The “Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune” is arguably Debussy’s most famous work. Inspired by the French poet Stéphane Mallarmé’s eclogue “L’après-midi d’un faune,” it evokes a sun-drenched landscape inhabited by nymphs and a sensuous faun. His longing is expressed in the languid flute melody that opens the work. “I truly admire this orchestra and hope it becomes better known abroad,” confided Leonard Bernstein in 1989 to the audience in Rome’s Auditorio Pio before his concert of works by Claude Debussy (1862-1918) with the prestigious “Orchestra dell’Accademia di Santa Cecilia.” In the words of Rome’s “Il Giornale,” Bernstein served up a “Debussy that is neither ethereal nor shapeless, but uncommonly vital, caught in the full light of noon.”
Debussy, La mer
“The sea has been very good to me”, wrote Debussy to his publisher shortly before he finished “La Mer”. “She has shown me all her moods.” Debussy began his three symphonic sketches in 1903. The work was premiered in Paris on 15 October 1905. The first piece, “From Dawn Until Noon on the Sea”, begins with low, sustained strings which give an impression of the immense power of the ocean. In the second piece, “The Play of the Waves”, the ocean whips itself into a fury, with rainbow colorings appearing and vanishing in fountains of spray. The “Dialogue of the Wind and the Sea” opens on a deep, threatening note, as if announcing a coming storm. After a siren-like call, the chorale heard in the first movement returns in an exultant climax. “I truly admire this orchestra and hope it becomes better known abroad,” confided Leonard Bernstein in 1989 to the audience in Rome’s Auditorio Pio before his concert of works by Claude Debussy (1862-1918) with the prestigious “Orchestra dell’Accademia di Santa Cecilia.” In the words of Rome’s “Il Giornale,” Bernstein served up a “Debussy that is neither ethereal nor shapeless, but uncommonly vital, caught in the full light of noon.”
Leonard Bernstein conducts Debussy
With his legendary ability to conjure up magical sonorities, Leonard Bernstein offers his definitive reading of Debussy´s impressionistic sound worlds. His series of concerts with Accademia di Santa Cecilia in Rome was recorded in 1989, the year before his death, and featured three of the French composer´s masterpieces. Images, La Mer and Prélude à l´après-midi d´un faune, in a feast of Mediterranean sesuality.
“Bernstein´s Debussy is neither ethereal nor gelatinous, but uncommonly vital, caught in the full light of the midday sun” (Il Giornale, Rome).
“An unprecedented triumph” (La Stampa, Turin).
Debussy, Images (Rondo, Gigue, Ibéria)
“I truly admire this orchestra and hope it becomes better known abroad,” confided Leonard Bernstein in 1989 to the audience in Rome’s Auditorio Pio before his concert of works by Claude Debussy (1862-1918) with the prestigious “Orchestra dell’Accademia di Santa Cecilia.” In the words of Rome’s “Il Giornale,” Bernstein served up a “Debussy that is neither ethereal nor shapeless, but uncommonly vital, caught in the full light of noon.” The concert begins with “Images,” Debussy’s last orchestral work and one of his most colorful scores. It consists of three separate pieces: the rather doleful “Gigues,” the “Rondes de printemps,” which incorporates a French nursery tune, and “Ibéria,” a vibrant homage to Spain, complete with tambourines and castanets.
Rossini, Stabat Mater
Four superb soloists – Anna Netrebko, Marianna Pizzolato, Matthew Polenzani and Ildebrando d’Arcangelo – transform Rossini’s ‘Stabat mater’ into a feast of ‘italianità’, uniting their voices in a warm, mellow whole. After several successful performances of this rarely played sacred work in various cities, the Chorus and Orchestra of the Accademia di Santa Cecilia of Rome wind up their Rossini project with a performance at the Salzburg Festival, their first-ever guest appearance there. Anna Netrebko, whose aria ‘Inflammatus’ was for many the concert’s ‘unspoken high point’ (Die Presse), succeeded in ‘blending her voice beautifully into the soloist ensemble – one voice among equals in an excellent, well-balanced quartet’ (Salzburger Nachrichten).