considered the one-act ballet music—his most ambitious orchestral score, praised by Igor Stravinsky as “one of the most beautiful prod- ucts in all of French music”—to be a “choreo- graphic symphony in three parts.” Though not a symphony in any traditional sense, this compo- sition adopts important structural principles from that form. “The work is constructed sym- phonically according to a strict tonal plan,” wrote Ravel, “by means of a small number of motifs, whose development assures the sym- phonic homogeneity of the work.” In some re- spects, this careful musical design later assisted the creation of his two orchestral suites: Suite No. 1 extends from midway through the “first part” to the center of the “second part”; Suite No. 2 encompasses the entire “third part.” The story portrays the love between Daphnis—a Sicilian shepherd, taught as a boy to play the flute by the god Pan, who is considered the in- ventor of bucolic poetry—and the shepherdess Chloe. Pirates abduct Chloe, leaving her be- trothed utterly distraught and confused. Chloe summons Pan to her rescue, and the shep- herd-god reunites the young lovers. Ravel’s Suite No. 2 depicts their joyful reunion. Lever du jour (Daybreak) finds Daphnis sleeping in the grotto of the nymphs, lulled into slumber by birds and other sounds of nature. He awakens and desper- ately searches for Chloe, who soon appears sur- rounded by shepherdesses. They embrace pas- sionately. Pan has rescued her in remembrance of his love for the nymph Syrinx. In Pantomime , Daphnis and Chloe reenact the story of Pan and Syrinx. The nymph spurns Pan and disappears into the reeds. Pan fashions a reed pipe and plays a melancholy tune. Syrinx returns, and they swear mutual and eternal love. Bacchantes enter with tambourines, and the joyous revelry begins. Danse générale (General Dance) is an exhilarating wedding celebration in honor of Daphnis and Chloe. –Program notes © 2024 Todd E. Sullivan Maurice Ravel (1925) HAYATO SUMINO Hayato Sumino began his journey as a profes- sional musician as the grand prize winner of the 2018 PTNA Piano Competition; he cemented his international reach as a semifinalist at the 2021 International Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw. In his rapidly growing career, Sumi- no has been featured as a soloist with numerous major orchestras, including the Symphoniker Hamburg, NHK Symphony Orchestra, Yomi- uri Nippon Symphony Orchestra, Tokyo and Japan Philharmonic Orchestras, Boston Pops Orchestra, and the Polish and Bulgarian Na- tional Radio Symphony Orchestras. Sumino has presented the Japanese premieres of two works: Thomas Adés’s Concerto for Piano and Orches- tra in 2022 and Nikolai Kapustin’s Concerto for Violin, Piano, and String Orchestra in 2023. As he continues to establish a strong presence as a classical pianist, including as an Apple Music Classical Artist Ambassador and a Sony Clas- sical exclusive artist beginning this year, he also draws audiences with his thoughtful explora- tion of music that transcends genre boundaries. Sumino has also been a Steinway Artist and a CASIO electronic musical instrument ambassa- dor since 2021. Across 2024, Sumino has a sig- nificant range of engagements, from a 24-recital tour of Japan to performing Bryce Dessner’s Concerto for Two Pianos with the Yomiuri Nip- pon Symphony Orchestra alongside Francesco Tristano and a collaboration with the New Japan Philharmonic, as well as debuts at the Rhein- gau Musik Festival and Gstaad Menuhin Festi- val. Beyond performing in Japan and interna- tionally, Sumino also composes, arranges, and streams his own music on YouTube under the alias “Cateen” with more than 1.3 million sub- scribers. He completed a Master of Engineering degree at University of Tokyo in March 2020, receiving the President’s Award in recognition of his musical and academic achievements. During that period, he conducted research on music information processing at IRCAM for six months. In 2023, Sumino relocated to New York and made his North American debut with the Boston Pops Orchestra. He recorded Chopin’s Piano Concerto No. 1 with Marin Alsop and the Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra in 2022. Hayato Sumino is making his Ravinia and Chicago Symphony Orchestra debuts. MARIN ALSOP, Ravinia Chief Conductor For Marin Alsop’s biography, see page 72. RAVINIA.ORG  • RAVINIAMAGAZINE 91 RYUYAAMAO(SUMINO)