104 / 116
7:30 PM SATURDAY, AUGUST 18, 2018
PAVILION
CELEBRATING LEONARD BERNSTEIN AT 100
CHICAGO SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
MARIN ALSOP,
conductor
IGOR LEVIT,
piano
BERNSTEIN
Slava!
(A Political Overture)
**
RAVEL
Piano Concerto
Allegramente
Adagio assai
Presto
Igor Levit
–
–
SHOSTAKOVICH
Symphony No.
Moderato
Allegretto
Largo
Allegro non troppo
**
First performance at Ravinia and by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra
Ravinia expresses its appreciation for the generous support of
Season Sponsor the
Ravinia Women’s Board
.
Igor Levit’s appearance is made possible in part by the
Nancy and George Goldstein Memorial Guest Artist Fund
.
LEONARD BERNSTEIN (1918–90)
Slava!
(A Political Overture)
Scored for two utes and piccolo, two oboes and
English horn, two clarinets, E- at clarinet, and
bass clarinet, soprano saxophone, two bassoons
and contrabassoon, four horns, three trumpets,
three trombones, tuba, timpani, snare drum, tenor
drum, bass drum, chimes, crash cymbals, suspended
cymbals, glockenspiel, ratchet, slide whistle, steel
pipe, tambourine, triangle, vibraphone, xylophone,
marimba, whip, wood block, electric guitar, piano,
pre-recorded tape, and strings
“Slava” translates as “glory” or “fame” in many
Slavic languages, as in the Russian liturgical
phrase “Slava v vyshnikh Bogu” (“Glory to God
in the highest”) or the name of the award-win-
ning
dramatic lm Слáва (
Slava
, in trans-
literation; known as
Glory
in the West), Bulgar-
ia’s nominee for Best Foreign Language Film at
the th Academy Awards last March. “Sława”
means “fame” and is a root component of many
Polish given names, such as Mirosław (peace
fame) and Bogusław (god fame). In Serbia, one
of the most important ritual festivals for Ortho-
dox Christians is the annual veneration of the
family patron saint, a celebration called “slava”
that encompasses a religious service with Eu-
charist, the blessing of the ritual bread and dish
of boiled wheat (“slavski kolač” and “slavsko
žito
”), and the lighting of the slava candle.
e common diminutive form of the Russian
name Mstislav also is “Slava,” the nickname by
which Russian cellist and conductor Mstislav
Rostropovich was known. One of the preemi-
nent and internationally visible musicians in the
USSR, Rostropovich ran afoul of government
o cials when he wrote an open letter in
Prav-
da
and three Soviet newspapers on October ,
—reprinted in English in the
New York
Times
on November )—in which he expressed
support for the dissident Soviet writer Alexander
Solzhenitsyn (who had been living part-time in
his dacha outside Moscow) and challenged the
growing censorship of Soviet artists, including
his wife, the soprano Galina Vishnevskaya.
Mstislav Rostropovich
RAVINIA MAGAZINE | AUGUST 13 – AUGUST 19, 2018
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