(Photo: David Adam Beloff)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
7th<\/sup> September 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 Centre 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. 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 Scheherazade<\/em> has been one of my\nfavourites since I was a kid \u2013 I\u2019ve always loved it. Rimsky-Korsakov was a\nsailor in the Navy, and I find it fascinating that he was able to create a\npiece that makes you actually feel like you are on a ship (in the first and last\nmovements). You can feel that he knew what it felt like. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Yes! Botstein wrote that this piece \u2018succeeds as a musical canvas to be contemplated and absorbed, rather than as a musical analogue to storytelling in poetry and prose\u2019 (2018:345). So it\u2019s meant to be quite vague, a lot is left to your imagination. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n But do you have a more intricate narrative in your mind when you conduct the piece? <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Well, no.\nPartly I take the narrative from him, and then I generally just live in the\nmusic. At one point he attached more specific titles to the movements to say\nexactly what they were about, but then he decided to take them away. That, to\nme, is a very important point. It was a license to create our own images, he\ndidn\u2019t want to limit or control us. The whole frame of Scheherazade <\/em>is this book that he was crazy about: One Thousand and One Nights <\/em>(it was a\n1001 because odd numbers are lucky in Arabic culture). It\u2019s actually a very\nimportant book. For hundreds of years these stories were told from person to\nperson, but they were written down in around 850AD. Finally in the Eighteenth Century\nthey translated them into French so Europeans could read them. I think the Europeans\nwere dazzled by the magic, and Rimsky was too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Arabic\nculture was so male dominated, but who is the hero? Scheherazade \u2013 a young\nwoman who saves her country from her tyrant husband. The Caliph was deceived by\nhis first wife. As vengeance he decides to marry a new young woman every night and\nkill them after their first night together. It\u2019s a kind of curse on all women.\nThe chief Vizier is Scheherazade\u2019s father, and he is the one who has to furnish\nthese young women. Scheherazade says to him, \u2018let me try. I think I can stop\nthis\u2019. What father would let that happen? But he has no better idea, and things\nat this point are so bad in the country that she convinces him. She\u2019s so brave.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n In the\nfirst few bars of the piece you hear the Caliph\u2019s presence \u2013 this is on the\nwedding night, right after they\u2019re married. Sheherazade says, \u2018once upon a time\u2026\u2019 and\nlaunches into the story of Sinbad the Sailor. I\u2019ve talked to\nconcertmasters a lot about this.\nThey often think of the music without the story, but you can\u2019t just think, \u2018it\u2019s\nmy solo\u2019. If you were a young sixteen year-old girl, and you have every\nexpectation that this will be your last night alive, how would you feel? You\nhave to think of how your voice would sound. When I say that people play it\ndifferently \u2013 softly, sweetly, tenderly and hesitantly. That\u2019s always very interesting\nto me. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Scheherazade\nsupposedly managed to work the Caliph into all of her stories. She said things\nlike, \u2018well Sinbad was very clever, like you\u2019 \u2013 she would find a way to make\nhim the central character. I think she launches into the tale of Sinbad at Allegro non troppo <\/em>(p.13).[1]<\/a>\nYou can really feel the rickety ship rocking from side to side, and the rolling\nocean underneath. He does that spectacularly, how could anyone do it better\nthan Rimsky? The little solos (like the oboe, clarinet, flute etc.) are characters\n\u2013 they\u2019re talking to each other and the story develops. Orchestras fear and\nlove these solos, I think. The winds and solo cello play especially beautiful,\nsinging lines, but Rimsky doesn\u2019t tell us who they are. <\/p>\n\n\n\n With so many solos, I imagine you have a different relationship with the orchestra. It\u2019s not like a concerto, but at the same time you\u2019ve got to put a lot of trust in them.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Exactly,\nexactly. You have to let them be free to tell their story.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Completely?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n I think\nwithin the bounds. I like to create a frame, and they can do what they want within\nthat. If the clarinet wants to start a little slower and then speed up, he\nknows he has to fit it all in that frame but it\u2019s his<\/em> moment while he\u2019s playing. You have to encourage them to put\ntheir personalities into it, and every time it can be a little different. If\nthe piece were played with no personality it would become dull. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Sometimes\nwhen I conduct this with a young person\u2019s orchestra, I have to encourage them.\nI say, \u2018don\u2019t follow me. Come up with a way of making it your own solo\u2019. Of\ncourse they\u2019re usually very, very hesitant to try. So I say, \u2018play it so<\/em> differently that you know it could\nnever be that way. Just try it \u2013 be extreme\u2019. In helping them by saying they\ncan try anything, they find a way. I really enjoy that. Sometimes I also try\nand point out duets \u2013 particularly when the cello plays with the flute, then\nthe oboe, the clarinet and the horn\n(p.23-26). <\/p>\n\n\n\n The\ninstruments have different colours and strengths. The horn is strong, so when\nthe cello is playing with it it can play out. But when the flute comes in\n(p.23), all of a sudden the cello is more gallant. Maybe it\u2019s a woman. So I\ntell the cello, \u2018it says nothing in the part, but you\u2019re having conversations\nwith different characters. You need to modulate how you speak to them\u2019. But all\nof this is imaginary. I\u2019m not thinking about who it is, whether it\u2019s Sinbad\u2019s friend\nor the Captain of the ship\u2026 These solos and the musical language changes but we\ndon\u2019t want to pin it down. But I know some musicians like to think of certain\nthings while they\u2019re playing \u2013 I give them the frame and let them follow their\nimagination. <\/p>\n\n\n\n So it\u2019s more of a frame that you\u2019d have when conducting a concerto but less of a frame that you\u2019d have conducting a symphony.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Exactly.\nWhen you have solos like this it\u2019s in between. They don\u2019t have to follow or fit\nright in as they would in a Beethoven symphony. They have their moments where\nthey can stray a little bit, and that makes it interesting. But I think those\nconversations between instruments are even more interesting \u2013 how do they react\nto each other? <\/p>\n\n\n\n The visual aspect of this music is amazing, and interestingly we were talking about this same feature Yeah, I\nthink he had certain things in\nmind, even though took the titles of the movements away. The audience know it\u2019s\nOne Thousand and One Nights<\/em>, and that\nit\u2019s all about magic and danger. That danger and magic was very alluring for the\nEuropeans. These were people that lived by a different code \u2013 anything could\nhappen!<\/p>\n\n\n\n In the\nsecond movement (it\u2019s probably the next night) she starts telling the story again.\nIn the book the Caliph decides just to extend her life by one more night so she\ncan finish it. But she always seems to know where to stop the story so she has\nanother night alive. Her voices are similar, with the return of the harp and\nthe violin. It harkens back to the olden Renaissance days in Britain when\npeople would go with a lute from town to town and strum and sing a song. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The pizzicato chords strings (fig. C p.67-69) sound like a guitar as well.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Yes they do. It\u2019s amazing how he could use the orchestra \u2013 he was a master. This second movement is crazy with solos. I always have to try and cajole them into thinking that each solo that comes in has to be a little faster. The second movement starts right out with the bassoon (p.63). That is completely free \u2013 I leave that alone (and that\u2019s nice for the bassoonist who rarely gets a solo like this). But then when the oboe comes in (fig. A p.64), you can\u2019t do the same thing. You have to pick it up and take it onto a different level. Then the oboe turns it over to the strings (fig. B p.65) and they also have to brighten things up and pick up the excitement level. Maybe the bassoon was an older character singing his story and he takes his time, but it can\u2019t all be slow. That\u2019s where the conductor comes in, seeing the big picture. We all have to go<\/em> somewhere. <\/p>\n\n\n\n This movement\nis really amazing \u2013 solo after solo, and even section solos. I love the way he\ndoes that at letter C \u2013 the winds are like a group of people telling a story. They\u2019re\nall in unison rhythm and it is very descriptive. They finish and then the cello\nslows the music down (p.69) as if he\u2019s saying, \u2018wait I want to add what I<\/em> think\u2019. Then it goes back to someone\nelse. I think the reason this piece is so appealing is because you get the\nfeeling that the orchestra members are portraying living people. <\/p>\n\n\n\n This\nmiddle section (fig. D p. 71) is\nlike a dramatic \u2018open sesame\u2019 moment. I\u2019m sure at this point the Caliph is\nreally listening to her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It definitely feels to me as if it\u2019s accompanying action. It also reminds me of parts of Stravinsky\u2019s Firebird<\/em>.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Right, the\nsame sort of Russian drama. Something dangerous is happening. Maybe if we knew\nwhat it was about it would be less interesting, but we know something<\/em> is going on. It gets faster\nand faster, then there\u2019s the long clarinet solo (fig. F p.76) with the strings\nunderneath. It\u2019s so amazing, this texture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Are those transitions difficult?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n They\u2019re\nvery difficult. When you\u2019re conducting a symphony you know the tempo of the\nfirst movement. There might be some small changes but the tempo is set. But in\nthis piece it\u2019s like there are vignettes that slow down, and then you pick it\nup and there\u2019s another vignette. It\u2019s like all these characters are coming to\nthe front of the stage. It can be a little frightening for the orchestra too because\nthey have to be thinking quickly and ready to change suddenly. For instance, at\nletter F (p. 71) all of a sudden you\nhave the semiquavers in the strings. Then the clarinet comes in. The\nstrings have to keep playing at their tempo underneath it, it can be scary. The Vivace scherzando<\/em> just after G (p.80) is a very hard spot \u2013 the\naction keeps changing and it gets more and more exciting. At I, this is some\nsort of janissary band (p.90). Is there an army coming? He writes it as piano<\/em>, so it\u2019s off in the distance. It\u2019s\ncoming closer, and it gets to the point at K (p.96) where it\u2019s right here. <\/p>\n\n\n\n I thought it was a bit confusing that sometimes Rimsky writes the metronome marks and then other times it\u2019s just the description\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Right, and sometimes it\u2019s just left up to the player. For instance, if you look at 5 bars before D (p.70), the oboe plays that completely on his or her own. The conductor just follows, but then the lower strings and the bassoons are really looking at you at D (p.71 Allegro Molto<\/em>) because they have to know when to come in. They don\u2019t know exactly how many bars went by with the oboe because it was totally free, and then \u2018one two one tadagadaduuuum!\u2019 You have to make sure you show them exactly what\u2019s happening. It is scary, the tempos just change on a dime, they really do. I think that\u2019s why the second movement fills the players with the most anxiety.<\/p>\n\n\n\n That doesn\u2019t surprise me. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n There\nare these virtuoso solos that everyone\u2019s listening for. But those are great, it\u2019s\nso much fun! <\/p>\n\n\n\n The Vivace scherzando<\/em> (p.80) after G is hard\nbecause you can\u2019t really prepare that tempo. You have to memorise it. I often\nstop conducting half a bar before that so I can give an upbeat in the new tempo.\nIt\u2019s hard to get them together there. At the Poco stringendo<\/em> after H \u2013 they\u2019re getting louder and closer. You\ncan tell that some of this is horses galloping, more members of the orchestra\nplay and the percussion gets very active. Rimsky is a master, he knows exactly\nwhat he\u2019s doing. At K it reaches a climax. He doesn\u2019t really have strings with\nit, they\u2019re just pizzicato, so it\u2019s definitely some sort of military band. Then\nthere\u2019s the beautiful bassoon solo (p.100), and then right after that a new\ntempo at M (p.103). The number of new tempos in this movement is crazy \u2013 it\u2019s just\nconstantly changing! Six bars before letter O (p.108) they play a sort of\nrubato altogether, which is very hard. One player can play that but all of the\nwoodwinds and horns playing it together is really treacherous.<\/p>\n\n\n\n What about the moments where people are trilling together or doing the runs up and down together, are they also hard to synchronise?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n They\u2019re very hard, there\u2019s a lot of that in\nthe third movement. When they do them alone they can be free but together it\u2019s\nvery hard. He asks for a lot from the players. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Is it a bit like matching vibrato with singers?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Yeah,\nyou have to match each other somehow. He does the same sort of thing with the strings and the oboe at 9 bars before\nP (p.113). That\u2019s very hard to do altogether. It\u2019s a lot of rehearsal to\nfind a way that\u2019s comfortable, but it\u2019s really thrilling when they play that. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Then\nRimsky quietens things down a little bit around Q (p.118) with the beautiful\nflute and harp part. After that the story starts moving. At letter R (p.120) it\nbecomes very wild \u2013 you have to pace that accelerando slowly \u2013 just keep\ngetting faster, keep getting faster and the end of the movement is almost like\nan explosion. That\u2019s a thrilling moment \u2013 maybe he escaped, I don\u2019t know! You just know that it\u2019s something\ndramatic. It\u2019s hard to do, you can\u2019t just get louder and louder. You have to make\nsure everyone is locked in, because if they\u2019re not it\u2019s not powerful. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Rimsky\nwas wise and knew when he needed to change the mood completely. After all the\nexcitement of the first two movements, all of a sudden it feels like we\u2019re in a\nbeautiful garden. He called this third movement \u2018The Prince and the Princess\u2019,\nso we know there\u2019s a dialogue going on between two people. Here are those runs you were talking about (p.126).\nWhen the clarinet plays them by his\/herself, again, I always try and encourage\nthem not to play them all the same speed: \u2018when you get to the top, stay up\nthere for a moment and then come down. We\u2019ll keep on going, but you can be free\nin that bar<\/em>. As long as you start\nwith us and get to the next bar with us you can do anything you like in between\u2019.\nThey have to try it a few times, especially young players, and they decide that\nthey feel courageous enough to do it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The violins start the movement with this\nbeautiful theme, and then the cellos (fig. A p.127). I assume that Rimsky\nthought everyone would think it\u2019s the Princess and the Prince answering him. After\nthat they\u2019ve exchanged this love duet, it starts moving a little bit at letter B. They\u2019re\ntravelling somewhere. You can keep it going but even these things are hard to\ncoordinate. At least they are rhythmically measured.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Now D is supposed to be when strong men carry\nthe Princess in a palanquin into the court (p.136). Who knows who the clarinet\nis, but this is a very important solo! These two\npeople don\u2019t seem to go through enormous stress, so it\u2019s just a question of moving\nto a climactic point in the music and then coming back down again. Scheherazade\nsays something in the middle of this tale \u2013 Rimsky gives her this solo moment\n(p.152). There is a different solo before M, it is very beautiful (p.153-155)\nand she goes on to play quite a lot there. Here\u2019s what you were talking about,\ncoming up at 5 bars after M \u2013 making those scales line up between flute and\nclarinet (the groups of 11 and 15 etc.) is difficult. The harp blurs it all a little bit so that\u2019s nice, and I always get the\nfeeling the horn is the main character (p.159-160). Then the violins answer and\nyou can sense that things are calming down. <\/p>\n\n\n\n I love\nthe beautiful way he just picks up the tempo (p.167) and it\u2019s over. If I have an orchestra that\u2019s good\nenough, I ask them to do a very big diminuendo four bars before the end. They start\na little bit louder with the flute solo, the oboe is softer, the bassoon is even\nsofter, and then the final chord in the strings is extremely soft. It\u2019s almost\nas if Scheherazade just moves away, or the door to the palace closes. I think this\nmovement is just a love story, Rimsky was very wise to put it in third place\nrather than where it might normally be. I guess he wanted to build up the drama\nfirst and then have us relax, before the dramatic last movement. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The\nfourth movement leaves you breathless just listening to it! She\u2019s been trying\nto sooth the Caliph for the three years they\u2019ve been together with these\nstories but he still gets very angry. We hear him here at the beginning of the movement, he\u2019s definitely really\nmad about something. She\u2019s nervous too \u2013 this is the most agitated of her solos\n(p.169). He\u2019s still angry after that and her next solo is also very agitated (p.174). <\/p>\n\n\n\n Do you make a point of making sure it sounds like a struggle? I have heard virtuoso violinists make that sound quite effortless.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n I tell\nthem exactly that. I say that the Caliph is still domineering, angry and frightening\nand he\u2019s terrifying her. It\u2019s not like she shrinks off into a corner, but her\ntempo is faster and her way of playing is stronger. That second cadenza is con forza<\/em>. She\u2019s really trying to get\nhis attention and calm him down. She starts a story at Vivo (p.174) \u2013 thank goodness. Maybe this is\nthe final one \u2013 it just keeps building and building. It\u2019s like some sort of\nchase scene, you can really imagine horses galloping and it sounds like there\nare a lot of people involved. <\/p>\n\n\n\n There\nare still great solos, like the one for clarinet at I (p.192-195). They try and\nplay that all on one breath, it\u2019s just incredible, so it can\u2019t be too slow\nbecause that makes it harder for them. He brings it back to piano <\/em>at some points and it keeps building up this frenzy of\nexcitement. We feel that he\u2019s on a ship again towards the end, but before that\nit gets Spiritoso<\/em> (p.242) \u2013 louder\nand louder, and faster. Then finally he brings us back to the ship quite a way\nafter W. This is a big moment, the ship is on its last legs. There\u2019s a lot of\npercussion and brass, it\u2019s the same material as the first movement but more\nturbulent. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Rimsky\nactually wrote something in his own score that was totally out of character. 7\nbars after letter Y (p.269) he wrote in Russian \u2018the ship breaks apart on the\nrock. The Caliph\u2019s heart breaks open with love\u2019. <\/p>\n\n\n\n This is\nthe whole point of the story. At this point Sinbad\u2019s ship breaks into many\npieces, he runs aground on a rock and it completely explodes. It represents how\nhis \u2018heart breaks open with love\u2019. At this point she realises she no longer has\nto tell these stories. The Caliph comes to the realisation that he can\u2019t live\nwithout this woman and he\u2019s not going to kill her! He is a changed person. 4\nbars later, 2 bars before Poco <\/em>pi\u00f9<\/em> tranquillo<\/em> <\/em>(p.270) there is an A# diminished 7th <\/sup>chord.\nThe violas come in and it\u2019s very soft. It\u2019s as if he\u2019s looking at himself saying\n\u2018what happened to me?\u2019 I always like to hold that for a long time, it\u2019s just so\nodd\u2026 <\/p>\n\n\n\n 7 bars after Y it\u2019s the triple forte (p.269),\nafter that it\u2019s gentle \u2013 she sings for the last time (p.273). Then before the end of the Alla breve<\/em> (p.275) 11 bars after Z\n(p.274) they sing a duet. His theme is in the cello and bass line (his line is\nthe melody). This time it\u2019s so gentle, as if he\u2019s completely changed. The music\njust circles around and she carries on singing up there. The frame returns when he brings back the\nchords from the beginning. Those chords start the first movement, and they end\nthe piece. She, of course, has the last word. In the last 6 bars, there\u2019s just\none final solo, and then it ends softly, as if they\u2019ve walked off hand in hand.\nIt\u2019s so romantic. That for me is the frame. <\/p>\n\n\n\n One Thousand and One Nights<\/em> was very appealing to poor people. In all of the stories that Scheherazade tells, in the end it\u2019s the little person who struggles but manages to stay alive, finds the pot of gold or the genie in the lamp. e.g. Sinbad was a simple sailor who was a hero (and a hero to Rimsky the sailor!) The people who heard these stories or read them in Europe were being told \u2018with magic anything can happen. We could become rich, we could live in a palace\u2026\u2019 In the end the King didn\u2019t triumph. People learned a great deal about Arabic culture \u2013 the way they thought and what appealed to them \u2013 by reading how the Caliph and Scheherazade interacted with each other. <\/p>\n\n\n\n You mentioned the underdog triumphing. Rimsky wrote the opera The Snow Maiden <\/em>(based on the Hans Andersen tale), which is about a girl who rescues a boy, so perhaps that appealed to him in this piece too.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Right.\nWhen you think about it a lot of the fairytales are about that \u2013 like the poor\nlittle stepdaughter, Cinderella, who\u2019s having a rough time but in the end\nsucceeds. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Sure. Rimsky, being one of the \u2018Russian Five\u2019 had access to Balakirev\u2019s sketchbook\nof folk tunes from when he visited the Caucasus region. There is one tune\ntranscribed that sounds exactly like the opening bassoon melody of the second\nmovement.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n (laughs)\nHe borrowed a good tune! <\/p>\n\n\n\n Yep! And another sketch uses a triplet motive similar to the Scheherazade violin solo (Isseyeva 2018:148).<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Why not?\n(Laughs) Well he was a real believer in Russian folk music. They felt that people\nlike Tchaikovsky were too Germanic in style, too continental. Rimsky wanted it\nto be all Russian, so he uses those tunes. That\u2019s amazing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Mikhail Gnesin, a student of Rimsky\u2019s, wrote (in reference to the visual aspect of his music) \u2018the unusual cogency of the images stem, in large measure, from a lack of superfluous detail, the ability to separate the essential from the extraneous, and from everything that makes it hard to see the object in its most basic outlines\u2019 (cited Botstein 2018:345). Do you agree that less is more That\u2019s\nit! He\u2019s telling a story and he wants that point to come across, so he\u2019s not\ngoing to obscure it with a lot of complex textures. When he\u2019s showing the waves\nhe actually has the solo violin\nplay a harmonic at the top (p.274). You\ncan picture the waves glistening, it almost sounds like the sunlight hitting them.\nHe concentrates on specific things when he\u2019s telling a story, but I think\nthat\u2019s him in general, and you can never say that his orchestration is anything\nbut brilliant. It\u2019s never dull \u2013 I think it was just a gift he had. <\/p>\n\n\n\n I remember speaking to Jakub <\/strong>Hr\u016f\u0161a<\/strong><\/a>[3]<\/strong><\/a> about conducting Carmen at Glyndebourne. He said the hardest part was \u2018Habanera\u2019.[4]<\/strong><\/a> It\u2019s so famous that he really felt the weight of the audience\u2019s expectations\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2026 and\nyou have to get exactly the right tempo. Once you start that you can\u2019t really\nchange it \u2013 it\u2019s a dance. I agree with him, that\u2019s a very difficult moment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So does the same thing apply here at any point, as it\u2019s such a famous piece?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n You know,\nI think you have to just go with your feeling for the music. It was tough when\nI was first learning to conduct \u2013 I would listen to a lot of recordings and\nthink, \u2018I should do it that way\u2026 but no, he does it this way\u2019. Which was right?\nI realised the best thing to do is just look at the music and do what you<\/em> think, find your <\/em>way. But I will say that the second movement is the\ntreacherous one. Everyone is nervous on stage, they know they\u2019ve got this\nlittle section in this tempo and all of a sudden it\u2019s going to change\u2026 then\ncomes a big solo and then they have to snap into that\u2026 That is really\ntreacherous. <\/p>\n\n\n\n When I saw you conduct Scheherazade<\/em> with a younger orchestra online[5]<\/a><\/strong> the second violins were on the right. You don\u2019t usually do that \u2013 was there a particular reason in this case?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n No. I don\u2019t\nalways do that but sometimes I like to, depending on what the orchestra is used\nto. It\u2019s really nice when I guest conduct and the orchestra says to me, \u2018well\nmaestro, we can change to what you\u2019re used to in Buffalo\u2019. But I say, \u2018no, no \u2013\nI actually like the chance to try something different\u2019. In Buffalo it\u2019s hard\nfor the musicians to do something for one week and then change back. But since\nthey\u2019re used to this different setting, I like them to stay in that so I can\nhear things differently. And I always do. If the violas are outside and mine\nare on the inside all of a sudden I\u2019m so much more aware of the viola line. Or\nif the seconds are across from the firsts, you can feel that interchange\nbetween them. It\u2019s almost a challenge of one section to the other. So I like it\nwhen I go somewhere and they\u2019re sitting in a different way. <\/p>\n\n\n\n That sounds very healthy. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Which edition do you use?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n This one\nis Kalmus, which is no more. There are a couple of errors in the score but\ngenerally this is a good one. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The lengths of performances really vary. The shortest I came across was Gergiev with the Vienna Philharmonic (41mins)[6]<\/strong><\/a> and a number are well over 50 minutes.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Right.\nGergiev sometimes takes these hair-raising tempos, especially in the last\nmovements. Sometimes they are almost unplayable but I think he takes them fast for\nthat reason \u2013 you get this feeling of panic from the orchestra because it\u2019s so\ndifficult. They\u2019re just hanging on\u2026 maybe since that is what this piece is\nabout! I don\u2019t think Gergiev believes in over-preparing. He comes in for one\nrehearsal and he likes the \u2018fly by the seat of your pants\u2019 approach. He just\ngives a downbeat and\u2026 \u2018we\u2019re off!\u2019 Everyone\u2019s staying together but there\u2019s this\nsense of breathless excitement and panic that makes some of his performances\nreally thrilling. I think he often does that: takes the fast movement at the\nfastest tempo he thinks it can go at. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Yes. That\u2019s true, the last movement was taken extremely fast!<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n I can\u2019t believe there isn\u2019t that much about written about Rimsky-Korsakov. Richard Taruskin wrote \u2018in the part of the world we inhabit, the works of Rimsky-Korsakov can be divided into two groups: the unknown and the overplayed\u2019 (laughs)\nWell that is true, because he wrote so many other pieces that aren\u2019t played that\nmuch. I was listening to Coq d\u2019Or<\/em> the\nother day thinking what a wonderful piece it was, but very many people don\u2019t\neven know about it (and many more of his pieces). But Scheherazade <\/em>and Capriccio Espagnol<\/em>\nare played all the time. <\/p>\n\n\n\n There isn\u2019t really a scholarly biography of him either. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n I\u2019m\nsurprised about that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I know, I think Russians are often surprised about that too. I\u2019m not sure Stravinsky helped, he made quite a few catty comments about him. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n But I\nthink Stravinsky was, in his time, much more aware of the public knowing about\nhim and public opinion. Rimsky probably wasn\u2019t \u2013 his life was more\ncircumscribed. First he became a sailor, then a teacher, he ran a school \u2013 he\nprobably wasn\u2019t thinking of himself as a world figure. Stravinsky knew that he\nwas one. It was easier to get information from him. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Right. Well I think we\u2019ve covered everything! Thank you so much.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Ah this\nwas fun Hannah, thank you. I\u2019m so glad you love this piece as much as I do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Bibliography<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Issiyeva, A. \u2018Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov and his Orient\u2019 in Frolova-Walker, M. (ed.) Rimsky-Korsakov and his World<\/em> (Princeton University Press 2018) pp.145-176<\/p>\n\n\n\n Botstein, L. \u2018In Search of Beauty: Autocracy, Music, and Painting in Rimsky-Korsakov\u2019s Russia\u2019 in Frolova-Walker, M. (ed.) Rimsky-Korsakov and his World<\/em> (Princeton University Press 2018) pp.301-354<\/p>\n\n\n\n Taruskin, R. ‘Catching Up with Rimsky-Korsakov’ in Music Theory Spectrum, 2011-10, Vol. 33 (2), pp. 169-185<\/p>\n\n\n\n IMSLP Score:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n http:\/\/conquest.imslp.info\/files\/imglnks\/usimg\/2\/24\/IMSLP571790-PMLP04406-RK-Op35sc.pdf<\/a> Russian\nSymphonic Music, <\/em>Vol.13 (pp.11-276) 1991. [1]<\/a> All page numbers refer to the IMSLP score http:\/\/conquest.imslp.info\/files\/imglnks\/usimg\/2\/24\/IMSLP571790-PMLP04406-RK-Op35sc.pdf<\/p>\n\n\n\n [2]<\/a> Click here<\/a> to read the interview with JoAnn on Respighi\u2019s Pines of Rome<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n [3]<\/a> Click here <\/a>to read Jakub Hr\u016f\u0161a\u2019s interview. <\/p>\n\n\n\n [4]<\/a> On Habanera, Jakub said, \u2018the general public is\nanticipating that more than any other part of Carmen<\/em> \u2013 everyone waits for it. For the conductor it\u2019s a bit\ndifficult because there\u2019s not much you can do to influence it, it\u2019s all in the\nhands of the singer, and the staging. There is a specific tempo [sings the\nopening], but again it depends on who is singing, and it depends on the action.\nIt sounds silly but sometimes it\u2019s easier to handle more complex tasks than\nsuch a popular aria.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n [5]<\/a> https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=Q9ylvBwiMfY<\/a>\n(accessed 3rd<\/sup> September 2021)<\/p>\n\n\n\n [6]<\/a> https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=SQNymNaTr-Y&t=105s<\/a>\n(accessed 2nd<\/sup> September 2021)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" (Photo: David Adam Beloff) 7th September 2021 Grammy-winning conductor JoAnn Falletta serves as Music Director of the Buffalo Philharmonic […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1236,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1211","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-public","pmpro-has-access","clearfix"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.notesfromthepodium.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/JF-David-Adam-Beloff-.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8YX8Q-jx","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.notesfromthepodium.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1211","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.notesfromthepodium.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.notesfromthepodium.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.notesfromthepodium.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.notesfromthepodium.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1211"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.notesfromthepodium.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1211\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1985,"href":"https:\/\/www.notesfromthepodium.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1211\/revisions\/1985"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.notesfromthepodium.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1236"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.notesfromthepodium.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1211"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.notesfromthepodium.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1211"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.notesfromthepodium.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1211"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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 \u201ctireless champion\u201d and lauding her ‘unique combination of artistic authority and compassion, compelling musicianship and humanity.’<\/p>\n\n\n\n
with Respighi as well.[2]<\/a><\/strong> He paints such a picture without describing anything.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
in the case of the visual element of Rimsky\u2019s music?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
(2011:169).<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n