On Sunday, May11th at 8 pm, Maestro Daniele Gatti returns to the podium of the Sala Mehta, leading the Orchestra and Choir of the Maggio, for a symphonic event featuring the music of Igor Stravinskij and Sergej Prokof’ev.

Soloist, as contralto, Ksenia Dudnikova.

The concert will be broadcast live on Rai Radio 3

Florence, May 9th 2025 - After the great success of the concerts of the Brahms Cycle last autumn, which marked his last engagements as principal conductor of the Theatre, Maestro Daniele Gatti returns to lead the Orchestra and Choir of the Maggio for a new symphonic event as part of the 87th Maggio Festival.

Ksenia Dudnikova - one of the protagonists of the inaugural Adriana Lecouvreur of the 83rd edition of the Festival - is the soloist of the evening.

The conductor of the Maggio Choir is Lorenzo Fratini.

The concert program, with strong Soviet traits, is composed of the music of Igor Stravinskij and Sergej Prokof’ev, of which Maestro Gatti is one of the most authoritative interpreters at an international level.

The opening is the “Symphony in C” by  Igor Stravinskij , whose composition took the author almost two years: the first two movements were created in France, respectively in the autumn of 1938 and the summer of 1939 – in a dark period in the life of the composer who in the space of a few months lost his daughter, his wife and his mother – but it was completed only the following year in America, where the musician created the third and fourth movements.

The evening closes with the symphonic Alexander Nevsky op. 78 by Sergej Prokof’ev: in 1938 the composer was commissioned to write the soundtrack for “Alexander Nevsky” by the great director Sergej Ejsenstejn, a film dedicated to the deeds of the medieval hero who had led the Russian people in numerous battles. The following year the composer decided to extract from the soundtrack a Cantata for mezzo-soprano, choir and orchestra in which he concisely summarises the story but without sacrificing the narrative.

The concert:

Igor Stravinskij
Symphony in C

"This Symphony, composed for the Glory of God, is dedicated to the Chicago Symphony Orchestra on the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of its foundation." With these words, Stravinsky took leave of his Symphony in C in August 1940, a symphony in the classical sense of the term in which the author adopted the form and procedures typical of the main genre of Western instrumental music. The genesis of the work was rather troubled and occupied the author on several occasions over the course of two years. The first two movements saw the light in France, respectively in the autumn of 1938 and the summer of 1939, in the most tragic period of the composer's life, who in the space of a few months lost his daughter, his wife and his mother. Stravinsky threw himself headlong into music and completed the work the following year in America, where he created the third and fourth movements. Although respectful of the traditional canon, the Symphony in C reveals the innovative spirit of its author and so those classical stylistic features that hover in the first and second movements (the references to Beethoven and Haydn highlighted by Stravinsky himself) inevitably intersect in the mesh of a modern writing made of irregular phrasing, rhythmic mismatches and unusual combinations of timbres. A simple motif of only three notes enunciated by the strings in the first movement (Moderato alla breve) is the seed from which the entire symphonic discourse sprouts, a sort of motto that will serve as a glue between the first and last movements. The second movement (Larghetto concertante) in tripartite form highlights the sonority of the oboes with a crystalline design that is disturbed only in the central section. The third movement (Allegretto) instead has all the appearance of a Scherzo in which dance rhythms launched at full speed with continuous changes of meter dominate. In the finale (Largo. Tempo giusto, alla breve) the initial motto reappears in the serious chorale of bassoons and brass which seals and closes the work according to the principle of cyclical form.

Sergej Prokof’ev
Aleksandr Nevskij op. 78

In 1938 Prokofiev was commissioned to write the soundtrack for Sergej Ejsenstejn’s Alexander Nevsky, a film dedicated to the glorious deeds of the medieval hero who had led the Russian people in numerous battles: from the one against the Mongol invasion to the one on the Neva River against the Swedes, up to the glorious victory over the Teutonic Knights in the battle on the frozen Lake Chud. The following year the composer decided to extract from the soundtrack a Cantata for mezzo-soprano, choir and orchestra in seven movements where he concisely summarizes the story without sacrificing its narrative scope. The Cantata from Alexander Nevsky op. 78 quickly became a work of Stalinist propaganda. The recollection of heroes from the past allows for the best expression of feelings of patriotism and nationalism, elements common to many cantatas composed during the war period, and the courage shown by Alexander Nevsky and his army in battle thus becomes the perfect metaphor for the commitment required of the Russian people in the face of the threat of Nazi Germany. Giving free rein to his lyrical-narrative vein, Prokofiev adopts two different compositional styles in describing the enemy armies in battle. While for the sections featuring the German army, but also the battlefield strewn with dead after the clash, the composer uses a harsh, dissonant language with percussive and mechanical rhythms, in the sections dedicated to Alexander and his men he instead chooses to use Russian folk songs, tonal and choral melodies with an epic breath, such as the one that solemnly closes the Cantata and sanctions the victory of the Russian people over the invader.