LEONORA ARMELLINI plays BEETHOVEN
CHIGIANA DIGITAL CONCERTS ON DEMAND
The great collection of the Accademia Chigiana made available for subscribers, supporters, teachers and students.
DANIELE RUSTIONI CONDUCTS THE ORCHESTRA GIOVANILE ITALIANA
LEONORA ARMELLINI, SOLOIST
CONCERT
LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN
Bonn 1770 – Vienna 1827
CONCERTO n. 1 in C major op. 15
Allegro con brio
Largo
Rondò. Allegro scherzando
Interpreters
LEONORA ARMELLINI piano
DANIELE RUSTIONI conductor
Orchestra Giovanile Italiana
Micat in Vertice 2019
Live recording Teatro dei Rozzi, Siena
14 December 2019.
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Composed between 1795 and 1801, the concerto for piano and orchestra n. 1 was not really Beethoven’s first piano concerto. The Concerto in C major, more impressive and symphonic than the second in B flat major, was more likely his third concerto for piano and orchestra. This work testifies to the assimilation in compositional styles to both of the key role models of the time, Haydn and Mozart; but at the same time, it reveals his personal creative fingerprint, especially due to choices he made on the harmonic level. The first movement, Allegro con brio, was conceived according to the rules of the sonata form. This is evident to the listener due to the alternation of two themes with contrasting characteristics that are clearly exposed in an initial phase, and subsequently developed and reworked, before being resumed and re-proposed to the listener. The author offers up to three potential final cadences to the performer, varied in breadth and difficulty, to which, over time, some great performers have added or replaced with their own versions. The second movement is shorter than the first and leaves ample space for the clarinets and violins in its thematic exhibition. Built on the key of A minor, related to the C major system, the Largo is structured according to a simple three-part A-B-A form. The third and last movement of the concert, which is even shorter than the second, combines the architecture of the sonata with that of the rondo, putting forth somewhat violent contrasts, both in form (between interludes and refrain), and in timbre (between piano and orchestra), contributing to a liveliness that characterizes Beethoven’s works of this period.
“Chigimola Musica 2019” is a special project promoted by the Accademia Musicale Chigiana in Siena and the International Academy “Incontri con il Maestro” in Imola, two renowned Italian institutions on a national and international level.
The project, proposed at the end 2019, proved to be a tool for dialogue, cultural comparison and exchange of knowledge between young talents from different places, contexts and musical cultures of the world.
The common and supportive network of teachers and students of the two institutions, united for the first time by a project that aims to re-establish the relationship between training, production and dissemination of Art and Music in contemporary society in an innovative way.
Among the most spectacular concerts of Chigimola Musica 2019 on the bill, those held on Saturday 14 and Sunday 15 December at the Teatro dei Rozzi in Siena, featured an exceptional double event. The complete concertos for piano and orchestra by Ludwig van Beethoven were conducted by Daniele Rustioni, one of the best known former students to come out of the conducting course at the Accademia Chigiana, and considered one of the most promising young conductors of today. Among the performers, selected from among the students of the advanced courses of the Academy of Imola, the pianist Leonora Armellini, opened the first evening with the Concerto for piano and orchestra n. 1 in C major op.15.
To make the authentic “musical festival of young talents” – a preview of the Beethoven celebrations scheduled for 2020, on the 250th anniversary of the composer’s birth – even more significant, the participation of the Orchestra Giovanile Italiana (Italian Youth Orchestra) of the Scuola di Musica di Fiesole. A significant addition, which only further emphasizes the importance of the synergies created by this project.
Anna Passarini
English translation by Samantha Stout
Winner of the “Janina Nawrocka Prize” for “extraordinary musicality and beauty of sound” at the “F. Chopin ”in Warsaw (2010) and winner of numerous other awards, Leonora Armellini is considered one of the most brilliant Italian musicians in recent years. She was born in Padua in 1992, and graduated from the conservatory with honors at the age of 12. She continues her studies at the National Academy of Santa Cecilia in Rome with Sergio Perticaroli, where in 2009 she received the Laurea degree with honors. Subsequently she has deepened her study of the piano at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater in Hamburg with Lilya Zilberstein, and attended specialization courses with M. Mika, P. De Maria, E. Wirsaladze, J.Swann, C. Martinez Mehner and M.Raekallio. She also studied composition at the Conservatory “C. Pollini ”in Padua with G. Bonato. Leonora regularly gives concerts in Italy and abroad, as a soloist, and as a chamber musician and with numerous orchestras. She is the protagonist of numerous recording projects. Armellini has honed her technique with Lilya Zilberstein and Marian Mika, and, after graduating from the “Incontri col Maestro” Piano Academy in Imola (2018), she has continued her studies with Boris Petrushansky. Armellini is currently a principal piano teacher at the Conservatory “A. Buzzolla” in Adria.
Newly appointed Artistic director of the Orchestra della Toscana (ORT), as well as, until May 2020, principal conductor of the same institution, Daniele Rustioni is certainly one of the most important conductors of his generation in both the opera and symphonic repertoire. Music Director of the Opéra National de Lyon, he made his debut with great success in September 2019, in the new role of Chief Conductor of the Ulster Orchestra in Dublin and regularly conducts in the best international theaters, from the MET in New York, to the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, at the The Munich Opera, the Paris Opera, the Zurich Opera House, the Teatro alla Scala, the Fenice in Venice. In the 19/20 season he inaugurated the Philharmonia Zürich, conducted the Hallé Orchestra in Manchester for the first time, and made his symphonic debut at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam with the Netherlands Philharmonic, and in the United States with the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra. Daniele Rustioni boasts an extensive discography. In recent years with the ORT, he has recorded three CDs for Sony Classical, co-produced by the ORT Foundation, that pay homage to historic Italian greats of the twentieth century (Giorgio Federico Ghedini 2016, Goffredo Petrassi 2018, Alfredo Casella 2019).
The Orchestra Giovanile Italiana, conceived by Piero Farulli within the Scuola di Musica di Fiesole, has made a decisive contribution to the musical life of the country in its 30 years of training over a thousand musicians, who have gone on to find permanent employment in Italian and foreign symphony orchestras. Baptized by Riccardo Muti, the Orchestra has been invited to many of the most prestigious international music venues. Among others, it has been conducted by: C. Abbado, R. Abbado, S. Accardo, Y. Ahronovitch, P. Bellugi, L. Berio, G. Ferro, C.M. Giulini, E. Inbal, Z. Mehta, R. Muti, G. Noseda, K. Penderecki, G. Sinopoli, J. Tate. In 2004, the Orchestra was awarded the Abbiati Prize of the National Music Critics Association, and in 2008, it was awarded the prestigious Praemium Imperiale – Grant for Young Artists by the Japan Art Association.
The Orchestra is engaged annually in the specialization course in orchestral conducting held by Daniele Gatti at the Accademia Chigiana in Siena, and recently was paired with Maestro Gatti again at the Scuola di Musica di Fiesole, and on the occasion of the 2019 New Year’s Concert at the Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino.
The OGI is supported by the Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities and Tourism and the Metropolitan City of Florence, as well as, the Region of Tuscany and the CR Firenze Foundation. The artistic direction of the OGI is currently entrusted to Alexander Lonquich.