(Photo: Heather Bellini)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
7th<\/sup> July 2021<\/p>\n\n\n\n Grammy-winning conductor JoAnn Falletta serves as Music Director of the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Connie and Marc Jacobson Music Director Laureate of the Virginia Symphony Orchestra, Principal Guest Conductor of the Brevard Music Center and Artistic Adviser to the Hawaii Symphony Orchestra and the Cleveland Institute of Music Orchestra. She is hailed for her work as a conductor, recording artist, audience builder and champion of American composers<\/p>\n\n\n\n As Music Director of the Buffalo Philharmonic, Falletta became the first woman to lead a major American ensemble. Celebrating her 20th anniversary with the Buffalo Philharmonic this past season, she is credited with bringing the orchestra to a new level of national and international prominence. Her recent and upcoming North American guest conducting includes the National Symphony, Detroit Symphony, Nashville Symphony, Indianapolis Symphony, and Milwaukee Symphony; and further north, the Toronto Symphony and Orchestre metropolitain. Internationally, she has conducted many of the most prominent orchestras in Europe, Asia, and South America. Pending further national and international guidance on the current COVID-19 pandemic, she is looking forward to guest conducting appearances in Canada, Poland, Sweden, and Spain in 2021. Ms. Falletta has held the positions of Principal Conductor of the Ulster Orchestra, Principal Guest Conductor of the Phoenix Symphony, Music Director of the Long Beach Symphony Orchestra, Associate Conductor of the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, and Music Director of the Denver Chamber Orchestra and The Women\u2019s Philharmonic. <\/p>\n\n\n\n After earning her Bachelor\u2019s degree at Mannes, Falletta received Master\u2019s and Doctoral degrees from the Juilliard School. When not on the podium, JoAnn enjoys playing classical guitar, writing, cycling, yoga and is an avid reader<\/p>\n\n\n\n —<\/p>\n\n\n\n (A little prologue for\nany guitarists amongst you\u2026)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n I\u2019m\nintrigued \u2013 is the Respighi a piece you particularly love?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Well, I liked all of the\npieces you suggested, as my favourite era of classical music is the same as\nyours \u2013 the early Twentieth Century.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Yes!\nIt\u2019s so much more interesting. People weren\u2019t afraid to say difficult things in\nmusic, and they had a big orchestra so they could say them in technicolour. <\/p>\n\n\n\n I know. And by the way, my\nfirst instrument is also the classical guitar\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Oh\nreally? So we have a lot in common. Oh my gosh \u2013 the colours of the guitar\nare amazing in themselves. They\u2019re not like the orchestra, but still fabulous. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Yes! I was interested in\nwhat you said on the Point of Learning<\/em>\ninterview[1]<\/strong><\/a>\nthat you did at the end of last year (2020). You said that playing the guitar improved\nyour listening skills (from playing accompaniment), your sense of phrasing (because\nof the lack of sustain on the guitar), and that sense of building an architecture\n(37m25s – 40m00s).<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n That\u2019s\nright.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For me, it also helped in\nunderstanding chord progressions and harmony in larger scale pieces.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Yes.\nWell, being a harmonic instrument makes it like a miniature orchestra. I\nstarted to think about this because everyone was saying to me, \u2018how can you be\na conductor if you play the guitar?\u2019 and it really rankled! I felt that I\nlearned so much about music from playing the guitar, more than any person\nplaying a single line instrument learns when you\u2019re dealing with voicing and\nchord progression. Doing them on a six-stringed instrument makes you really\nthink about the voicing, they\u2019re not always pianistic, as you know. The idea of\nsustain is so critical. I always felt that I learned a lot more about the\narchitecture of conducting from the guitar than people would ever understand\nunless they were a guitarist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I think so too. I also\nfound that I would be more open to different styles than many other conductors\/academics.\n<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n That\u2019s\npossibly because the guitar transcends all boundaries. From folk to rock to\njazz to classical to flamenco, and even going back to the age of the lute and\nthe viheula. It\u2019s an instrument that is everywhere and has so many different\nvoices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And also similar\ninstruments from beyond Europe like the Saz or Sitar (to name just two), it\u2019s a\nvery transferable skill.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Yes.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n —<\/p>\n\n\n\n Anyway, Pines of Rome<\/em>! I remember the first time I heard this I thought it sounded Russian. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Right,\nmaybe because of the scope and drama of it? What\u2019s interesting about that is Respighi\nactually went to study with Rimsky-Korsakov in Russia. Can you imagine the\ncourage it took to go from Italy to Russia in those days? He didn\u2019t have a job,\nhe had nothing \u2013 he just arrived at Rimsky\u2019s house, showed him his music and Rimsky\nagreed to teach him. Then he had to get a job so he could stay there and\nstarted to play with one of the Russian orchestras. I think there is a Russian\nelement to Respighi\u2019s music because he absorbed this great orchestration that\nRimsky taught him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He was obviously like a\nsponge. I read he was fluent in eleven languages!<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n He\nwas brilliant. I think everything that he writes glistens. People can be great\ncomposers, but they don\u2019t have the ability to transfer it into the fabric that\nhe does. It just shines and it also gives you a sense of the cinema. I always\nmarvel that you can actually see what he\u2019s writing about. He doesn\u2019t really\nhave to describe it \u2013 you can imagine the rocking of the water, you can see the\nmoon coming up in the sky at night with the nightingale. How does he do that? It\u2019s\namazing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n That visual element\nlends itself to theatre.<\/strong> This is the only\nbook I could find (in English) on Respighi \u2013 Michael Webb\u2019s Ottorino Respighi: His Life and Times <\/em>[see\nBibliography].<\/em> He wrote that<\/strong> Margherita Wellman choreographed ballets to\nseveral of his works \u2013 one being the Pines\nof Rome <\/em>(2019:191). <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n I\ndidn\u2019t know that, wow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Another one was Gli Ucelli.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Oh\nGli Ucelli<\/em> (The Birds<\/em>) \u2013 that would make a beautiful ballet. I can imagine that\none.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2026 otherwise there is\nprecious little information about not only this piece but about Respighi\ngenerally. Did you also find yourself scratching around for information?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n I\nhave read a lot about him, and I feel I\u2019ve supplied my imagination, but I think\nthe problem is that some of the snobbery of the orchestra world took hold a\nlittle bit later on. He was found to be too romantic, looking backwards, and not\ncontemporary or dissonant enough. Respighi never claimed to be a modernist. For\nhim music was about beauty, and that\u2019s what he was writing. He wasn\u2019t trying to\nbreak any rules. So you can imagine in the 1950s and 60s people started to say\nthat his music may be beautiful, but it\u2019s not important.[2]<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n But\nI think Respighi is critically important, for so many reasons. He was making a\nvery important point to the Italians. Italy was in a very bad way at that point.\nIt was the last country to unify (it was unified in name but that was about it).\nThere were all these little cities,\neach one had its own language, each one didn\u2019t like the city next to it, and\nthey had been under foreign rule for centuries. It was a mess, it really\nwas! Poverty was rampant \u2013 I think that\u2019s partly the reason my great grandparents\nand grandparents came to the US. So Respighi is trying to make a point to them.\nHe\u2019s saying, \u2018think of your past, think of what the Roman Empire gave to the world.\nThe aqueduct system, the government system, the philosophy, the architecture, all\nof the great things they did \u2013 think of who we were, and we can be great\nagain\u2019. So he\u2019s making this plea in the only way he knows how \u2013 through music. He\u2019s always been a kind of hero to me\nin that way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He\nwas also trying to get them to think about writing orchestral music, that was\nvery important to him. Italians in the Baroque period were<\/em> writing orchestral (or small orchestra) music, but for two\ncenturies after that were only famous for writing opera. At that point the\ngreat centre of the orchestral world was Germany and Austria, but Respighi was\ntelling the Italian people to be proud of who they were. He does this in the\nmost wonderful way in these pieces. He wasn\u2019t Roman (he was born in Bologna)\nbut he travelled to Rome and worked there and it became his adopted city. He devoted\nhis life to Rome, and wrote three pieces about it (Fountains of Rome<\/em>, Pines of\nRome<\/em>, and Roman Festivals<\/em>). He\u2019s\nwriting about Rome at that time (between 1916 and 1928), but of course the city\nis also filled with the presence of 2000 years ago. So he writes about that as\nwell, and weaves it all together in a way that seems like time stands still. At\none moment you\u2019re in the Twentieth Century and then all of a sudden, effortlessly,\nyou\u2019re in the First Century at the time of Caesar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He\npicks specific places, and he identifies what they are. For example, the first\nmovement is about the Villa Borghese in the days of the Renaissance when the\nBorghese family were powerful. The children are playing in the park with\nenormous pine trees, and you get this sense of a time warp. You\u2019re not really\nsure where you are \u2013 the Twentieth Century, or long ago? I think he\u2019s saying, \u2018these were your\nancestors. Look what the Borgheses gave to the world, with their wells and\nsponsorship of artists, writers, painters and musicians\u2019. I think that is such\na tremendous vision and it runs through this piece and everything he writes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n I found photos of the\nAppian Way [the very long road that leads into Rome], and it looks absolutely\nstunning. Have you been there?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Yes,\nI\u2019ve seen it and it is <\/em>stunning. That\nwas one of the Romans\u2019 greatest accomplishments. You can still go to the Villa Borghese, and you do hear a\nlot of noise with children playing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n When this was first played in New York the audience was shocked that it was quite so dissonant. In the opening bars you hear the trumpets \u2013 the little boys are pretending to be soldiers. It\u2019s just so noisy! I always think of Respighi creating a movie. That first scene fades out and it changes all of a sudden. It\u2019s like you run around a pine tree and there\u2019s something different there! Now we\u2019re at the catacombs at the time of the persecution of the Christians (i.e. post-Christ) where they\u2019re hiding down there and having services and masses. It\u2019s very eerie. Respighi has a trumpet go offstage and play \u2013 that\u2019s supposed to be a voice of one of these early Christians singing a hymn down there. <\/p>\n\n\n\n When\nwe do it in Buffalo we\u2019re able to get our trumpet player to go way under the stage\ninto the basement so that the sound actually floats up through the floor. That\nis where it would be coming from in the catacombs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Wow, that sounds\nwonderful.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n He\u2019s\nplaying some sort of very ancient psalm or religious chant. It\u2019s like a\nleftover voice down there \u2013 so solemn, so mysterious. Then that voice fades\naway. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Respighi takes you on this kind of\npsychological journey, as well as a journey in time. We go from afternoon,\nthrough the evening, through the night-time, into the morning. He\u2019s actually\ntaking us through a day. The colours of the sky change \u2013 this man was a genius. <\/p>\n\n\n\n In the third movement, it\u2019s twilight and you\ncan almost feel that the air is getting a little cooler. You can see the outline of the\npines against the full moon, and the nightingale sings (it only sings at that\ntime). This is one of the most magical moments. It starts out in the clarinet,\nwhich is a very good choice. It\u2019s an instrument that could sound like a bird \u2013\nvery smooth, very gentle. But\nthen Respighi actually has a recording of a nightingale in there. That was very\nscandalous \u2013 it was the first time a tiny little extra musical sound was used\nin an orchestra. I mean, now we\u2019ve heard everything like that, but at the time a\nlot of people disapproved.[3]<\/a> The\nclarinet stops playing and the birds start singing as if the clarinet has\ntransformed herself into the bird, or the bird has come into the room, drawn by\nthe clarinet. <\/p>\n\n\n\n I\nremember when I first conducted it we would use a cassette tape, after that it\nwas a CD, and now we get a file. The way we manipulate the sound has improved, but\nthe bird never changes. It\u2019s the exact voice of Respighi\u2019s nightingale, frozen\nin time. I think it\u2019s amazing that that bird is still alive in the performance.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n It\u2019s immortalised.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n It\nis! There\u2019s something really mysterious and shivery about that movement. You\ncan almost feel like something is about to happen \u2013 the night-time is coming,\nit\u2019s getting darker. Then he takes us overnight to the next morning. We fall\nasleep with this nightingale. <\/p>\n\n\n\n I think the last movement is the one that people never forget. It\u2019s solidly in the First Century, it takes us way back.[4]<\/a> At the beginning it\u2019s almost silent \u2013 it\u2019s morning and no-one is awake. You hear footsteps on the Appian Way and they\u2019re coming closer. They\u2019re inexorable. The people of Rome are just waking up and know that it has to be a huge group. This is an army, what else could it be? They\u2019re walking lockstep towards Rome, and it\u2019s terrifying because they\u2019re getting louder and louder and louder. If you listen to that movement thinking of that you feel the fear. The strings are going ‘teeedum teeedum’ (fig. 18) \u2013 the anxiety. Is it an enemy coming? Their army is out at war somewhere, so they don\u2019t know. The english horn (starting at fig.18+10) is like a woman\u2019s voice singing., and the bassoons are sighing. What can this mean? Who\u2019s coming? <\/p>\n\n\n\n Then in a stroke of genius he has this portion of the army that\u2019s still in Rome, right at the capital. They send a signal on their Roman trumpets (from fig. 20+4) out to the army. If they don\u2019t hear anything back, that\u2019s very bad news. They play out, play out again and then they hear the same sort of trumpets playing back at them. All of a sudden they dare to hope that it\u2019s our army. They play again and the army plays back. ‘It\u2019s our army!’ In our concert halls we try and have those brass players in the balcony at a distance. The whole mood becomes so joyful, \u2018our army\u2019s coming home! Our sons, husbands and brothers are coming home!\u2019 and there\u2019s this feeling of celebration and hope. How do people create hope in music? This one of the stunning examples. I mean, who else could write this?<\/p>\n\n\n\n I don\u2019t know if I know\nmany (or any) pieces that are twenty minutes long and cover so many different atmospheres\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Yes,\nyou\u2019re absolutely right. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2026 and he does them all\nso brilliantly. Are any of these moods\/atmospheres more difficult for the conductor\nto work with?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Well, when you look at the music on the page, it seems like it wouldn\u2019t be difficult \u2013 it\u2019s clearly written. But it\u2019s actually very difficult to fit together. There are so many layers, and often this pulse underneath that has to have its own space \u2013 like a heartbeat or a footstep. Everything has to fit around it, it\u2019s almost like a tapestry with many intricate lines and threads. When that (somehow) all comes together it\u2019s brilliant, but it actually is much harder than it looks. You\u2019ve got to really look to each other and breathe it together. There\u2019s something ordered about it but it\u2019s never stiff. It\u2019s always flexible, like it\u2019s alive \u2013 changing and breathing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n But\nanother very strong reason for that is that (as you said) he never lets us\nwallow in something for too long. Even the army\ncoming into Rome (which would probably in reality have taken twenty-four hours)\nhe does so effortlessly and seamlessly that we live it in just a few minutes. I\nreally think that nobody has ever done anything quite like that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The transitions in the\nfirst movement look really tricky.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n They\nare very tricky \u2013 he is writing for virtuoso orchestra. He\u2019s testing everyone,\njust look at the first page with the 32nd<\/sup> notes in the woodwinds going back and forth and the\ncellos playing up in the very high register (at fig.1). He\u2019s not making it\neasy, but he\u2019s creating a brilliant fabric. Just as we\u2019re admiring that he\nshifts tempos a little bit, it\u2019s a little faster (fig. 2), then he pulls it\nback a little bit. It\u2019s never automatic, you always have to stay with him. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Are there any\ntransitions that are particularly difficult?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Well,\nif you look at fig. 6 where it says pi\u00f9 vivo<\/em>, there\u2019s no way of preparing that faster tempo. It\u2019s like\nall of a sudden one of the boys is racing ahead in this game that they\u2019re\nplaying. It\u2019s suddenly faster, so how do you show that? I actually wind up for\na second, I stop conducting and then go into the fast tempo because there\u2019s no\nrelationship. He\u2019s not making it easy for you. There\u2019s a lot of transitions\nlike that and the orchestra has to snap into those new tempos very quickly. <\/p>\n\n\n\n But\neven psychologically the transitions are tricky \u00ad\u2013 from that action into the\ncatacomb pines \u2013 it\u2019s as if all of a sudden all of the noise is just shut off.\nWhat happened? Now you\u2019re not\nreally sure what the violas, cellos and basses are playing. The horns play from\nfar away and there\u2019s a lot of mystery there. He uses a lot of triplets and you\nhave to really be feeling them together. It\u2019s not so easy. When the trumpet is\nunder the stage, we usually try and follow it. He can\u2019t see us when he starts\nplaying. The strings are just listening and listening. Respighi is very, very\ngood at psychology \u2013 he always knows the point where he needs to do something\nelse. Either he needs to change the tempo, add in another element or change his\ndynamics – he just always knows.<\/p>\n\n\n\n You just don\u2019t get bored.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n He\nwon\u2019t let<\/em> you get bored! He has this unerring sense of when to\nsurprise. He lets the audience relax a little bit, but just for a while until\nhe reaches this point \u2013 it\u2019s as if he\u2019s reading people\u2019s minds. I\u2019ve\nwatched people listening to this music \u2013 they\u2019re completely engrossed in it. They\nmay not understand exactly what is happening, but he won\u2019t let them go. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The\npiano coming out of nowhere, in the third movement, is an amazing moment. You\ndon\u2019t often hear a piano solo like that, it\u2019s one of the most crystalline, beautiful\nthings. He lets the piano be quite free \u2013 you can imagine that it\u2019s meant to be\nnight-time now. But again, it\u2019s not easy with all the little tiny tempo\nchanges, but it\u2019s so worth it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n This third movement is\nvery impressionistic, almost Debussyian. Do you have to put a different\nconducting \u2018hat\u2019 on for each movement?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n You made a good point, I hadn\u2019t thought about\nthis before. He actually makes each movement distinct. The one at the beginning\nis a lot of fast playing and a lot of glistening show-off passagework in all\nthe instruments. Then there\u2019s the medieval sounding movement with the ancient\nhymn (he had great love of ancient music and Gregorian chant[5]<\/a>). Then\nhe gets to this really impressionistic movement that could be something Debussy\nwrote. The last one is an inexorable march from beginning to end. Even though\nhe connects them in this beautiful way, each one is a different world. I\u2019m glad you said that, I hadn\u2019t thought about it like that. Each\nmovement is completely distinct in it\u2019s world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The problem with the fourth movement is that you have to make sure that there\u2019s no time lag with the brass at such a distance. They need to hear each other and somehow fit together. When the soldiers in Rome play first I imagine they marched a little tentatively. They don\u2019t know what’s going on, they\u2019re just playing what they might play in formation. Then they hear it back and then the next time they\u2019re playing out a little bit louder saying \u2018OK we heard you \u2013 just verify that it\u2019s you! Let us know it\u2019s really you!\u2019 And then the group from behind plays a little bit louder so there\u2019s this build up over the march that is inexorable. It may sound loose, but it\u2019s very structured to sound organic and natural. <\/p>\n\n\n\n What about the Buccine instruments\nhe requests in the score? Do people always use different brass combinations? <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n They\ndo, they do. He says Buccine, which is a kind of ancient Roman trumpet. That\u2019s\nwhat he\u2019s imagining, but usually people choose what they want. It\u2019s almost always\nsix players in the balcony. I like to use four trumpets and two trombones best,\nbecause those are outward pointing instruments. They can be aggressive and play\nright into the hall and at the stage. I know that some people like to use two\ntrumpets, two horns and two trombones. I like that less because the horns are\npointing backwards and they have a very different approach. The trumpets and\nthe trombones have a unified brass approach, the kind of sound that you would\nget from an army group. There\nare also trumpets and trombones who are playing back at them on the stage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It calls for six people (although you could use more) and there are two groups. Sometimes you can divide them and put them on different sides of the balcony (two trumpets and a trombone on each side). It\u2019s really thrilling. Very often 95-98% of the audience have no idea there\u2019s an orchestra up in the balcony. All of sudden the brass on stage plays and then they hear something coming from behind them. At that moment everyone turns around. Maybe they think, \u2018why are they there?\u2019 but they get this sense that they\u2019re playing to each other and it\u2019s building up to an incredible climax. They may not know the scene (although I hope that they do know, and came to a pre-concert talk or something) but the moment that all of a sudden something happens is amazing because they\u2019re not used to hearing sound that way. It\u2019s usually very loud. It\u2019s one of those pieces that if you had to go to a concert for the first time and saw Pines of Rome<\/em> on the programme\u2026 go to that concert. That\u2019s the experience you want to have!<\/p>\n\n\n\n That\u2019s right. So how to\nyou cue\/conduct them?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n We\nrehearse it so that I don\u2019t turn around, what I do is I make sure I\u2019m beating\nin very big gestures. They\u2019re watching me from behind, but they can still see\nthe beats. That way when they first start playing there is no clue to the\naudience that anything like that is going to happen. <\/p>\n\n\n\n A conductor I know, Scott\nWilson, does a podcast making classical music more accessible for new audiences.\nThe first episode he made was on this piece and the recording he recommends is\nyours.[6]<\/strong><\/a>\nYour recording comes up a lot when people discuss the good ones! <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Oh\nreally? I\u2019m so glad you told me that! It was so much fun for us to make that. It\u2019s\na piece everybody dreams about if they\u2019re in middle school \u2013 \u2018someday I\u2019ll play\nthe Pines of Rome<\/em>.\u2019 I did it with the\nCleveland Institute of Music a couple of years ago (before the pandemic). They\u2019d\nnever played it, and I know it was an experience for them. Maybe it wasn\u2019t\nperfectly played on every single note, but it didn\u2019t matter. The experience was\none that they\u2019ll never forget. <\/p>\n\n\n\n I found it very\ninteresting that Toscanini was very possessive of the piece.[7]<\/strong><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n He\nwas, he was. He brought it to New York and it was a very big thing![8]<\/a>\nHaving Respighi there must have been really special. The New York Philharmonic had the rights to do the US\npremiere with Toscanini, and then right after that Philadelphia was going to\nplay it. Those two cities are within a two-hour drive of each other, so\nsupposedly of all of the Philadelphia musicians came to the New York\nperformance to hear it \u2013 it was that important a piece. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Yes! I read that no-one else was allowed to conduct it until Toscanini had done the USA premiere, and the author thinks that even included Respighi himself because he conducted it with the Philadelphia Orchestra the very next day.[9]<\/strong><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Seeing as he was so\npossessive of the piece, what do you think of Toscanini\u2019s interpretation? Do\nyou have any favourite recordings that really inspired you?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Well,\nI\u2019ve listened to a lot of them. I like Toscanini\u2019s recording because he is focussed\non this piece in such a way that he is never going to be diverted from it. He\nloves it, and I like that. He was a very honest conductor and did things in a\nvery direct way. But there are so many great recordings, I can\u2019t choose one. I\ngot so enmeshed in how the Buffalo Philharmonic played it and how I could reflect\ntheir personality in it. I feel very strongly that when you perform a piece it\nhas to reflect who the musicians are \u2013 you can\u2019t get a cookie cutter and say, \u2018this\nis the way it\u2019s always done\u2019. You have to allow them some flexibility. Each of\nthem has their own strong ideas and it was really fun to hear your own\norchestra interpret it. The notes are the same but there\u2019s a lot of room for a\ndifferent feeling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I loved your recording,\nand I also loved Bernstein\u2019s (of course).<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n (Laughs)<\/p>\n\n\n\n And also the 1960 recording\nof the Chicago Philharmonic conducted by Fritz Reiner. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n That\nmust have been great too, because Chicago were noted for their brass. Maybe the\npower of the brass was overwhelming.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I preferred the\nrecordings where you could really hear all the layers of the piece. This is\npiece is not straightforward!<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n No,\nit\u2019s very complicated. But that\u2019s a sign of a great composer \u2013 it\u2019s\nmulti-layered at every moment. Sometimes I look back at these Respighi scores and\nwish more people today wrote with this kind of extraordinary skill. But maybe\nit\u2019s something you can\u2019t learn \u2013 just a gift that he had for texture, for\ncolour, and for something else I can\u2019t explain. Why, when we\u2019re hearing this\nmusic, can we actually see a picture? That doesn\u2019t happen with many composers. In Rimsky-Korsakov\u2019s Sheherazade<\/em> you can feel that you\u2019re on\nthat boat with Sinbad the Sailor and actually picture yourself there. Rimsky\nhad that gift too. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Yes, and I suppose\nhaving studied in Russia, Respighi would have absorbed a lot from such a strong\ntheatrical tradition. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Yes,\nright. <\/p>\n\n\n\n So Respighi\u2019s music is\nvery visual. But when you\u2019re getting to grips with the score, do you also look\nfor a structure? <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n I do, I do \u2013 but it\u2019s a different type of structure. When people are listening to it, it\u2019s not like they\u2019re reading a short story and have forgotten a little bit about that character. They can\u2019t go back and remind themselves. So you have to create a structure and know it well enough that you can highlight it and take people along through it without them feeling confused. What I always do is start with the big picture first. In this case I might think, \u2018here\u2019s four video portraits of Rome. OK, how do they relate to each other?\u2019 Then you get the idea of the time of day, some of them are current time, some of them are past time. Then I go smaller and smaller. I\u2019ll just look at the first piece and think, \u2018OK, here\u2019s the Villa Borghese. There\u2019s a lot of activity, the kids are constantly running around. They may have a little time where they slow down a bit but not for long and they pick up again\u2019. <\/p>\n\n\n\n How\ndo I structure that so that people feel that when all of a sudden we\u2019re out of\nit, they understand what happened before? It\u2019s all subconscious, it\u2019s not like\nyou can have supertitles above explaining everything. You have to give them a\nway of subconsciously feeling like they got what it was about. But of course\ncomposers help when they create a great internal structure \u2013 you can\nfollow that. Sometimes the most difficult pieces to conduct are the ones that\nseem aimless \u2013 they have beautiful moments but there\u2019s no architecture to them.\nBut Respighi somehow knew a lot about how humans listened, because his\narchitecture is amazing. Just at the point where you think we might be\nlingering somewhere, he goes somewhere else and surprises you. A lot of\ncomposers don\u2019t think that way. <\/p>\n\n\n\n I find it fascinating\nthat you work in layers like that. That is definitely how I get to grips with\u2026\nanything, really.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n You\nstart from the big and go in like\nthat? Yeah, I think that makes the most sense, because if you go from note 1 to\nthe end you don\u2019t see the shape, you\u2019re just in a tunnel going through. You will <\/em>get to those details, but you can\u2019t\nknow how it fits in unless you know the whole picture. You need to start with\nthe big picture, then you go to each movement, and then go to each section of\neach movement and then little by little you\u2019re looking at one bar at a time.\nThen it\u2019s in a context that makes sense. <\/p>\n\n\n\n I looked at where the\npiece was premiered: the Augusteo in Rome. It\u2019s a huge round concert hall. Sometimes\nit is important to know where a piece was premiered, because you can then tune\nin to what the composer\u2019s intentions were. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n I hope you can see this\n\u2013 here is a black and white picture of the Augusteo.[10]<\/strong><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Oh\nyes, that\u2019s enormous! It looks like a great opera house. Oh that\u2019s beautiful,\nimagine the sound in that place. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Do you think that\u2019s why\nhe used such a huge orchestra?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n I\nwonder if Respighi was told where the premiere would be or if he thought, \u2018I\u2019m\ngoing to write this for a big orchestra just so will need the space\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He\nwas probably at the stage in his career where he could say, \u2018I want this\nperformed in a big hall with a big stage and have a lot of musicians.\u2019 And they\nwould say, \u2018absolutely. Yes maestro, we\u2019ll do it\u2019. And thank goodness, because\nthese pieces have just enchanted and overwhelmed people since they were written. The orchestra for Fountains of Rome<\/em> is a little smaller\n(that\u2019s the first one of the Rome pieces), but the Roman Festivals<\/em> is enormous too. He\u2019s just following his love of colour,\nand he doesn\u2019t want to have a small paint box.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It took me a while to\neven realise<\/em> there was an organ in\nthe piece. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n I\nknow. You hardly hear it. (laughs)<\/p>\n\n\n\n I was reading the score\nthrough and suddenly thought, \u2018there\u2019s an ORGAN in this? How did I not hear\nthat?\u2019 I was a bit embarrassed at myself. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n (Laughs)\nYou hear it in the Roman Festivals<\/em> (and\nyou really <\/em>do hear it then) but in Pines of Rome<\/em> you don\u2019t hear it so much,\nthere\u2019s just so much sound going on. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Exactly. Where did you\nrecord it? <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n We\nrecorded it in the Kleinhans Music Hall [home of the\nBuffalo Philharmonic].\nWe don\u2019t have an organ built in but\nwe brought in a large electronic organ. We did two performances of it\nand then the next week we\nrecorded it. It was tremendous fun for everybody, it really was.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Was there anything else you\u2019d like to mention that you think we\u2019ve missed before we finish ?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n No,\nyou taught me a lot about the piece, I\u2019m just so thrilled that we talked\ntogether! I really like thinking about the piece being in four distinct styles.\nWe should have another conversation, we\u2019ll find another piece sometime.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I would love that, that\nwould be amazing! I can\u2019t believe Respighi isn\u2019t played more.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Well\nit could be because it\u2019s big, especially this last year with everyone playing\nin small groups. But now\u2019s the time to bring him back!<\/p>\n\n\n\n Well, thank you for\nmaking me look into his music in detail. I hadn\u2019t before, and really loved it.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n No\nthank you, it was wonderful! I hope to talk to you again soon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Bibliography<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Ottorino Respighi: A\nDream of Italy<\/em>\nAn Allegro Film by Christopher Nupan Available at: https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=8T1v-Gt1eiA<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Respighi,\nO. (1924) Pini di Roma: Poema Sinfonico <\/em>[Music\nScore]Milan, Ricordi<\/p>\n\n\n\n Webb,\nM. Ottorino Respighi: His Life and Times<\/em>\n(Matador, Leicestershire 2019)<\/p>\n\n\n\n Wilson, S. (2021) A Thousand\nPictures Episode 1: Spectacular Sound<\/em> [Podcast]. 16th<\/sup> February\n2021. Available at: https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/episode\/0JfsgJ06XmjaDAwCZKKUga?si=ds95NDdHTgyX4LveaeRTvw&dl_branch=1<\/a> (Accessed 30th June 2021) [1]<\/a> https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=SQSIJA_zGlM&t=520s<\/a>\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n [2]<\/a> From the documentary Ottorino\nRespighi: A Dream of Italy <\/em>(see\nBibliography):\n\u2018Respighi was acutely\naware of the crisis in European music, and was disturbed by the disintegration\nof the European musical tradition. He became increasingly concerned with the\nidea of a new European musical language, but he rejected Schoenberg\u2019s departure\nfrom tonality and Stravinsky\u2019s neoclassicism. Respighi\u2019s interest in the past\nwas to give new life to tradition, not to stress that it had gone forever\u2019\n(37m40s).<\/p>\n\n\n\n [3]<\/a> For example, Ernest Newman (after\nhearing the work at an LSO concert in October 1925) wrote that the \u2018tame\nnightingale\u2026 did not communicate the expected thrill\u2026 realism of this sort is a\ntrifle too crude to blend with music\u2019 (cited Webb 2019:121). <\/p>\n\n\n\n [4]<\/a> An alternative suggestion has also\nbeen presented by Webb, who writes that \u2018the event that allegedly inspired the\nlast movement of the symphonic poem was the so-called \u201cMarch on Rome\u201d that took\nplace on 28 October 1922, during which thousands of fascist supporters\ndescended on the Italian capital to express their solidarity with Mussolini\u2019\n(2019: xxi).<\/p>\n\n\n\n [5]<\/a> Sergio Martinotti believed that\nRespighi\u2019s fascination with plainsong was able to \u2018\u2026immunise his art from the\nexcesses of Strauss and the impressionists\u2019 (cited Webb 2019:102).<\/p>\n\n\n\n [6]<\/a>https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/episode\/0JfsgJ06XmjaDAwCZKKUga?si=ds95NDdHTgyX4LveaeRTvw&dl_branch=1<\/a> 16m26s<\/p>\n\n\n\n [7]<\/a> He also regularly performed the work\nalongside classic works by Beethoven, Mozart etc. <\/p>\n\n\n\n [8]<\/a> \u2018The international success of his\nnew symphonic poem, Pini di Roma<\/em>, was\nlargely the result of Toscanini\u2019s championship of the work in the USA\u2019 (Webb\n2019:115)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
With a discography of almost 120 titles, Falletta is a leading recording artist for Naxos. Gramophone Magazine<\/em> says ‘JoAnn Falletta conducts performances that are assured, spontaneous and superbly played’. In 2019, she won her first individual Grammy Award as conductor of the London Symphony in the Best Classical Compendium category for Spiritualist<\/em>, her fifth world premiere recording of the music of Kenneth Fuchs. Her Naxos recording of Mr. Tambourine Man: Seven Poems of Bob Dylan<\/em> received two Grammys in 2008. Recent and upcoming releases by the BPO for Naxos include the world premiere recording of Danielpour\u2019s The Passion of Yeshua<\/em>, Salome<\/em> by Florent Schmitt and Poem of Ecstasy<\/em> by Scriabin as well as two recordings on the BPO\u2019s Beau Fleuve label\u2014BPO Live: Prokofiev\u2019s Romeo and Juliet<\/em> and Brahms\u2019 Piano Concerto No. 2, with pianist Fabio Bidini; and Forgotten Treasures<\/em>, featuring five rarely played orchestral works.
Falletta is a member of the esteemed American Academy of Arts and Sciences, has served by presidential appointment as a Member of the National Council on the Arts during the Bush and Obama administrations and is the recipient of many of the most prestigious conducting awards. She has introduced over 500 works by American composers, including well over 100 world premieres. In 2019, JoAnn was named Performance Today\u2019s<\/em> Classical Woman of The Year, calling her a ‘tireless champion’ and lauding her ‘unique combination of artistic authority and compassion, compelling musicianship and humanity.’<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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