Ottorino: Belkis, Queen Of Sheba Suite Minnesota Orchestra & Eiji Oue

• 1 Belkis, Queen of Sheba Suite, P. 177 24:04
• 2 Ballata delle gnomidi, Op. 124 15:47
• 3 Pini di Roma (Pines of Rome), P. 141 22:40
• Total Runtime 01:02:31

Info for Ottorino: Belkis, Queen Of Sheba Suite

Diese Aufnahme des Minnesota Orchestra unter seinem Leiter Eiji Oue aus dem Jahr 2001 ist dem Werk Ottorino Respighis gewidmet. Respighi gehörte zu jener um 1880 herum geborenen Generation italienischer Komponisten, die in ihrem Streben nach einem unabhängigen italienischen National-Stil Einflüsse und Inspiration aus allen Zeiten und Weltgegenden zogen. Sein vielleicht bekanntestes Werk, „Die Pinien von Rom“, ist eine symphonische Dichtung, die verschiedene typisch römische Szenen an den Orten verschiedener Pinienhaine in der ewigen Stadt beschreibt.

Schon hier beeindruckt der volle und vielfarbige Klangkosmos, den das Minnesota Orchestra aus Respighis spätromantisch-impressionistischem, bildgewaltigen und atmosphärischen Orchesterwerk zaubert. Das Highlight aber ist, die Orchestersuite, die Respighi aus seinem kolossalen Ballett „Belkis, Königin von Saba“ herausarbeitete. Entstanden in den frühen 30ern, lebt dieses Werk von den Einflüssen atonaler und moderner Avantgarde genau so wie vom Erbe des Impressionismus und den jazzigen Rhythmen etwa eines George Gershwin. Und dazu ging Respighi bei seiner Suche nach orientalischen Musikeinflüssen für dieses Werk noch etwas weiter als sein Lehrer Rimsky-Korsakov für seine „Scheherazade“: In der Belkis-Suite finden sich auch echte orientalische Instrumente wie die Sitar, ein gigantisches Percussion-Ensemble, sogar eine Windmaschine und etliches mehr.

Die klanglich äußerst beeindruckende Aufnahme ist übrigens die erste, welche die Belkis-Suite in der von Respighi intendierten Satz-Folge zeigt, und auch die erste, die im letzten Satz das (von Chad Shelton sensibel umgesetzte) wortlose Tenorsolo erklingen lässt, statt der von Respighi als Alternative vorgeschlagenen Trompete.

Minnesota Orchestra
Eiji Oue, Dirigent

Recorded May 28–29, 2001, at Orchestra Hall, Minneapolis MN
Engineered by Keith O. Johnson
Mastered by Paul Stubblebine, JTH
Produced by J. Tamblyn Henderson, Jr.

Eiji Oue
Born in Japan, Eiji Oue began his musical studies with piano lessons at the age of 4. Then, at 15, Oue entered the Toho Gakuen School of Music as a performance major, beginning his conducting studies that same year with Hideo Saito, the teacher of Seiji Ozawa. In 1978 he was invited by Ozawa to spend the summer studying at the Tanglewood Music Centre, where he met Leonard Bernstein, who became his mentor and colleague, sharing the podium during three international tours with concerts in La Scala, Vienna State Opera, Opera de Paris-Bastille and in Moscow, St Petersburg, Berlin, Rome and other musical capitals. In 1990 he assisted Bernstein in the creation of the Pacific Music Festival in Sapporo, Japan, serving as resident conductor for the Festival Orchestra.

Eiji Oue is Conductor Laureate of the Osaka Philharmonic Orchestra, having served as Music Director from 2003-2011, and Conductor Laureate of the NDR Radio Philharmonic Orchestra Hannover, following eleven years as their Music Director (1998-2009). He has also held the positions of Music Director of Pennsylvania’s Erie Philharmonic Orchestra (1991-1995), Music Director of the Minnesota Orchestra (1995-2002), and Music Director of the Orquesta Simfònica de Barcelona i Nacional de Catalunya (Barcelona Symphony Orchestra) (2006-2010). Alongside these posts, he served as Music Director of the Grand Teton Music Festival in Wyoming from 1997 to 2003, and was the driving force behind founding one of the Festival’s most loved events, the annual outdoor Fourth of July community concert. In addition to his directorship of this festival, his summer engagements in the US have included appearances at the Ravinia, Tanglewood, Grand Park, Wolf Trap, Round Top and Midland music festivals.

Eiji Oue has guest conducted throughout the United States, working with the most prestigious orchestras, including the New York Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic and the symphony orchestras of Detroit, Saint Louis, Montreal and Toronto. In Europe he has conducted the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra, Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, the symphony orchestra of the Gulbenkian Foundation in Lisbon, the Oslo Philharmonic, Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, National Orchestra of Spain, Swedish Radio Symphony, Munich Philharmonic, and the orchestras of the Deutsche Oper Berlin and WDR Cologne. In 2005 he made his debut at the Bayreuth Festival conducting Tristan und Isolde.

Highlights of recent seasons have included tours of Japan and South America with the NDR Philharmonic, his debuts at the Orquesta Sinfonia Brasileira, Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires and the Shanghai and Guangzhou Symphony Orchestras, performances with the Konzerthausorchester Berlin, the Tonkuenstler Orchestra of Vienna, the MDR Sinfonieorchester Leipzig, the Orquesta Sinfonica de Castilla y Leon and the Junge Deutsche Philharmonie, and a production of Die Fledermaus at Tokyo’s Nikikai Opera. In the 2013/14 season and beyond, he undertakes a tour of major European cities with the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra, and returns to the Bern Symphony, Warsaw Philharmonic, Barcelona Symphony, and Guangzhou Symphony Orchestras.

Eiji Oue has recorded extensively with the Minnesota Orchestra in repertoire including Bernstein, Stravinsky, Mahler, Strauss, Copland and Rachmaninov. With the NDR Hannover he has recorded the music of Antheil, Martinu, Schnittke, and Strauss’s orchestral songs with soprano Michaela Kaune, and for DG he recorded the violin concertos of Paganini and Spohr with Hilary Hahn. He has a particular passion for working with young musicians and since 2000 has been Professor of Conducting at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater Hannover. Among his numerous honours and awards are the 1980 Koussevitzky Prize at Tanglewood and both first prize and the Hans Haring Gold Medal at the 1981 Salzburg Mozarteum conducting competition. In November 2005 he received the Praetorius Music Prize from the state of Lower Saxony.

Booklet for Ottorino: Belkis, Queen Of Sheba Suite