naïve news October, 2009
Rinaldo Alessandrini brings Armida to Vivaldi Edition
Rinaldo Alessandrini wears many hats in the upcoming revival of Vivaldi’s opera Armida, and the first is as a musical repairman. The second act of the three-act opera, which debuted in Venice in 1718 and was revived in 1738 (the first and last known performances respectively), has long been missing, but Alessandrini has reconstructed it and his realization of the complete opera will be performed in a concert version at Paris’s Salle Pleyel on October 10. The title role will be performed by the Italian contralto Sara Mingardo, and Alessandrini will conduct his Concerto Italiano, which this season celebrates its 25th anniversary. Alessandrini heads to Rome immediately afterwards to record the work for release in naïve’s celebrated Vivaldi Edition, after which he performs his concert version of Armida at Vienna’s Theater an der Wien (October 22). Alessandrini’s other contributions to the Vivaldi Edition include the recent release of the two Glorias (RV 588 and 589), as well as the Concerti for Strings, the opera L’Olimpiade, the serenata La Senna Festeggiante, the Stabat Mater, and the Gramophone Award-winning Vespers for the Assumption of the Virgin Mary.
David Greilsammer performs and records Nadia Boulanger’s Fantasy
Israeli-born pianist and conductor David Greilsammer will perform Nadia Boulanger’s Fantasy for Piano and Orchestra on November 6 at Salle Pleyel in Paris. This work has not been performed since its premiere in Berlin in 1913 and never recorded to this day; the concert marks its French premiere. Also on the program with the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France under the baton of Steven Sloane is Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue. Greilsammer will record these works (live), along with Tansman’s Piano Concerto No. 2 (studio) – also a world-premiere recording, for future release on Naïve. Nadia Boulanger (1857-1979) was not only the most influential musical pedagogue of the 20th century, teaching many of the leading composers of her time from both Europe and America, but also a composer and conductor. Greilsammer’s performance will mark the 30th anniversary of her death. Alexandre Tansman (1897-1986) was born in Lodz and spent his early years in Poland, but lived in France for most of his life, where he was influenced by such composers as Stravinsky and Ravel. Tansman was a friend and collaborator of both Boulanger and Gershwin, as many personal letters have shown. He fled to the US in 1941 to escape the Nazi regime, but later returned to Paris. Greilsammer is both pianist and conductor on his next recording, due out next month, featuring Mozart’s Piano Concertos Nos. 22 and 24. The pianist, who was recently appointed Music Director of the Geneva Chamber Orchestra, gives a recital in February 2010 at New York’s Lincoln Center.
Lise de La Salle records Chopin with Fabio Luisi and He Conducts her BSO Debut
Just in time for the celebration in March 2010 of the 200th anniversary of Chopin’s birth, the brilliant young French pianist Lise de la Salle has recorded an all-Chopin program for naïve. The album pairs the composer’s Piano Concerto No. 2, recorded in September with the Staatskapelle Dresden and Fabio Luisi, with the composer’s Four Ballades. De La Salle makes her debut with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, once again working with Fabio Luisi, on November 12. This fall, she also returns to Seattle’s Meany Hall for a recital on November 24. The program features two Beethoven sonatas as well as Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet; the latter is available on one of her recordings for naïve. About her performance in Seattle in February 2008, the Seattle Times wrote: “De la Salle, barely 20, proved one of the most prodigious (in both senses of the word) talents the President’s Piano Series has yet presented. Her recital of Beethoven and Schumann underscored the very positive impression already created by de la Salle’s recordings for the Naïve Classics label and made the listener wonder what else this talented, French-born youngster can do at the keyboard.”
Watch for these naïve artists on tour in the U.S.
Oct 9 Sandrine Piau – New York recital debut (Carnegie’s Weill Recital Hall, NYC)
Oct 29 Sergey Khachatryan plays Tchaiokovsky’s Violin Concerto with Philadelphia Orchestra/Jurowski; also Oct 30 and 31 (Philadelphia, PA)
Nov 12 Lise de la Salle plays Saint-Saëns’s Piano Concerto No. 2 with the Boston Symphony Orchestra / Fabio Luisi (Symphony Hall, Boston, MA)
Nov 23 Sonia Wieder-Atherton – launch event for naïve debut album, Chants d’Est ([Le] Poisson Rouge, NYC)
Nov 23 Marie-Nicole Lemieux with San Francisco Symphony (Davies Symphony Hall, San Francisco, CA)
Nov 24 Lise de la Salle recital in Meany Hall (Seattle, WA)
Feb 21 David Greilsammer recital at Lincoln Center (Walter Reade Theater, NYC)
For further information:
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© 21C Media Group, October 2009