Reggio Emilia — At the Teatro Municipale Valli, the Filarmonica Arturo Toscanini, conducted by the young Moldovan maestro Stepan Armasar, with Mischa Maisky as cello soloist, presented a program of rare intelligence and variety, spanning different languages and sensibilities: from the contemporary world premiere of Nature’s Cry by Martino Traversa, to the great Romantic symphonism of Antonín Dvořák’s Symphony No. 9, passing through Camille Saint-Saëns’s Cello Concerto No. 1 in A minor and Maisky’s own refined transcription for cello and orchestra of Lensky’s aria from Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin.

The evening’s real revelation was undoubtedly the conducting of the twenty-six-year-old Stepan Armasar, winner of both First Prize and the Audience Award at the 2025 Toscanini Competition. The young Moldovan conductor impressed with his interpretative maturity, clarity of gesture, and remarkable control of the orchestra, confirming himself as a genuine talent and an already fully formed musical personality.

The Toscanini Orchestra, in splendid form, responded with precision, intensity, and cohesion, confirming the significant artistic growth that has, in recent years, firmly placed it among Italy’s finest orchestras. Particularly striking was the ensemble’s versatility in tackling such diverse repertoire: Traversa’s contemporary language, the Slavic lyricism of Tchaikovsky, the brilliant French concertante writing of Saint-Saëns, and the expansive, vibrant symphonism of Dvořák.

Also highly noteworthy was Martino Traversa’s new composition, Nature’s Cry, commissioned by the Toscanini Foundation as part of the Ecosounds project. Conceived as a suspended sonic landscape between modernity and impressionistic suggestion, the piece effectively develops the idea of a “cry of nature,” evoking layered and unsettling atmospheres without ever resorting to overtly descriptive effects.

Mischa Maisky, a legendary cellist and artist of undeniable charisma, appeared more convincing in the Tchaikovsky piece than in the Saint-Saëns concerto. In Lensky’s aria, the sound became intensely lyrical, almost vocal in character, whereas in the French concerto there were signs of some fatigue in tone production and occasional imprecision in the more virtuosic passages. The composition itself, though beloved by cellists for its virtuosic writing and rich timbral palette, does not necessarily lend itself to unforgettable interpretations, revealing a somewhat episodic structure more concerned with effect than with genuine expressive depth. Yet the greatness of the performer remained unquestionable, acknowledged by a genuine ovation from the Reggio Emilia audience and reaffirmed in the Bach encore — the Sarabande from the Fifth Suite for Solo Cello — performed with near-ascetic concentration and intensity.

The truly unforgettable moment of the evening, however, was the New World Symphony. Armasar avoided every trace of easy folkloristic rhetoric and every picturesque reading of a score too often trivialized by its popularity. Instead, his interpretation delved deeply into the complexity of Dvořák’s writing, bringing out its rich orchestral colors, dense network of internal references, and the continuous transformation of thematic material.

Particularly extraordinary was the second movement: an Adagio shaped with very broad tempi, allowing the depth of the orchestral texture and the extraordinary dynamic variety of the score to emerge fully. The melodies seemed to arise from afar, surfacing from a distant sonic space in a play of orchestral layers and perspectives of rare suggestiveness, almost perceived as modern spatializations of sound. It was an intense, thoughtful, and strikingly modern reading.

The final triumph celebrated by the Reggio Emilia audience ultimately crowned the young conductor above all — the true protagonist of an evening destined to leave a lasting impression.

By Daniela Iotti