For Toscanini, a Tour And a Two-Symphony Tribute

When a group of young Italian musicians decided to start an orchestra last May, they spared no ambition. First, they invited New York Philharmonic music director Lorin Maazel to be their music director “for life.” Mr. Maazel, who had conducted the musicians in earlier concerts, accepted the position. Next, the Rome-based group committed itself to the lofty standards of music-making set by legendary conductor Arturo Toscanini, and thus named itself “Symphonica Toscanini.” And lastly, the orchestra decided to symbolically follow in the maestro’s footsteps in this 50th anniversary year of his death.Tomorrow, Symphonica Toscanini will undertake perhaps its most high-profile performance when it takes the stage with the New York Philharmonic for a joint performance on the exact anniversary of Toscanini’s death in 1957. The group organized an American tour to pay homage to the Italian-born Toscanini, who conducted widely in America before settling in Riverdale in the Bronx in the late 1930s. The Philharmonic was Toscanini’s home base between 1928 and 1936, when he was its principal conductor; he also led the orchestra intermittently between 1926 and 1945. Mr. Maazel will lead each orchestra in works Toscanini championed: The Philharmonic will play Richard Strauss’s “Don Juan,” and Symphonica will play Respighi’s “Pines of Rome.” Symphonica, with the bass Rene Pape as soloist, will also perform selections by Verdi and Mozart. Mr. Pape replaces Reneé Fleming, who withdrew because of illness. The two orchestras will then join forces in Tchaikovsky’s “Francesca da Rimini.” It will be one of the rare occasions when 200 musicians will be on the Avery Fisher Hall stage at once.The tour, loosely fashioned after the cross-country journey made by Toscanini and his NBC Symphony Orchestra in 1950, began in Washington on January 11 and will take Symphonica Toscanini and Mr. Maazel to Virginia, Delaware, New Jersey, Illinois, Kansas, and Nevada before ending in Berkeley, Calif., on January 28. Symphonica Toscanini will play other repertoire associated with Toscanini throughout the year, including performances of the nine Beethoven symphonies in Rome, and Verdi’s Requiem Mass in Verdi’s birthplace of Busseto, Italy. Other concerts will take place in Brazil, where Toscanini made his debut conducting “Aida” at age 19, and Israel, where in 1936 he conducted the first concert of what is now the Israel Philharmonic.Though an obituary that ran in Time magazine on January 28, 1957 declared his death the end of an era, Toscanini’s persona lives on. He still ranks “among the most famous Italians in the world, if not the most famous,” the president of Symphonica Toscanini Foundation, Pia Elda Locatelli, said.The foundation and the symphony itself have made every effort to keep Toscanini’s legend alive. Toscanini was also known as a perfectionist who reportedly smashed his gold pocket watch on the floor during one frustrating rehearsal, and a genius who could evoke equal measures of passion and tenderness from his players. Symphonica’s concertmaster, Lorenza Borrani, said in an e-mail that the group selected Mr. Maazel because he resembled Toscanini both in his strictness and the scope of his knowledge. “His memory is unbelievable,” she said of Mr. Maazel. His conducting style, known for its technical precision, she said, “is so perfect that playing with him, each musician feels free to express himself.”Since June, Mr. Maazel, who is also music director of the Palau de les Arts Reina Sofia in Valencia, Spain, has led Symphonica concerts in Russia, France, Spain, and Italy. At a press luncheon held for the new orchestra last November, Mr. Maazel described Symphonica as “an elite ensemble” of players, many of whom were also virtuostic soloists. He plans to expand the orchestra’s repertoire and also document the group’s concerts on DVD, much as Toscanini took advantage of radio and television opportunities in his day.Unlike other Italian orchestras, which are heavily subsidized by the government, Symphonica is a private group. Ms. Locatelli, a member of the European Parliament, said the orchestra’s $10 million budget is supported by a group of business partners and sponsors. The orchestra, which has an office in Washington, plans to open more international offices this year. The organization resembles American freelance ensembles in that the musicians for each concert are hired from a pool of 200 players. But unlike most professional American musicans, Symphonica players do not belong to a union.“There are musicians’ unions in Italy, but not in this orchestra,” Ms. Locatelli said. “The mutual esteem and trust established between the musicians and Maestro Maazel enable the players to be chosen on a concert by concert basis, with no guarantee of permanent engagement.” Ms. Locatelli described the model as “a testament to the musicians’ firm belief in their own professional skills and their ability to work as a team.”And to listen to the reaction of the musicians involved with Mr. Maazel is to hear echoes of the artistic respect paid to Toscanini himself. “To play with such a great maestro,” Ms. Borrani said, “is for us the biggest luck.”

For Toscanini, a Tour And a Two-Symphony Tribute

For Toscanini, a Tour And a Two-Symphony Tribute

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