GIUSEPPE MARTUCCI (1856-1909)
Piano Concerto No. 2 in B-flat (1884-85)
Guiseppe Martucci was the son of a trumpeter in a military band, but his own instrument was the piano. From his beginnings as a prodigy he grew into a fine pianist, conductor, teacher, and composer, admired by the likes of Liszt, Anton Rubinstein, and Toscanini. One of his greatest achievements was to conduct the Italian premiere of Wagner’s opera Tristan und Isolde. Interesting in the context of these concerts is the fact that one of Martucci’s composition students was Ottorini Respighi, whose Feste romane is also on the program. Martucci himself premiered his Second Piano Concerto in Naples in 1886. A composition of monumental proportions and technical challenges, it saw many performances, including one conducted by Toscanini, with the composer as soloist in 1899. During rehearsal the great maestro said: “I shall be surprised if he can cope with all the problems he has set himself.” But his fears were ill-founded; Martucci performed the work brilliantly. Nearly 100 years ago, Gustav Mahler conducted the concerto in his last concert ever- at Carnegie Hall in February, 1911.

GUISEPPE VERDI (1813-1901)
Ballet Music from the opera Macbeth (1847)
Verdi’s Macbeth was criticized for not properly representing Shakespeare’s drama—something that was a source of great irritation to the composer, who thought so highly of the play. “This tragedy is one of the greatest creations of man,” Verdi wrote to his librettist, Francesco Piave, “If we can’t make something great out of it, let us at least try and do something out of the ordinary.” To get the dramatic action the way he wanted, Verdi provided the scenario to Piave, focusing it mainly on Macbeth, Lady Macbeth and the witches. In 1865 the composer revised the opera to include a ballet—de rigueur for anyone who had aspirations of producing an opera in Paris. The members of the infamous Jockey Club who attended the ballet called the shots: they wanted to see their favorite dancers on stage—and backstage after the performance as well. The ballet music appears in Act III, at Macbeth’s second encounter with the “weird sisters” from whom he is seeking assurances about his career opportunities. Verdi’s dark music successfully conjures the supernatural in this mini-Witches Sabbath.

OTTORINO RESPIGHI (1879-1936)
Feste romane (Roman Festivals) (1926-1928)
Though a Bolognese, Respighi settled in Rome and paid homage to his adopted city with his most well-known work, a set of tone poems entitled Roman Triptych: The Fountains of Rome, The Pines of Rome, and Roman Festivals. Feste romane is comprised of four movements. The first of these, entitled “Circuses,” a stentorian brass fanfare takes us to Ancient Rome and the Circus Maximus, where man met beast in bloody battle. In “Jubilee,” pilgrims make their way to the Holy City, and their hymns of praise are accompanied by the sound of ringing bells. “L’Ottobrata” is an October festival synonymous with whirlwinds of dancing and serenading. And in “Epiphany” we enter one of Rome’s piazzas, where throngs of revelers gather to celebrate the impending feast of the Epiphany. An astonishing array of percussion instruments drives this gaudy Roman portrait home.

Riccardo Muti was born in Naples, Italy, where he studied piano at the Conservatory of San Pietro a Majella under Vincenzo Vitale, graduating with distinction. He was subsequently awarded a diploma in composition and conducting by the Conservatory “Giuseppe Verdi,” Milan. He first came to the attention of critics and the public in 1967, when he was unanimously awarded first place in the Guido Cantelli Conductors Competition in Milan. The following year he was appointed principal conductor of the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, a position he maintained until 1980. In 1971 he was invited by Herbert von Karajan to conduct at the Salzburg Festival, the first of many occasions that led, in 2001, to a celebration of 30 years of artistic collaboration.

During the 1970s Mr. Muti was the London Philharmonia’s chief conductor (1972–82), succeeding Otto Klemperer. In 1980 he succeeded Eugene Ormandy as music director of The Philadelphia Orchestra, where he remained until 1992. From 1986 to 2005 he was music director of Milan’s Teatro alla Scala, overseeing projects such as the Mozart-Da Ponte Trilogy and the Wagner Ring Cycle, in addition to bringing many less-performed and neglected works to light. His long tenure culminated on December 7, 2004, in the re-opening of the restored La Scala, with Salieri’s Europa riconosciuta, originally commissioned for La Scala’s inaugural opening night performance in 1778.

Over the course of his career, Riccardo Muti has conducted most of the world’s important orchestras, including the Berlin Philharmonic, Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre National de France, and the Vienna Philharmonic, an orchestra with which he has particularly close ties, and with which he has appeared at the Salzburg Festival since 1971. In April 2003 the French national radio channel, France Musique, broadcast a “Journée Riccardo Muti,” comprising 14 hours of his operatic and symphonic recordings. On December 14, 2003, he conducted the opening concert of the newly-renovated opera house “La Fenice” in Venice. In 2004 Mr. Muti founded the “Luigi Cherubini” Youth Orchestra comprising young musicians selected by an international committee from 600 instrumentalists throughout Italy. With the Cherubini Orchestra he is leading a five-year project dedicated to the Neapolitan School of the 18th century for the Salzburg Whitsun Festival.

On May 5, 2008, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra Association appointed Mr. Muti as its tenth music director; he will begin his five-year contract in September 2010. In the same season he will start as director of the Rome Opera House. Riccardo Muti’s last appearance with the New York Philharmonic was in November 2009. He is scheduled to return on April 14–17, 2010. For more information, visit www.riccardomuti.com.