Filarmonica Toscanini
Kristjan Järvi conductor
Stefano Bollani piano
John Adams
Doctor Atomic Symphony
Stefano Bollani & Kristjan Järvi
50/50
for piano and orchestra
Premiere
Stefano Bollani
Concerto azzurro
for piano and orchestra
When Charles Schulz had Lucy van Pelt say, “I thought about it a lot and came to the conclusion that making the sky blue was a good idea,” he was unaware that he had provided a title for Stefano Bollani’s Concerto azzurro, a tribute to the colour of the sky, but also to the fifth or throat chakra, associated with self-expression and creative communication. Kristjan Järvi will be on stage with the eclectic pianist: it was Järvi himself who commissioned Bollani in 2017 to write this work, pleasantly suspended between composition and improvisation, between classical and jazz. Instead, the Doctor Atomic Symphony, in its Italian premiere, looks to a different kind of sky. Adapted from John Adams’ opera, the composer’s take on the story of the creation of the atomic bomb, it combines continuous pulsating beats and fierce rhythmic waves charged with energy.
