Season 2014-2015

Home , Herbie (franchise), Violin Sonata (Strauss)

27 Season 2014-2015

Friday, September 26, at 8:00 The Philadelphia Orchestra Saturday, September 27, at 8:00 Sunday, September 28, Yannick Nézet-Séguin Conductor at 2:00 Lang Lang Piano

Saint-Saëns “Bacchanale,” from Samson and Delilah (9/26 only)

Borodin In the Steppes of Central Asia (9/27 only)

Williams Essay for Strings (9/28 only)

Mozart Piano Concerto No. 17 in G major, K. 453 I. Allegro II. Andante III. Allegretto—Presto

Intermission

Strauss An Alpine Symphony, Op. 64

This program runs approximately 2 hours, 5 minutes.

The opening works on these concerts were voted on and chosen by the audience.

designates a work that is part of the 40/40 Project, which features pieces not performed on subscription concerts in at least 40 years.

Philadelphia Orchestra concerts are broadcast on WRTI 90.1 FM on Sunday afternoons at 1 PM. Visit www.wrti.org to listen live or for more details. 28

Please join us immediately following the September 28 concert for a Chamber Postlude, featuring members of The Philadelphia Orchestra.

Strauss Violin Sonata in E-flat major, Op. 18 I. Allegro ma non troppo II. Improvisation: Andante cantabile III. Finale: Andante—Allegro Dara Morales Violin Amy Yang Piano 3 Story Title 29 The Philadelphia Orchestra Jessica Griffin The Philadelphia Orchestra is one of the preeminent orchestras in the world, renowned for its distinctive sound, desired for its keen ability to capture the hearts and imaginations of audiences, and admired for a legacy of imagination and innovation on and off the concert stage. The Orchestra is transforming its rich tradition of achievement, sustaining the highest level of artistic quality, but also challenging—and exceeding—that level by creating powerful musical experiences for audiences at home and around the world. Music Director Yannick Nézet-Séguin’s 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 since his inaugural season in 2012. Under his leadership the Orchestra returned to recording with a celebrated CD of Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring and Leopold Stokowski transcriptions on the Deutsche Grammophon label, continuing its history of recording success. The Orchestra also reaches thousands of listeners on the radio with weekly Sunday afternoon broadcasts on WRTI-FM. Philadelphia is home, and the Orchestra nurtures an important relationship with patrons who support the main season at the Kimmel Center, and also with those who enjoy the Orchestra’s other area performances at the Mann Center, Penn’s Landing, and other cultural, civic, and learning venues. The Orchestra maintains a strong commitment to collaborations with cultural and community organizations on a regional and national level. Through concerts, tours, residencies, presentations, and recordings, the Orchestra is a global ambassador for Philadelphia and for the United States. Having been the first American orchestra to perform in China, in 1973 at the request of President Nixon, today The Philadelphia Orchestra boasts a new partnership with the National Centre for the Performing Arts in Beijing. The ensemble annually performs at Carnegie Hall and the Kennedy Center while also enjoying summer residencies in Saratoga Springs, New York, and Vail, Colorado. The Philadelphia Orchestra has a decades-long tradition of presenting learning and community engagement opportunities for listeners of all ages. The Orchestra’s recent initiative, the Fabulous Philadelphians Offstage, Philly Style!, has taken musicians off the traditional concert stage and into the community, including highly-successful Pop- Up concerts, PlayINs, SingINs, and ConductINs. The Orchestra’s musicians, in their own dedicated roles as teachers, coaches, and mentors, serve a key role in growing young musician talent and a love of classical music, nurturing and celebrating the wealth of musicianship in the Philadelphia region. For more information on The Philadelphia Orchestra, please visit www.philorch.org. 6 Music Director

Chris Lee Music Director Yannick Nézet-Séguin continues his inspired leadership 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 Nézet-Séguin “phenomenal,” adding that under his baton, “the ensemble, famous for its glowing strings and homogenous richness, has never sounded better.” He has taken the Orchestra to new musical heights. Highlights of his third season as music director include an Art of the Pipe Organ festival; the 40/40 Project, in which 40 great compositions that haven’t been heard on subscription concerts in at least 40 years will be performed; and Bernstein’s MASS, the pinnacle of the Orchestra’s five- season requiem cycle.

Yannick has established himself as a musical leader of the highest caliber and one of the most exciting talents of his generation. He has been music director of the Rotterdam Philharmonic since 2008 and artistic director and principal conductor of Montreal’s Orchestre Métropolitain since 2000. He also continues to enjoy a close relationship with the London Philharmonic, of which he was principal guest conductor. He has made wildly successful appearances with the world’s most revered ensembles, and he 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 Philadelphia Orchestra returned to recording with a CD on that label of Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring and Leopold Stokowski transcriptions. He continues a fruitful recording relationship with the Rotterdam Philharmonic on DG, EMI Classics, and BIS Records; the London Philharmonic and Choir 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; and honorary doctorates from the University of Quebec in Montreal and the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia.

To read Yannick’s full bio, please visit www.philorch.org/conductor. 30 Soloist

Outumuro Superstar pianist Lang Lang has played sold-out concerts in every major city across the globe, from intimate recital halls to the grandest of stages—including the 2014 World Cup concert in Rio de Janeiro with Plácido Domingo; the opening ceremony of the 2008 Beijing Olympics, where more than four billion people around the world viewed his performance; the last night of the Proms at London’s Royal Albert Hall; and the Liszt 200th birthday concert with The Philadelphia Orchestra and Charles Dutoit, which was broadcast live in more than 300 movie theaters around the United States and 200 cinemas across Europe. A graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music, Lang Lang is the first Chinese pianist to be engaged by the Vienna, Berlin, and New York philharmonics and is a regular soloist with The Philadelphia Orchestra. He made his debut with the Philadelphians in May 2001 at the Academy of Music under the baton of Wolfgang Sawallisch and most recently appeared in May 2013 at Verizon Hall with Simon Rattle. Named one of Time magazine’s “100 most influential people in the world,” Lang Lang has formed enduring musical partnerships with numerous artists, from conductors such as Daniel Barenboim and Gustavo Dudamel, to artists from outside classical music, including singer Julio Iglesias, jazz titan Herbie Hancock, and hip hop dancer Marquese “Nonstop” Scott. He served as the first official ambassador of the YouTube Symphony, a role that combined two of his great loves: music and outreach through technology. An exclusive recording artist with Sony Music Entertainment since February 2010, Lang Lang’s latest release is a recording with Mr. Rattle and the Berlin Philharmonic featuring piano concertos by Prokofiev and Bartók. He also serves as cultural ambassador of the cities of Shenzhen and Shenyang. Lang Lang credits the Tom and Jerry cartoon “The Cat Concerto” (featuring Liszt’s Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2) with introducing him to the music of that composer. He retains a childlike excitement about what he calls “his second career”: bringing music into the lives of children around the world, both through his work for charities such as UNICEF and through the Lang Lang International Foundation. A Steinway piano, specially designed for early music education, has been named for him. And his biography, Journey of a Thousand Miles, includes a version for younger readers. 31 Framing the Program

The Philadelphia Orchestra’s 115th season takes flight Parallel Events by initiating the 40/40 Project, a broadening of the 1784 Music ensemble’s repertoire that will feature 40 works not Mozart Salieri performed on subscription concerts in at least the last Piano Concerto Les Danaïdes 40 years (or ever), in honor of Yannick Nézet-Séguin’s No. 17 Literature 40th birthday. Philadelphia audiences were asked to vote Kant through electronic and social media and three favorites “What is open the three respective concerts this weekend. Enlightenment?” Art Few concertos more delightfully display Mozart’s David extraordinary capacity to combine the instrumental and Oath of the dramatic sides of his genius than the Piano Concerto in Horatii G major. The marvelous final movement reminds us of the History great creator of comic operas. Its opening theme (said to Treaty of be based on tune sung by his pet starling) breathes the Constantinople same air as the bird-catcher Papageno in The Magic Flute. Philadelphia favorite and Curtis Institute of Music graduate 1915 Music Strauss Bloch Lang Lang returns to perform the joyous Concerto. An Alpine Schelomo This season the Philadelphians continue a two-year Symphony Literature celebration of the 150th anniversary of Richard Strauss’s Maugham birth. The great German composer conducted the Of Human Orchestra many times on his two trips to America, in 1904 Bondage and 1921. An Alpine Symphony was his final large-scale Art tone poem and charts a mountain climbing expedition, Chagall The Birthday observing nature’s wonders as well as its challenges, History such as a terrifying storm. The majestic work calls for Sinking of an enormous orchestra that includes wind and thunder Lusitania machines, cowbells, and an offstage brass ensemble.

1965 Music Williams Bernstein Essay for Chichester Strings Psalms Literature Fleming Thunderball Art Warhold Atomic Bomb History Watts Race Riots 32 The Music “Bacchanale,” from Samson and Delilah

Parisian through and through, yet unmistakably a musician for the world, Camille Saint-Saëns stands as one of the great masters of 19th-century French music. The facility of his melodic and symphonic gift is often praised, and the dash and verve of his virtuoso piano writing have made his concertos a familiar presence on concert programs. Yet his preeminence as a composer for the stage is often overlooked outside France, largely because Samson and Delilah is the only one of his 21 dramatic works that appears with any frequency. Completed in 1877, when the Camille Saint-Saëns 42-year-old composer was newly (and at first, happily) Born in Paris, October 9, wed to a young woman half his age, the opera stands 1835 alone in Saint-Saëns’s dramatic oeuvre as a work of Died in Algiers, sustained inspiration that continues to hold audiences December 16, 1921 today—with gripping characterization, meltingly beautiful Saint-Saëns composed vocal lines, and brilliant ensembles and choruses. The Samson and Delilah from composer’s sense of vocal declamation hits the mark like 1869 to 1877. that of few French opera composers of the second half of the century. Leopold Stokowski conducted the first Philadelphia Like Handel’s Samson, Saint-Saëns’s biblical tale of faith, Orchestra performance of strength, and sensuality was conceived as an oratorio, the “Bacchanale” in February another genre in which Saint-Saëns excelled. Because 1913 on a “Pop” concert. he focused on musical elements from the start—often at Tonight is the first subscription the expense of dramatic aspects—his Samson and Delilah performance by the Orchestra. succeeds in concert version like few 19th-century operas. The Orchestra recorded the He had begun the piece as early as 1869, when he work four times: in 1920 and received the libretto from his cousin, Ferdinand Lemaire. 1927 with Stokowski for RCA; Progress on the work was interrupted for two years by in 1964 with Eugene Ormandy the Franco-Prussian war; Franz Liszt heard of the opera for CBS; and in 1972 with after it was completed and, intrigued by its subject and Ormandy for RCA. by its curious blend of opera and oratorio, presented its The score calls for piccolo, two world premiere in Weimar (in German). Not until 13 years flutes, two oboes, English horn, later did the Paris Opera stage the first French-language two clarinets, bass clarinet, production, after which the piece became part of the two bassoons, contrabassoon, repertory of opera companies the world over. four horns, two trumpets, two cornets, three trombones, tuba, The climactic second scene of Act II takes place in the timpani, percussion (bass drum, Temple of Dagon, where the Philistines are preparing a castanets, cymbals, triangle), sacrifice to celebrate their triumph over the Hebrews. The harp, and strings. well-known “Bacchanale” sequence develops into a scene of raucous debauchery and orgiastic pleasure. Performance time is approximately seven minutes. —Paul J. Horsley 33 The Music In the Steppes of Central Asia

Born the illegitimate child of an aging Georgian prince, Borodin was raised by his mother and the retired army doctor she later married. Following in his stepfather’s career, young Alexander studied medicine and quickly advanced in the fields of chemistry and pathology. At age 31 he became a full professor at the St. Petersburg Medico-Surgical Academy, and he devoted much of his life to research in the sciences. Music was for him a sort of avocation, despite the fact that he had shown extraordinary artistic capacity from childhood. (“I do not seek recognition as a composer,” he wrote, “for I Alexander Borodin am somehow ashamed of admitting to my compositional Born in St. Petersburg, activities. … For me this is a relaxation, a pastime, an November 12, 1833 indulgence that distracts me from my principal work.”) Died there, February 27, 1887 Almost as well-known as his beloved Polovtsian Dances Borodin composed In the from Prince Igor is the scintillating tone poem In the Steppes Steppes of Central Asia in of Central Asia, composed in 1880 as one of several 1880. tableaux vivants commissioned from 12 different composers Leopold Stokowski led the as part of the Silver Jubilee of the reign of Czar Alexander first Philadelphia Orchestra II. Each composer was assigned an event or period from performances of the work in the first 25 years of Alexander’s reign, and Borodin’s January 1929. The most recent piece “celebrated” the meeting of the eastern and western appearance on subscription peoples, as Russia confronted the Mongols and other concerts was in March 1959, Asiatic races. Dedicated to Franz Liszt—a great admirer of with Eugene Ormandy. Borodin’s music—the piece was first performed at court in Ormandy and the Orchestra 1880 and was published in Hamburg two years later. recorded the work in 1959 for The composer wrote a vividly picturesque “program” for the CBS. piece, which is reproduced at the beginning of the printed Borodin’s score calls for two score, and which can serve as a guide for listening: “Out flutes, oboe, English horn, of the silence of the sandy steppes of Central Asia come two clarinets, two bassoons, the sounds of a peaceful Russian song. There are heard, four horns, two trumpets, too, the melancholy strains of Oriental melodies and the three trombones, timpani, and stamping of horses and camels. A caravan, escorted by strings. Russian soldiers, crosses the measureless desert, pursuing The piece runs approximately its way serenely under the protection of Russian arms. The seven minutes in performance. caravan continuously moves forward. The songs of the Russians and the Asiatics mingle in common harmony, their refrain gradually dying away in the distance.” —Paul J. Horsley 34 The Music Essay for Strings

John Williams’s sound has dominated film music for decades, the dramatic arc of its melodies and deep colors of its orchestration showing up in the films of directors such as Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, and Oliver Stone, and limning the memories of millions who enjoy such cinematic franchises as Home Alone, Harry Potter, Indiana Jones, and, of course, Star Wars. Born in Queens, Williams moved with his family to Los Angeles when he was 16. “Johnny Williams,” as he was John Williams known in his young days, served a long apprenticeship Born in New York, to the film music industry, working as studio pianist for February 8, 1932 senior Hollywood composers such as Henry Mancini and Now living in Hollywood, Jerry Goldsmith, orchestrating music by other composers California (including Franz Waxman and Alfred Newman), scoring “B” movies in the 1950s, and enduring the weekly chore of providing music for the TV series Lost in Space (1965-68). Then he orchestrated the 1971 film version of the Broadway hit Fiddler on the Roof and won his first Oscar for it. Directors began to notice him. Williams’s score for The Reivers (1969) was a breakthrough. In 1972 his music for the John Wayne film The Cowboys got the attention of young director Steven Spielberg, who hired Williams to score Sugarland Express (1974). Thus began one of the longest lasting director-composer collaborations in cinematic history. Jaws (1975) sealed the Spielberg-Williams partnership and suddenly John (he had long since dropped “Johnny”) Williams was in demand. At exactly the right moment, the right film appeared to make Williams a household name. Spielberg suggested Williams to his friend George Lucas for Star Wars (1977). A large part of the film’s spectacular success owed to Williams’s epic music, which caught the sweep of the action and the personalities of the characters. He later scored all five subsequent films in the franchise; in 2005 the American Film Institute named the music for the original Star Wars as the Best Movie Score of All Time. His other films score include Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Superman, E.T.: the Extra-Terrestrial, The Witches of Eastwick, JFK, Schindler’s List, Jurassic Park, Saving Private Ryan, Memoirs of a Geisha, and War Horse. He has received 49 Oscar nominations (more than anyone except 39

John Williams composed his Walt Disney) and won four times for Best Original Score: Essay for Strings in 1965. Jaws, Star Wars, E.T., and Schindler’s List. He has also Lucas Richman was on the garnered 21 Grammy awards. In 2004 Williams received podium for the first Philadelphia the Kennedy Center Honor and in 2009 he was given the Orchestra performance of National Medal of Arts at the White House. From 1980 the Essay, in July 2012 at the to 1993 he was principal conductor of the Boston Pops Mann Center. Today is the first Orchestra; he is today its laureate conductor. subscription performance by the Orchestra. John Williams has composed a number of concert works, complementing his enormous cinematic output. Essay for The score calls for strings alone. Strings, premiered in December 1965 by the Houston Performance time is Symphony and André Previn, is one of the earliest. In approximately 12 minutes. program notes for the first performance, the composer wrote: … (I)ts character is essentially dramatic. After a quiet introduction, the main “rowlike” theme appears. This is followed quickly by just a suggestion of the driving 16th-note “motor” figure which eventually, after other development, moves the work into its final section. It is here that the main theme joins the motor figure and they combine to propel the piece to its conclusion. —Kenneth LaFave 40 The Music Piano Concerto No. 17

Mozart may not have invented the piano concerto, but he was the composer who really made the genre matter. It took him awhile. His earliest piano concertos were arrangements of piano sonatas by J.C. Bach and lesser lights; most likely they were assignments given to the pre- teen composer by his father. The Concerto in D major, K. 175, was Mozart’s first independent piano concerto, which he wrote at age 17. Three more followed early in 1776, before the magnificent “Jenamy” Concerto in E-flat (K. 271) in January 1777, the month of his 21st birthday. Wolfgang Amadè Mozart Born in Salzburg, The Mature Concertos The Concerto we hear today was January 27, 1756 the fourth of an astounding series of 12 Mozart composed Died in Vienna, in Vienna between 1784 and 1786, at the summit of his December 5, 1791 public career. Recently married to singer Constanze Weber, finally freed—for the most part—from the domination of his father in Salzburg, and soon to be a father himself, Mozart was enjoying new kinds of professional success as a mature musician, one whose gifts clearly went much deeper than his earlier miraculous exploits as a child prodigy. Piano concertos best allowed Mozart to display the scope of his gifts to the Viennese public. He often performed as the keyboard soloist when the works were premiered, which gave him the chance to shine in the dual roles of composer and pianist. The concertos became his star vehicles as he sought fame during the 1780s and as he presented them at concerts for which he took personal financial responsibility, in the hopes of supporting himself and his growing family. Mozart occasionally composed piano concertos for use by others, as is the case with his relatively modest Concerto in E-flat (K. 449), written in February 1784 for Barbara (Babette) von Ployer, and the marvelous G-major Concerto (K. 453) we hear today, which dates from a few months later and which was also composed for her. Barbara studied piano with Mozart and he clearly thought highly of her gifts, as later did Haydn, who dedicated a set of variations to her after Mozart’s death. The G-major Concerto was performed at a concert Barbara’s father, Gottfried Ignaz von Ployer, gave in his home on June 13, 1784. 41

Mozart composed the Piano The middle 1780s, when Mozart was in his late 20s, were Concerto No. 17 in 1784. also the years of his three great Italian operas, those written to texts by Lorenzo Da Ponte: The Marriage of The first complete Figaro, Don Giovanni, and Così fan tutte. The spirit of these performances of Mozart’s phenomenal works, filled with intrigue, drama, playfulness, Piano Concerto No. 17 weren’t and character, often found instrumental expression in the until January/February 1970, piano concertos of the period. Today this is particularly with Sviatoslav Richter as soloist and Eugene Ormandy evident in the final movement—especially the coda—that conducting. The work has been is imbued with the spirit of comic opera and is one of the performed only three times wittiest pieces of music Mozart ever wrote. since then on subscription A Closer Look The first movement Allegro opens with concerts; in February 1984 an orchestral presentation of two themes, the first of with Radu Lupu and Riccardo which, as so often in Mozart’s concertos, has a march-like Muti, in February 1990 character, although in this instance gentle rather than with Emanuel Ax and Klaus Tennstedt/William Smith, and militaristic. Soon after the piano solo, a prominent third in March/April 2011 with theme is added. The spirit of this movement is at turns Marc-André Hamelin and Jun playful, tender, lyrical, song-like, and simply beautiful—the Märkl. master in top form. When Mozart performed his own concertos, he would improvise cadenzas—the flashy solo The above 1970 performance sections that occur near the end of some movements—and can be found in The therefore had no need to write them down. But because Philadelphia Orchestra: The Mozart wrote this piece for someone else, he felt called Centennial Collection (Historic upon to provide cadenzas. Broadcasts and Recordings from 1917-1998). The lengthy second movement (Andante) begins with a delicate string passage before a solo oboe and other The Concerto is scored for an woodwinds enter. Mozart provides a leisurely introduction, orchestra of solo piano, flute, just as he did to various solemn arias in his operas, before two oboes, two bassoons, two the soloist enters. horns, and strings. “That was lovely!” So Mozart wrote in his expense book The work runs approximately on May 27, 1784, after notating the theme that his pet 32 minutes in performance. starling sang—the theme, just a bit off, that forms the basis of the delightful final variation movement (Allegretto) of the G-major Piano Concerto. The orchestra first presents the theme, one that bears some resemblance to the music Mozart would write some years later for the bird catcher Papageno in The Magic Flute. The theme is crisply stated by the orchestra in repeated and evenly-balanced sections. Five variations follow, the first prominently featuring the piano against the unobtrusive orchestra, while the second gives the theme to the ensemble with the soloist providing filigree above. An extended Presto finale brings the Concerto to its excited, exciting, and brilliantly playful conclusion. —Christopher H. Gibbs 42 The Music An Alpine Symphony

During the early years of the 20th century, Europe’s two great conductor-composers observed each other largely from a distance—with bemusement, friendly regard, and some envy. Richard Strauss and Gustav Mahler were wise enough to maintain a sincere respect for each other’s artistic gifts. Each conducted and promoted the other’s works. And when Mahler died in 1911, at the age of 50, the slightly younger Strauss—who would proceed to live for nearly four more decades—was moved and saddened. “Mahler’s death has affected me greatly,” he wrote. Richard Strauss Born in Munich, June 11, It was shortly after this loss that he set to work in earnest 1864 on a piece begun much earlier and that can ultimately be Died in Garmisch- viewed as a tribute to Mahler’s spirit. An Alpine Symphony Partenkirchen, marked Strauss’s return to instrumental music after a September 8, 1949 decade devoted primarily to writing operas—Salome, Elektra, and Der Rosenkavalier. It was his first piece sporting this genre-title since his Symphonia domestica of 1903 and reveals an affinity to the natural world similar to that found in many of Mahler’s symphonies. It is a paean to sweeping mountain landscapes, tranquil meadows, and terrifying spring storms—in short, to the grandeur and awe of nature itself. A Nature Symphony The initial conception for an “alpine” symphony had occurred to the composer many years before, after an eventful boyhood mountain hike in which Strauss and his friends had become lost on the way up a mountain and then drenched in a torrent on the way down. Once Strauss arrived back home he recorded his musical impressions of this exhilarating adventure. He later wrote to his friend Ludwig Thuille that these early sketches “naturally contained a lot of nonsense and dramatic Wagnerian tone-painting.” For a number of years after the experience the composer toyed with the idea of a symphony in this vein. In 1900 he wrote to his parents of a work that was gestating in his mind that “would begin with a sunrise in Switzerland.” Some sketches from this time point toward a piece in two movements with the title “Tragedy of an Artist.” He returned to the project 10 years later, this time for a four-movement work called “The Alps.” The idea, as 43 musicologist Charles Youmans has observed, was to follow “an artist’s evolving perception of nature to the stage at which it could be used as a liberation from metaphysics.” The Death of Mahler Then Strauss heard of Mahler’s death. He noted in his diary: “The death of this aspiring, idealistic, energetic artist is a grave loss. … As a Jew, Mahler was still able to find exaltation in Christianity. As an old man the hero Wagner returned to it under the influence of Schopenhauer. It is absolutely clear to me that the only way the German nation can regain its vitality is by liberating itself from Christianity. … I shall call my alpine symphony ‘The Antichrist’ for it has: moral regeneration through one’s own efforts, liberation through work, adoration of eternal, magnificent Nature.” Strauss composed most of An Alpine Symphony at his chalet in the mountain setting of Garmisch, completing the sketches in 1914 and orchestrating them during the next year. The work was finished by February 1915. By this time the “Antichrist” title drawn from Nietzsche (who had inspired his earlier tone-poem Also sprach Zarathustra) had been dropped, although the idea of surmounting religion and all metaphysics through the adoration of nature remained. Strauss conducted the premiere on October 28, 1915, in Berlin with the Dresden Hofkapelle Orchestra. During rehearsals he commented to the orchestra: “I have finally learned to orchestrate.” Although the piece received mixed reviews, Strauss retained affection for it and chose it as one of the works he wished to present on concerts in England in 1948, the year before his death. Leopold Stokowski led what was billed as a U.S. premiere of An Alpine Symphony in April 1916—though a “hearing” had been presented by the Cincinnati Symphony two days before the first Philadelphia performance. A Closer Look The vast one-movement composition, which includes some of Strauss’s most vivid tone-painting, calls for an enormous orchestra and lasts longer than any of his other orchestral compositions. He cast it in 22 continuous sections, each carefully titled so as to recount successively the tale of the youthful mountain adventure. The titles serve as a relatively straightforward guide for listening: “Night” opens with a unison B-flat chord and a descending scale against which is intoned an ominous brass chorale theme; “Sunrise” continues the slow 44

An Alpine Symphony was introduction; one is reminded of the famous parallel composed from 1911 to 1915. occurrence in Also sprach Zarathustra. Leopold Stokowski conducted The main body of the work now begins with the vigorous the first Philadelphia Orchestra theme of “The Ascent,” which features hunting horns performances of the piece in sounded in the distance. “Entry into the Forest” offers April 1916; most recently on some repose and magical orchestration reminiscent of subscription Charles Dutoit led Wagner’s “Forest Murmurs” from Siegfried, coupled with the work in February 2008. Mahlerian bird calls. Water sounds make an appearance The Philadelphians recorded in “Wandering Beside the Brook” and then becomes the work with André Previn in a torrent with “At the Waterfall.” “Apparition” refers to 1983 for EMI. a legendary Alp fairy or sprite and leads to “On the The Symphony is scored for Flowering Meadows.” four flutes (III and IV doubling “The Alpine Pasture” opens with cowbells, such as piccolo), three oboes (III Mahler had used in his Sixth and Seventh symphonies, doubling English horn), heckelphone, three clarinets as well as with yodeling effects. The climbers now get (III doubling bass clarinet), lost in “Through Thicket and Brush on Wrong Paths” E-flat clarinet, four bassoons before emerging at the magnificent “On the Glacier.” The (IV doubling contrabassoon), following “Dangerous Moments” depicts the perils as they 16 horns, four trumpets, two get higher and reach “On the Summit.” The destination tubas, two timpani, percussion has been achieved and there is now “The Vision,” “The (bass drum, cow bell, cymbals, Mists Rise,” “The Sun Gradually Darkens,” “Elegy,” and glockenspiel, snare drum, tam- “Calm Before the Storm.” tam, thunder machine, triangle, wind machine), two harps, Next the “Thunderstorm” erupts and is one of the most celeste, organ, and strings. striking and harrowing musical depictions of a torrent ever composed; it features both a wind machine and a thunder An Alpine Symphony runs machine. The climbers begin their “Descent” and themes approximately 52 minutes in we heard on the way up pass in rather quick review on performance. the way down. The final three sections are more nostalgic: “Sunset,” “Conclusion,” and “Night,” which bring us back to the music with which the entire symphonic poem began. —Paul J. Horsley/Christopher H. Gibbs

GENERAL TERMS the works of Mozart made concertos for the final Aria: An accompanied by Ludwig von Köchel movement. It consists solo song (often in ternary Legato: Smooth, even, of a main section that form), usually in an opera without any break between alternates with a variety of or oratorio notes contrasting sections (A-B- Cadence: The conclusion Meter: The symmetrical A-C-A etc.). to a phrase, movement, grouping of musical Scale: The series of or piece based on a rhythms tones which form (a) any recognizable melodic Octave: The interval major or minor key or (b) formula, harmonic between any two notes the chromatic scale of progression, or dissonance that are seven diatonic successive semi-tonic resolution (non-chromatic) scale steps Cadenza: A passage or degrees apart Symphonic poem: section in a style of brilliant Op.: Abbreviation for opus, A type of 19th-century improvisation, usually a term used to indicate symphonic piece in one inserted near the end of a the chronological position movement, which is based movement or composition of a composition within a upon an extramusical idea, Chorale: A hymn tune composer’s output. Opus either poetic or descriptive of the German Protestant numbers are not always Ternary: A musical form Church, or one similar in reliable because they are in three sections, ABA, in style. Chorale settings are often applied in the order which the middle section vocal, instrumental, or both. of publication rather than is different than the outer Chord: The simultaneous composition. sections sounding of three or more Oratorio: Large-scale Tonic: The keynote of a tones dramatic composition scale Chromatic: Relating to originating in the 16th tones foreign to a given century with text usually THE SPEED OF MUSIC key (scale) or chord based on religious subjects. (Tempo) Coda: A concluding Oratorios are performed Allegretto: A tempo section or passage added by choruses and solo between walking speed in order to confirm the voices with an instrumental and fast impression of finality accompaniment, and Allegro: Bright, fast Dissonance: A are similar to operas but Andante: Walking speed combination of two or more without costumes, scenery, Presto: Very fast tones requiring resolution and actions. K.: Abbreviation for Köchel, Rondo: A form frequently the chronological list of all used in symphonies and 46 October The Philadelphia Orchestra

Jessica Griffin Enjoy the ultimate in flexibility with a Create-Your-Own 6-Concert Series today! Choose 6 or more concerts that fit your schedule and your tastes. Hurry, before tickets disappear for this exciting season.

There’s still time to subscribe and receive exclusive subscriber benefits! Choose from over 70 performances including:

Yannick Conducts Rachmaninoff Premium October 8, 9, & 11 8 PM Yannick Nézet-Séguin Conductor Jean-Yves Thibaudet Piano Glazunov “Autumn,” from The Seasons Khachaturian Piano Concerto Rachmaninoff Symphony No. 1 The Stunning Slavic Mass October 16 & 18 8 PM October 17 2 PM Alan Gilbert Conductor Tatiana Monogarova Soprano Kelley O’Connor Mezzo-soprano Anthony Dean Griffey Tenor John Relyea Bass The Philadelphia Singers Chorale David Hayes Music Director Sibelius Night Ride and Sunrise Dvořák The Golden Spinning Wheel Janáček Glagolitic Mass LiveNote, the Orchestra’s interactive concert guide for mobile devices, will be enabled for these performances.

TICKETS Call 215.893.1999 or log on to www.philorch.org PreConcert Conversations are held prior to every Philadelphia Orchestra subscription concert, beginning 1 hour before curtain. All artists, dates, programs, and prices subject to change. All tickets subject to availability.