2024 SYMPHONIC SEASON OF THE TEATRO LIRICO GIUSEPPE VERDI DI TRIESTE
From 27 September to 22 December 2024
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5th Concert
Saturday 23 November 2024 6:00 p.m.
Conductor ENRICO CALESSO
Oboe FRANÇOIS LELEUX
PROGRAMME
RICHARD STRAUSS
Concerto in D major for oboe and small orchestra
ANTON BRUCKNER
Symphony No. 7 in E major
Orchestra by Fondazione Teatro Lirico Giuseppe Verdi di Trieste
An extremely virtuous programme for both the soloist and the orchestra, this exploration of the boundary between the 19th and 20th centuries in Central European culture marks Enrico Calesso’s comeback to great symphonic music, following the success of La Traviata that opened the current opera season. Following his baton is Frenchman Francois Leleux: a world-renowned oboist and among the most sought-after soloists and chamber musicians at an international level, seldom seen in Italy.
The performance opens with one of the most famous pieces for oboe, composed by an old and sick Richard Strauss in 1945, at the request of John de Lancy, a young oboist of the Philadelphia Orchestra and, at the time, a U.S. Army soldier stationed in Europe. In the small orchestra, as per Strauss’s wish, the oboe stands out for its brilliant, virtuous score exploring all the possible nuances of this instrument and creating one of the most complex pieces that only great soloists are confident enough to perform. And this is precisely what Francois Leleux is – one of the greatest oboists of his generation as well as a sophisticated chamber musician. Ever since its debut at the Tonhalle in Zurich, the concerto has always been a great success – also with the public – thanks to its gentle Mozartian spirit that stands out from the very first movement and balances the piece’s undeniable technical difficulties with an effortless grace that never ceases to fascinate.
A very different atmosphere, but still consistent with Strauss’s concerto and equally complex for the whole orchestra, is the one marking Symphony No. 7 in E major by Bruckner. The complexity of the composer’s post-Wagnerian constructions is such that Enrico Calesso, our Designated Permanent Music Director, chose to wait until he reached the age of forty – and the necessary maturity – before adding it to his own portfolio. A few months after the 200th anniversary of Anton Bruckner’s birth, the Verdi orchestra will be performing the symphony dedicated to Ludwig II of Bavaria, which Luchino Visconti used as soundtrack for his Senso. Not a coincidence, but rather a sign of the overexcited, feverish atmosphere and aching sensuality – with sudden rhythmic shifts – that permeated this monumental symphony. Its success consecrated the Austrian Composer as the new idol of Wagnerians and left the most conservative critics disoriented.
Started in 1881 and completed in 1883, the symphony was born under the omen of Wagner’s imminent death, which came precisely during the composition of the central Adagio. The Adagio thus became a real lamentation of the great Maestro, as witnessed by the presence of Wagner tubas, which Bruckner strongly insisted upon.
The Symphony No. 7 in E major is therefore a true test for any orchestra and conductor. Bruckner himself was fully aware of this, so much so that until the very end he harboured doubts about its executability and attended the last two rehearsals before the debut, which had to be postponed several times also due to the complexity of the score.