Glass, Mendelssohn, Strauss
Italy has a long story of migration flows. Even today, the news is full of stories of young people going abroad and sad stories of migrants arriving in desperate conditions to the Italian coasts.
What are they looking for?
The reasons are very different. Young Italians are trying to find a first or a better job opportunity, migrants are escaping from wars or extreme poverty conditions.
Believe me when I say that leaving your country, your family, your friends, your roots is not easy.
I was born and raised in Italy, and I have spent all of my life there. Then, one year ago I had to find another job and I came to Luxembourg. I had to restart all over again. And what I noticed is that when you are in another country, no matter how friendly and inclusive it is (and Luxembourg is like this), you desperately look for people from your native country because as human beings we need to share, we need to feel home.
As we all know, Italy has a long and deep cultural tradition, in all form of arts. Music is one of them. The Italian landscapes have been a source of inspiration for artists coming from all over the world. It used to happen in the past and it happens today with actors, musicians, film directors and others moving to Italy.
On Monday, January 15th the Philharmonie Luxembourg hosted the first of a two-night residency of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra (CSO), together with their Italian music director, Maestro Riccardo Muti.
“At home in a city shaped by European immigration like hardly another in the USA, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra presents three works referencing Italy, including a brand-new one by Philip Glass, in the first concert of its European tour.” (quote – Philharmonie Luxembourg event dedicated page: https://www.philharmonie.lu/en/programm/riccardo-muti/5059)
Commissioning and championing new music have always been essential to the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s mission, and the season 2023/2024 was no exception to the rule.
In fact, they commissioned one of the four works to Philpp Glass and the result was The Triumph of the Octagon. In February, Music Director Riccardo Muti and the CSO performed Philip Glass’ Symphony No. 11. It was the first-ever performance by any Chicago ensemble of a symphony by the now 86-year-old composer, who was in attendance. As a follow-up to that milestone, the CSO commissioned this work from the minimalist pioneer. Glass has had a lifelong fascination with mathematics and patterns, and he drew inspiration for this work from the octagon found in the design of Castel del Monte, a 13th-century citadel in Muti’s native Italy.
“In contrast to the monumental style one might have expected, the composer has written an intimate music, entrusted to the silky textures of the strings and the light breath of the woodwinds, a rainbow of arpeggiated consonances, like a gentle, unchanging landscape whose colors and reflections change according to the angle of the gaze – the vibration of a permanence that ends in the irresolution of a dream.” (excerpt translated from the article: “Le maestro Riccardo Muti, ambassadeur suprême de la quintessence italienne, à la Philharmonie de Paris” – Le Monde – January 15th, 2024).
For those who are not familiar with his greatness, Philip Glass has had an extraordinary and unprecedented impact upon the musical and intellectual life of his times, through his operas, his symphonies, his compositions for his own ensemble, and his wide-ranging collaborations with artists ranging from Twyla Tharp to Allen Ginsberg, Leonard Cohen to David Bowie.
Glass is the first composer to win a wide, multi-generational audience in the opera house, the concert hall, the dance world, in film and in popular music – simultaneously.
The performance of The Triumph of the Octagon is followed by Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy, “Symphonie N° 4 ‘Italienische’/’Italienne’ and Richard Strauss, “Aus Italien op. 16”.
The end was magnified by Giuseppe Verdi’s Ouverture: Giovanna d’Arco (Joan of Arc) as encore.
Additional information:
Riccardo Muti
Maestro Riccardo Muti is one of the world’s preeminent conductors and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s distinguished tenth music director from 2010 until 2023. Muti was recently named Music Director Emeritus for Life beginning with the 2023–24 Season.
Chicago Symphony Orchestra (CSO)
Founded in 1891, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra is consistently hailed as one of the greatest orchestras in the world.
The Chicago Symphony Orchestra commands a vast repertoire ranging from Baroque to contemporary. Performing in over 150 concerts each year, the CSO’s talented musicians are the driving force behind the ensemble’s famous sound heard on best-selling recordings as well as in performances in Chicago and on tour throughout the United States and around the globe.
Riccardo Muti & Chicago Symphony Orchestra – Philharmonie – 15.01.2024
Chicago Symphony Orchestra
Riccardo Muti direction
Philip Glass: The Triumph of the Octagon
Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy: Symphonie N° 4 «Italienische»/«Italienne»
Richard Strauss: Aus Italien op.16
Giuseppe Verdi: Bis: Ouverture (Giovanna d’Arco)
