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Home , Maxim Shostakovich, Orlando Cole, The Limpid Stream, The Nose (opera)

Season 2013-2014 The Orchestra

Thursday, May 1, at 8:00

Yannick Nézet-Séguin Conductor

Barber Adagio for Strings, Op. 11

3 Story Title 25 The Philadelphia Orchestra Jessica Griffin

The Philadelphia Orchestra community itself. His concerts to perform in China, in 1973 is one of the preeminent of diverse repertoire attract at the request of President orchestras in the world, sold-out houses, and he has Nixon, today The Philadelphia renowned for its distinctive established a regular forum Orchestra boasts a new sound, desired for its for connecting with concert- partnership with the National keen ability to capture the goers through Post-Concert Centre for the Performing hearts and imaginations of Conversations. Arts in Beijing. The Orchestra audiences, and admired for annually performs at Under Yannick’s leadership a legacy of innovation in Carnegie Hall while also the Orchestra returns to music-making. The Orchestra enjoying annual residencies in recording with a newly- is inspiring the future and Saratoga Springs, N.Y., and at released CD on the Deutsche transforming its rich tradition the Bravo! Vail festival. Grammophon label of of achievement, sustaining Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring Musician-led initiatives, the highest level of artistic and Leopold Stokowski including highly-successful quality, but also challenging transcriptions. In Yannick’s PlayINs, shine a spotlight on and exceeding that level, by inaugural season the the Orchestra’s musicians, creating powerful musical Orchestra has also returned as they spread out from the experiences for audiences at to the radio airwaves, with stage into the community. home and around the world. weekly Sunday afternoon The Orchestra’s commitment Music Director Yannick broadcasts on WRTI-FM. to its education and Nézet-Séguin triumphantly community partnership Philadelphia is home and opened his inaugural initiatives manifests itself the Orchestra nurtures an season as the eighth artistic in numerous other ways, important relationship not leader of the Orchestra including concerts for families only with patrons who support in fall 2012. His highly and students, and eZseatU, the main season at the collaborative style, deeply- a program that allows full- Kimmel Center but also those rooted musical curiosity, time college students to who enjoy the Orchestra’s and boundless enthusiasm, attend an unlimited number other area performances paired with a fresh approach of Orchestra concerts for at the Mann Center, Penn’s to orchestral programming, a $25 annual membership Landing, and other venues. have been heralded by fee. For more information on The Orchestra is also a global critics and audiences alike. The Philadelphia Orchestra, ambassador for Philadelphia Yannick has been embraced please visit www.philorch.org. and for the U.S. Having been by the musicians of the the first American orchestra Orchestra, audiences, and the 4 Music Director

Nigel Parry/CPi Yannick Nézet-Séguin continues his inspired leadership as the eighth music director of The Philadelphia Orchestra, which began in the fall of 2012. His highly collaborative style, deeply- rooted musical curiosity, and boundless enthusiasm, paired with a fresh approach to orchestral programming, have been heralded by critics and audiences alike. The New York Times has called Yannick “phenomenal,” adding that under his baton “the ensemble … has never sounded better.” He has taken the Orchestra to new musical heights. His second season builds on the momentum of the first with highlights that included a Philadelphia Commissions Micro-Festival, for which three leading composers were commissioned to write solo works for three of the Orchestra’s principal players. The season ends with a unique, theatrically-staged presentation of Strauss’s revolutionary Salome, a first-ever co-production with Opera Philadelphia.

Yannick has established himself as a musical leader of the highest caliber and one of the most exciting talents of his generation. Since 2008 he has been music director of the Rotterdam Philharmonic and principal guest conductor of the London Philharmonic, and since 2000 artistic director and principal conductor of Montreal’s Orchestre Métropolitain. In addition he becomes the first ever mentor conductor of the Curtis Institute of Music’s conducting fellows program in the fall of 2013. He has made wildly successful appearances with the world’s most revered ensembles, and has conducted critically acclaimed performances at many of the leading opera houses.

Yannick Nézet-Séguin and Deutsche Grammophon (DG) enjoy a long-term collaboration. Under his leadership the Orchestra returns to recording with a newly-released CD on that label of Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring and Leopold Stokowski transcriptions. Yannick continues a fruitful recording relationship with the Rotterdam Philharmonic for DG, BIS, and EMI/Virgin; the London Philharmonic for the LPO label; and the Orchestre Métropolitain for ATMA Classique.

A native of Montreal, Yannick Nézet-Séguin studied at that city’s Conservatory of Music and continued lessons with renowned conductor Carlo Maria Giulini and with Joseph Flummerfelt at Westminster Choir College. Among Yannick’s honors are an appointment as Companion of the Order of Canada, one of the country’s highest civilian honors; a Royal Philharmonic Society Award; Canada’s National Arts Centre Award; the Prix Denise- Pelletier, the highest distinction for the arts in Quebec, awarded by the Quebec government; and an honorary doctorate by the University of Quebec in Montreal.

To read Yannick’s full bio, please visit www.philorch.org/conductor. 28 The Music Adagio for Strings

The hauntingly elegiac second movement of ’s String in B minor, Op. 11, is the composer’s most famous work—just not in its original version. Arturo Toscanini premiered Barber’s own arrangement of the piece for full string orchestra with the NBC Symphony Orchestra in 1938. Under the title Adagio for Strings the work catapulted the 28-year-old composer to fame and eventually emerged as one of the most beloved pieces of the 20th century.

Samuel Barber Legendary Slow Movements Slow movements Born in West Chester, seem particularly susceptible to such independent fame. , March 9, 1910 The second movement (actually marked Allegretto) Died in New York City, of Beethoven’s Seventh Symphony was one of the January 23, 1981 composer’s most popular works during his lifetime. The Leipzig Allgemeine musikalische Zeitung called it “the crown of modern instrumental music” and noted that it had to be repeated at its 1813 premiere. The movement was often performed apart from the rest of the Symphony in the years to follow. The Adagietto from Mahler’s Fifth Symphony won a similar fame. Scored for just strings and harp, the movement became Mahler’s best known piece and, like Barber’s Adagio, entered popular culture through its use in films. In addition to their cinematic appropriations, Barber’s Adagio and Mahler’s Adagietto also share the distinction of being called upon in times of mourning and crisis. The Adagio for Strings was heard on the radio just after the announcement of Franklin D. Roosevelt’s death in 1945 and was later enlisted for memorial services of other prominent figures. The list of luscious slow movements could go on. As with Barber and Mahler, and with especially popular ones from the Baroque period by Bach, Pachelbel, and Albinoni (who actually did not write his celebrated Adagio in G minor), these pieces are usually scored either entirely or most prominently for strings. Barber’s original dates from 1936. Another ethereal work was on his mind when he began composing it that summer in . As he wrote in a letter: “I finished copying [Wagner’s] Siegfried ‘Idyll’ the other day, a sort of 29

Barber composed his String joyful penitence for certain orchestral indiscretions which Quartet in B minor, from which I committed this winter. How beautiful the instrumentation the Adagio for Strings is drawn, of the ‘Idyll’ is!” He went on to remark how “difficult” in 1936. writing a quartet was proving, but by mid-September could Eugene Ormandy conducted prophetically report to Orlando Cole, cellist of the Curtis the first Philadelphia Orchestra String Quartet: “I have just finished the slow movement of performances of the Adagio in my quartet today—it is a knockout! Now for a Finale.” The December 1943. The work was last movement continued to cause Barber a great deal of last led on subscription concerts trouble; it went through various revisions even after the by Charles Dutoit in October Quartet’s American premiere at the Library of Congress in 2009. April 1937. The Orchestra recorded the Toscanini and the Premiere Barber had met Toscanini in work twice with Ormandy, in Italy a few years earlier and the conductor took an interest 1957 for Sony and in 1978 for in the young composer, going so far as to say that he would EMI. The Adagio also appears on The Philadelphia Orchestra: like to perform some of his music. In the spring of 1938 The Centennial Collection Barber sent him the Adagio for Strings and his Essay for (Historic Broadcasts and Orchestra, but they were returned without any response. Recordings from 1917-1998) According to Barber’s own later account, he declined to in a 1985 performance led by visit Toscanini that summer in Italy. When his companion, Klaus Tennstedt. composer , went alone and offered excuses that his absence was due to health, the conductor The score calls for five-part orchestral strings. replied: “I don’t believe that. He’s mad at me. Tell him not to be mad. I’m not going to play one of his pieces, I’m going to Performance time is play both.” approximately eight minutes. Toscanini’s performance of both compositions with the NBC Symphony, then in its second season, was nationally broadcast on November 5, 1938. The Adagio for Strings was generally well received, notably from New York Times critic Olin Downes, but it sparked controversy in letters to the paper. Some complained that the piece was not identifiably American while others objected that it was not modern. Toscanini performed the Adagio for Strings on tour in South America and England and in 1942 recorded the work, further enhancing its fame. Barber later made yet another arrangement of the piece, a choral version to which he fitted the words of the “Agnus Dei.” A Closer Look It may not be surprising that Barber’s final reincarnation for his Quartet movement should be religious—a solemn, even chant-like character is evident from the start. The Adagio opens with the first of a series of slow phrases consisting of a stepwise diatonic melody accompanied by chords from the other strings. The work builds to a powerful climax, louder, more chromatic, and in the highest register of the instruments. After a grand pause the music settles down with the calm return of the opening theme. —Christopher H. Gibbs Season 2012-2013 The Philadelphia Orchestra

Friday, January 18, at 2:00

Yannick Nézet-Séguin Conductor

Shostakovich Symphony No. 5 in D minor, Op. 47 I. Moderato—Allegro non troppo II. Allegretto III. Largo IV. Allegro non troppo

3 Story Title 25 The Philadelphia Orchestra Jessica Griffin

Renowned for its distinctive vivid world of opera and Orchestra boasts a new sound, beloved for its choral music. partnership with the keen ability to capture the National Centre for the Philadelphia is home and hearts and imaginations Performing Arts in Beijing. the Orchestra nurtures of audiences, and admired The Orchestra annually an important relationship for an unrivaled legacy of performs at Carnegie Hall not only with patrons who “firsts” in music-making, and the Kennedy Center support the main season The Philadelphia Orchestra while also enjoying a at the Kimmel Center for is one of the preeminent three-week residency in the Performing Arts but orchestras in the world. Saratoga Springs, N.Y., and also those who enjoy the a strong partnership with The Philadelphia Orchestra’s other area the Bravo! Vail Valley Music Orchestra has cultivated performances at the Mann Festival. an extraordinary history of Center, Penn’s Landing, artistic leaders in its 112 and other venues. The The ensemble maintains seasons, including music Philadelphia Orchestra an important Philadelphia directors Fritz Scheel, Carl Association also continues tradition of presenting Pohlig, Leopold Stokowski, to own the Academy of educational programs for Eugene Ormandy, Riccardo Music—a National Historic students of all ages. Today Muti, Wolfgang Sawallisch, Landmark—as it has since the Orchestra executes a and Christoph Eschenbach, 1957. myriad of education and and Charles Dutoit, who community partnership Through concerts, served as chief conductor programs serving nearly tours, residencies, from 2008 to 2012. With 50,000 annually, including presentations, and the 2012-13 season, its Neighborhood Concert recordings, the Orchestra Yannick Nézet-Séguin Series, Sound All Around is a global ambassador becomes the eighth music and Family Concerts, and for Philadelphia and for director of The Philadelphia eZseatU. the United States. Having Orchestra. Named music been the first American For more information on director designate in 2010, orchestra to perform in The Philadelphia Orchestra, Nézet-Séguin brings a China, in 1973 at the please visit www.philorch.org. vision that extends beyond request of President Nixon, symphonic music into the today The Philadelphia

32 The Music Symphony No. 5

The life and career of were in a perilous state when he began writing his Fifth Symphony in April 1937. The 30-year-old composer had recently experienced a precipitous fall from the acclaim he had enjoyed throughout his 20s, ever since he burst on the musical scene at age 19 with his brash and brilliant First Symphony. That work won him overnight fame and extended his renown far beyond the . Shostakovich also received considerable attention for his contributions to the screen and stage, including film Dmitri Shostakovich scores, ballets, incidental music, and two full-scale : Born in St. Petersburg, and Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District. The September 25, 1906 latter enjoyed particular popular and critical success in Died in Moscow, the Soviet Union and abroad after its premiere in January August 9, 1975 1934, so much so that a new production was presented at the Bolshoi Theater in Moscow two years later. A Fall from Grace And that is when the serious troubles began that changed the course of Shostakovich’s life. Stalin attended Lady Macbeth on January 26, 1936, and left before the end of the performance. A few days later an article entitled “” appeared in Pravda, the official newspaper of the Communist Party. The anonymous critic wrote that the opera “is a leftist bedlam instead of human music. The inspiring quality of good music is sacrificed in favor of petty-bourgeois formalist celebration, with pretense at originality by cheap clowning. This game may end badly.” Those terrifying last words were life-threatening; this was not just a bad review that could hamper a thriving career. The article was soon followed by another in Pravda attacking his ballet , and then by yet another. The musical establishment, with a few brave exceptions, lined up in opposition to Shostakovich. He was working at the time on a massive Fourth Symphony, which went into rehearsals in December 1936. At the last moment, just before the premiere, the work was withdrawn, most likely at the insistence of the authorities. The impressive Symphony would have to wait 25 years for unveiling in 1961. (The Philadelphians gave the American premiere in 1963.) 33

The Return of Shostakovich The composer, whose first child had just been born, was well aware of the show trials and mounting purges, as friends, family, and colleagues disappeared or were killed. He faced terrifying challenges in how to proceed after the sustained attacks on his music. He composed the first three movements of the Fifth Symphony with incredible speed—he later recounted that he wrote the Largo in just three days— although the finale slowed him down. The completion of his new symphony is usually dated July 29, 1937, but the most recent investigation for a new critical edition indicates that composition continued well into the fall. The notable premiere took place on November 21 with the Leningrad Philharmonic under Evgeny Mravinsky. In the words of Shostakovich biographer Laurel Fay: “The significance of the occasion was apparent to everyone. Shostakovich’s fate was at stake. The Fifth Symphony, a non-programmatic, four-movement work in a traditional, accessible symphonic style, its essence extrapolated in the brief program note as ‘a lengthy spiritual battle, crowned by victory,’ scored an absolute, unforgettable triumph with the listeners.” The funereal third movement, the Largo, moved many listeners to tears. According to one account, members of the audience, one by one, began to stand during the extravagant finale. Composer Maximilian Steinberg, a former teacher of Shostakovich, wrote in his diary: “The ovation was stupendous, I don’t remember anything like it in about the last ten years.” Yet the enormous enthusiasm from musicians and non-musicians alike—the ovations reportedly lasted nearly a half hour—could well have been viewed as a statement against the Soviet authorities’ rebukes of the composer—artistic triumphs could spell political doom. Two officials were sent to monitor subsequent performances and concluded that the audience had been selected to support the composer—a false charge made even less tenable by the fact that every performance elicited tremendous ovations. The Importance of Art It may be difficult for contemporary American audiences to appreciate how seriously art was taken in the Soviet Union. The attention and passions, the criticism and debates it evoked—dozens of articles, hours of official panels at congresses, and abundant commentary—raised the stakes for art and for artists. For his part Shostakovich remained silent at the time about the Fifth Symphony. He eventually stated that the quasi-autobiographical work was about the “suffering 34

Shostakovich composed his of man, and all-conquering optimism. I wanted to convey Symphony No. 5 in 1937. in the Symphony how, through a series of tragic conflicts Leopold Stokowski led the first of great inner spiritual turmoil, optimism asserts itself as a Philadelphia performances of world view.” Shostakovich’s Fifth Symphony, The best-known remark about the work is often in March 1939. Since then misunderstood. In connection with the Moscow premiere the Orchestra has performed of the Symphony, Shostakovich noted that among all the work many times at home, as well as on domestic and the attention it had received, one interpretation gave international tours, including him “special pleasure, where it was said that the Fifth performances in Russia under Symphony is the practical creative response of a Soviet Eugene Ormandy in 1958. artist to just criticism.” This last phrase was subsequently Among the other conductors attributed to the composer as a general subtitle for the to lead the piece here are Symphony. Yet as Fay has observed, Shostakovich never István Kertész, André Previn, agreed with what he considered the unjust criticism of his Riccardo Muti, Yuri Temirkanov, earlier work, nor did he write the Fifth along the lines he , Leonard had been told to do. Most importantly, he gave no program Slatkin, Wolfgang Sawallisch, or title to it at any time. The work, which reportedly was one and Christoph Eschenbach. the composer thought particularly highly of in later years, The most recent subscription went on to be one of his most popular and successful performances were with compositions and a staple of the symphonic repertory. Charles Dutoit in June 2009. A Closer Look The first movement (Moderato) opens The Philadelphians have recorded the Symphony several with the lower strings intoning a striking, jagged theme, times: in 1939 for RCA with which is immediately imitated by the and gradually Stokowski; in 1965 for CBS winds down to become an accompaniment to an eerie with Ormandy; in 1975 for theme that floats high above in the upper reaches of RCA with Ormandy; in 1992 the violins. The tempo eventually speeds up (Allegro for EMI with Muti; and in 2006 non troppo), presenting a theme that will appear in with Eschenbach for Ondine. different guises elsewhere in the Symphony, most notably Shostakovich scored the transformed in the triumphant conclusion. work for piccolo, two , The brief scherzo-like Allegretto shows Shostakovich’s two , two , increasing interest at the time in the music of Mahler, in E-flat , two , this case the Fourth Symphony, which also includes a , four horns, grotesque solo. The Largo, the movement that so three , three moved audiences at the first performances, projects a , tuba, timpani, percussion ( drum, tragic mood of enormous intensity. The brass instruments cymbals, orchestra bells, do not play at all in the movement, but return in full force , tam-tam, triangle, to dominate the finale (Allegro non troppo). The “over ), harp, the top” exuberance of this last movement has long been (doubling celesta), and strings. debated, beginning just after the first performances. Especially following the effect of the preceding lament, The Symphony runs some have found the optimistic triumphalism of the approximately 45 minutes in performance. ending forced and ultimately false. Perhaps it is the ambiguity still surrounding the work that partly accounts for its continued appeal and prominence. —Christopher H. Gibbs Program notes © 2013.