RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra
JoAnn Faletta conductor
Alban Gerhardt cello

Strauss Don Quixote / 38’
Respighi Fontane di Roma (Fountains of Rome) / 15’
Pini di Roma (Pines of Rome) / 23’

Dazzling colour, romance and comic mishaps with a larger-than-life adventurer and sunny, picturesque sojourns in the Eternal City await you.

Richard Strauss’ Don Quixote and Respighi’s two musical postcards of Rome are akin to cinema soundtracks to which you can add your own pictures. All three works are the product of master composers at the height of their powers with brilliant orchestral detailing, bold dramatic flourishes and swathes of sun-dappled colours.

The misadventures of Cervantes’ delightfully delusional knight astride a broken-backed mule, Don Quixote are brought vividly to life in Strauss’s tone poem. The would-be hero is personified by the solo cello, his luckless sidekick-squire, Sancho Panza, by solo viola, the orchestra conjuring their various encounters with windmills, a flock of sheep, errant magicians and magical journeys in the air and on an enchanted boat.

Ottorino Respighi’s Fountains of Rome and Pines of Rome pay lavish, lyrical tribute to two landmarks of Italy’s ancient capital. Both seem to sparkle and glint in warming Mediterranean light, Respighi’s music as free-flowing and evocative as a glowing watercolour painting.

Preceded at 6.30pm by Soundings, free pre-concert talk with Joann Falletta and Alban Gerhardt in conversation.

Presented by RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra