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Artist: Riccardo Chailly
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Riccardo Chailly:

Verdi Choruses, Coro E Orch. del Teatro Alla Scala

As part of Riccardo Chailly’s seventieth birthday celebrations in February 2023, Decca is delighted to announce a new album of Verdi choruses conducted by the Maestro with the orchestral and choral forces of La Scala, where he is Music Director. The album also marks two other remarkable milestones: it will be forty-five years since Chailly’s debut at La Scala, and also since he first signed an exclusive contract with Decca.

The repertoire spans much of Verdi’s output, and includes choruses both familiar and less well-known. Among the former are ‘Gloria all’Egitto’ (the Triumphal Scene) from Aida, ‘Va, pensiero’ (the chorus of the Hebrew slaves) from Nabucco, the Witches’ Chorus from Macbeth, and the Anvil Chorus from Il trovatore. The pieces cover a vast array of situations and moods, from serious to sparkling, from sacred to secular, and from blacksmithery to sorcery. The recording draws on the deep connection which the musicians have with these scores, stemming from Verdi’s own relationship with La Scala. The composer’s first four operas, and his final two, received their world premieres here, and the theatre owns important busts and paintings of the composer, which are proudly displayed.

As Chailly reaches his seventieth birthday, audiences can celebrate the conductor’s own equally important relationship with La Scala. It began in 1978 when a 25 year-old Chailly (whose father had previously been artistic director of La Scala) made his debut stepping in for the conductor Gianandrea Gavazzeni, who had become indisposed at the last moment: the opera in question was I masnadieri by Verdi. The occasion was a triumph, and Chailly has often subsequently returned to work at La Scala, frequently in works by Verdi. He was appointed music director in 2017.

Riccardo Chailly:

Brahms Serenades with Gewandhausorchester

Riccardo Chailly and the Gewandhaus Orchestra take another significant step in an extraordinary musical journey with the release of the two Brahms Serenades. The Serenades have been unjustly neglected and are rarely heard in concert, making them perfect repertoire for Chailly's enquiring mind. Widely respected as a conductor with a "rare talent for transforming music ripe for rediscovery" (Gramophone), his reading of the Serenades fits with his philosophy that "all music must aspire to be ‘new music' again". The recording follows Chailly's multi-award-winning sets of the Brahms and Beethoven symphonies. The album is available now.

Riccardo Chailly:

Messa per Rossini w Teatro Alla Scala

2018 marks 250 years since Gioachino Rossini's death in 1868. Messa per Rossini was composed in his memory by Verdi and 12 other notable Italian composers. Verdi himself composed the concluding Libera me, which he later used in his own Messa da Requiem. Conducted by Riccardo Chailly, this rare performance represents the work's triumphant return to the spiritual home of Verdi and Rossini: the Teatro alla Scala in Milan.