23 Season 2014-2015

Thursday, February 12, at 8:00 The Philadelphia Orchestra Friday, February 13, at 8:00 Valery Gergiev Conductor

Stravinsky Symphony in C I. Moderato alla breve II. Larghetto concertante—Doppio movimento—Doppio valore— III. Allegretto—Meno mosso—Tempo I—Più mosso—Tempo I IV. Largo—Tempo giusto, alla breve

Shostakovich Symphony No. 9 in E-flat major, Op. 70 I. Allegro II. Moderato III. Presto— IV. Largo— V. Allegretto

Intermission

ProkofievSymphony No. 5 in B-flat major, Op. 100 I. Andante II. Allegro marcato III. Adagio IV. Allegro giocoso

This program runs approximately 2 hours, 10 minutes.

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. 224 Story Title 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. 25 Conductor

Marco Borggreve Conductor Valery Gergiev is the artistic and general director of the Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg. His leadership since 1988 has taken the Mariinsky ballet, opera, and orchestra ensembles to nearly 50 countries; at home he has overseen the building of the Mariinsky Concert Hall (2006) and the founding of the Mariinsky Label (2009) and the new Mariinsky II (2013) alongside the classic Mariinsky Theatre. He is founder and artistic director of the Stars of the White Nights and New Horizons festivals in St. Petersburg, the Moscow Easter Festival, the Rotterdam Philharmonic Gergiev Festival, the Mikkeli Music Festival, and the Red Sea Classical Music Festival in Eilat, Israel. He is also principal conductor of the World Orchestra for Peace. He made his Philadelphia Orchestra debut in 1999. Principal conductor of the London Symphony (LSO) since 2007, Mr. Gergiev performs with that orchestra at the Barbican Centre, the BBC Proms, and the Edinburgh International Festival, as well as on tours of Europe, North America, and Asia. In 2013 he led the debut international tour of the National Youth Orchestra of the U.S., an ensemble founded by Carnegie Hall’s Weill Music Institute; he leads it again on a 2016 tour of Europe. In the fall of 2016 he assumes the post of principal conductor of the Munich Philharmonic. Mr. Gergiev’s recordings have won awards in Europe, Asia, and the U.S. Recent releases on the Mariinsky Label include Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concertos No. 1 and 2; Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto No. 3, Symphony No. 5, and Romeo and Juliet; and Musorgsky’s Pictures from an Exhibition and A Night on Bald Mountain. Recent LSO Live releases include Brahms’s A German Requiem and Berlioz’s Symphonie fantastique. Mr. Gergiev has led numerous composer-centered concert cycles in New York, London, and other international cities, featuring the works of Berlioz, Brahms, Dutilleux, Mahler, Prokofiev, Shostakovich, Stravinsky, and Tchaikovsky, as well as Wagner’s Ring cycle. He has introduced audiences around the world to several rarely performed Russian operas. His many awards include the Dmitri Shostakovich Award, the Knight of the Order of the Dutch Lion, Japan’s Order of the Rising Sun, and the French Ordre National de la Légion d’Honneur. 26 Framing the Program

The Second World War was fought on many fronts and Parallel Events elicited numerous creative responses. The time proved 1939 Music especially fertile for writing symphonies. Tonight we hear Stravinsky Copland three works by Russian composers completed between Symphony in C Billy the Kid 1940 and 1945. Literature Joyce Stravinsky was a Russian who viewed himself as a citizen Finnegans Wake of the world. He left his native country in 1914, spent Art decades in Europe, and eventually settled in America. In Utrillo 1938 he started writing his Symphony in C, a brilliant and La Tour Saint witty piece that seems untouched either by world events Jacques or by personal tragedy unfolding during its composition History with the deaths of his daughter, mother, and first wife. Sikorsky builds first helicopter Shostakovich was the preeminent musician of the day back in the USSR, where his Seventh and Eighth 1944 Music symphonies had played a part in the war effort. A Prokofiev Barber celebratory character was therefore expected in 1945 for Symphony Symphony No. 2 his Ninth, which initially baffled audiences and angered No. 5 Literature authorities because of its light and satiric tone. Camus Caligula Like Stravinsky and Rachmaninoff, Prokofiev emigrated Art to the West after the Russian Revolution in 1917, but, Rivera unlike them, he decided to return, surprisingly, in 1936. The Rug Weaver He composed his optimistic Fifth Symphony just as Soviet History fortunes were improving and victory over the Germans D-Day landings was close at hand. in Normandy

1945 Music Shostakovich Strauss Symphony Oboe Concerto No. 9 Literature Orwell Animal Farm Art Moore Family Group History Vitamin A synthesized 27 The Music Symphony in C

The example of the great Classical symphonists fell heavily on composers of the 19th and early 20th centuries. The genre that Haydn and Mozart brought to prominence, and that Beethoven took to new heights, vexed many composers who followed, especially those working within the German tradition. As a young man, Igor Stravinsky found his inspiration and examples close to home. In his early 20s, he wrote a Symphony in E-flat, modeled on works by Sergei Taneyev and Alexander Glazunov, supervised and revised by his teacher Nikolai Igor Stravinsky Rimsky-Korsakov. Not a great success, not a failure, Born in Lomonosov, Stravinsky turned to ballet, composing his great trilogy Russia, June 17, 1882 (The Firebird, Petrushka, The Rite of Spring) for Sergei Died in New York, April 6, Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes, and creating various theater 1971 pieces, hybrid genres, concertos, and other sorts of compositions that bear little relationship to the German symphonic tradition. Stravinsky would later return to the symphony in both conventional and unconventional ways. His Symphony of Psalms (1930) is more recognizably an oratorio, the Symphonies of Wind Instruments (1920) a modest suite, and the Symphony in Three Movements (1945) a sort of Modernist concerto grosso. For his Symphony in C, however, Stravinsky leapt back to the Classical masters and squarely confronted their legacy. Georges Bizet’s charming Symphony in C (1855) and Prokofiev’s witty “Classical” Symphony (1917) likewise directly engaged with the past, although both of these neoclassical first symphonies were written by young composers not yet able to call upon the mature experiences that Stravinsky could. Sublimated Grief Stravinsky was in his late 50s when he wrote the Symphony in C, which dates from 1938 to 1940, during a period of unusual personal and historical upheavals. While himself in poor health, he lost three close family members within eight months. First was the death of his daughter, Lyudmila, on November 30, 1938. He later recalled, “It is no exaggeration to say that in the following weeks I was able to continue my own life only by my work on the Symphony in C.” But while Stravinsky acknowledged the personal importance of the creative act in dealing with his grief, he remained 28

adamant about the abstract nature of the music he wrote, a position consistent with statements he made throughout his maturity: “I did not seek to overcome my grief by portraying or giving expression to it in music, and you will listen in vain, I think, for traces of this sort of personal emotion.” His first wife and his mother died not long afterward. Once again, he turned to his Symphony for consolation and once again we are warned not to expect to find his cares displayed in the music: “I do not think [the second movement’s] classic formalities betray any more of my personal feelings of sorrow than did those of the first movement.” Dislocations and insecurities caused by the Second World War were also part of the context of the work’s creation, even if we may be hard pressed to hear this in the music. Unlike the “war symphonies” of Shostakovich, Prokofiev, Copland, and others, Stravinsky’s does not seem to make any grand statement on the times. Nor can one sense the personal disruptions of time and place. Each of the four movements was written in a different location: Paris, Switzerland, Massachusetts, and Hollywood. Stravinsky called this a work “divided down the middle” and feared that the “European half” was too much in another spirit than the final two American movements. The manuscript score is inscribed “to the Glory of God,” and Stravinsky dedicated the work to the Chicago Symphony on the occasion of its 50th anniversary. He conducted the first performance with that orchestra on November 7, 1940. Stravinsky used a smaller orchestra than he did in The Rite of Spring and most of his other major orchestral works, although he employed an ensemble that Mozart and Haydn never dreamed of. The pairs of woodwinds have a Classical precedent, but not the four horns, two trumpets, three trombones, and tuba. And yet Stravinsky’s deployment of these forces has a transparency rarely encountered in the Romantic symphonies of Brahms or Bruckner. A Closer Look One of Stravinsky’s greatest innovations was metrical. If Schoenberg “emancipated dissonance,” Stravinsky freed meter. The meter sometimes changes every measure in The Rite of Spring (although Stravinsky would simplify this in his later revision of the piece). The first and last movements of the Symphony in C possess remarkable rhythmic interest achieved through other means. The first movement (Moderato alla breve), for example, is in 2/2 meter from beginning to end. If an orchestra wanted (and could endure the resulting lack of musicality), it could follow a giant metronome clicking 29

Stravinsky composed his away in front. The score directs that the tempo should Symphony in C from 1938 to remain constant; no ritards are indicated either. Rather 1940. than through changing meters, the rhythmic vitality comes Robert Craft was the conductor from countless syncopations and cross rhythms. for the first Philadelphia The second movement Larghetto concertante begins Orchestra performances of the as a beautiful aria sung by the oboe against a string work, in January 1964. Since accompaniment. This chamber-music quality is interrupted then it has been performed only a handful of times, the by an agitated middle section. The third movement most recent being in April Allegretto follows without pause and provides contrast 2005, with Charles Dutoit with its full orchestration and metrical changes. In a conducting. Classical symphony, this movement would be some kind of dance, usually a minuet and trio, and although The Symphony is scored here it is hard to identify any specific dance—or to try to for three flutes (III doubling dance to it—some of these qualities remain. The music piccolo), two oboes, two clarinets, two bassoons, four becomes increasingly contrapuntal and ends with a horns, two trumpets, three fugal texture. Although written more than two years trombones, tuba, timpani, and after the first movement, the final Largo breathes the strings. same air and helps to frame the entire work. Once again, the syncopations, accents, and cross rhythms create a Performance time is variety and interest that belie the unchanging four-square approximately 30 minutes. meter. The movement opens with bassoons, horns, and trombones intoning a slow theme that leads to a Tempo giusto. The Largo section returns later in the movement, which closes with a variant of that material for full winds and brass in long-held notes. —Christopher H. Gibbs 30 The Music Symphony No. 9

Since Beethoven, composers whose symphonic output has taken them as far as the number “nine” have often approached the notion of a Ninth Symphony with trepidation. It was, after all, Beethoven’s last completed symphonic gesture that had put forward the notion of the symphony as a work in which one could make grand statements about ultimate truths. Composers such as Bruckner and Mahler had bought into this mythology—and not just in their Ninths. Bruckner could not complete the last movement of his Ninth; it remained a glorious torso Dmitri Shostakovich upon his death in 1896. A decade later the superstitious Born in St. Petersburg, Mahler (who openly dreaded that a ninth symphony September 25, 1906 would surely be his last) tried to “trick” fate by giving his Died in Moscow, August 9, ninth symphonic work a colorful title (The Song of the 1975 Earth) instead of a number, but then proceeded to write a symphony called No. 9 but actually his tenth in order. (He died two years after finishing No. 9—unable, finally, to complete his Tenth.) Grand Expectations A half-century later, when Dmitri Shostakovich approached his Ninth—roughly at the midpoint of his career—not only the Romantic mythology of “Ninths” but also the very idea of writing symphonies at all was beginning to be viewed as quaint and old- fashioned. Nevertheless Shostakovich approached the work with some fear, though for reasons quite different from those that had plagued Bruckner and Mahler. He wrote his Ninth in the summer of 1945, when the Soviets were celebrating the end of World War II—with grand paeans to the glory of Joseph Stalin. Shostakovich, having composed two large symphonies during the war (No. 7, the “Leningrad,” and No. 8), was now expected to complete the triptych with a big, dramatic apotheosis of the cult-figure of Stalin. “They wanted a fanfare from me, an ode, they wanted me to write a majestic Ninth Symphony,” he is quoted as saying in Testimony, Simon Volkov’s colorfully controversial (and still heavily disputed as to its authenticity) “memoir” published in 1979 that for many wholly revised the view of Shostakovich as a humbly obedient socialist. “And they demanded that Shostakovich use quadruple winds, choir, and soloists to hail the leader. All the more because Stalin found the number nine 31 auspicious: the Ninth Symphony. Stalin always listened to experts and specialists carefully … he assumed that the symphony in his honor would be a quality piece of music. He would be able to say, There it is, our national Ninth.” The composer was probably taking a huge risk in defying the expectations of the cultural apparatchiks. What he did write, instead of a grand apotheosis, was his most light-hearted and openly satirical symphony. “My Ninth Symphony differs materially in character from my previous symphonies, the Seventh and the Eighth,” was his official— and laughably understated—version printed in the Soviet press. “Whereas my Seventh and Eighth are heroico- tragic, a light and sunny mood prevails in my Ninth.” The work was first performed in a piano-duet version, with the composer and Sviatoslav Richter, in September 1945 in Moscow; the first public performance was in Leningrad on November 3, with Evgeny Mravinsky conducting the Leningrad Conservatory Orchestra. The audience was puzzled, for instead of an hour-long grand apotheosis they were greeted with a 30-minute gem of Haydnesque wit and humor. Shostakovich had always reveled in the sardonic. “When listeners laugh at a concert of my symphonic music, I am not in the least bit shocked,” he had written in a Soviet magazine a decade before. “In fact, I am pleased.” The composer we perhaps too often associate with somber portrayals of heavy emotion was in fact one of the wittiest musicians who ever lived. “I want to defend the right of laughter to appear in what is called ‘serious’ music,” he wrote, touching on a truth known to great composers through the ages: that humor in art exists not just to elicit laughter, but to reveal truth. This is certainly the case in the Ninth Symphony, in which comic hysteria reveals a larger, and more sinister, purpose. “I knew I was in for it when I wrote the Ninth,” the composer is quoted in Testimony. “Stalin was incensed. He was deeply offended because there was no chorus, no soloists. And no apotheosis. There wasn’t even a paltry dedication. It was just music, which Stalin didn’t understand very well.” It would be seven years before Shostakovich approached the symphonic genre again. A Closer Look The opening Allegro sets the tone immediately: It is a wry statement on sonata-allegro procedure, a hilarious slap in the face of the staid and stately conventions of symphonic form itself—with bright, splashy themes veering and stretching and threatening 32

Shostakovich composed his to break at any moment. The second subject, a ditzy fife- Symphony No. 9 in 1945. and-drum march, defies the grand historic Stalinesque Eugene Ormandy led the moment with shocking frankness. first Philadelphia Orchestra The Moderato takes on a somewhat mournful mood, performances of the Ninth, in however, with wind solos that reveal, perhaps, the true November 1948. The most melancholy behind all this bustling energy. The last three recent appearances of the movements are played without break. The Presto is a work on subscription concerts were in January 1999, with dazzling scherzo, with a central trumpet solo to inspire a Yakov Kreizberg on the podium. mock-militarism. In the sober Largo—which is actually little more than a transition to the finale—the solo The score calls for piccolo, two bassoon conveys a mood so desolate that it seems to flutes, two oboes, two clarinets, belong to a different piece altogether. High spirits return two bassoons, four horns, two in the Allegretto, a dashing finale in which the initial trumpets, three trombones, Haydnesque wit gives way, finally, to something more tuba, timpani, percussion (triangle, tambourine, cymbals, nearly resembling the hysterics of one who fears, literally, snare drum, bass drum), and for his life. strings. —Paul J. Horsley The work runs approximately 30 minutes in performance. 33 The Music Symphony No. 5

One is hard pressed to identify positive things associated with the horrors of war. Yet musicians, like other artists through the ages, have often used their creative gifts to deal with tragedy and their music has helped others to cope as well. The Second World War inspired an unusually large quantity of significant music and nowhere more so than in the genre of the symphony. Some of them were written in the heat of war, others as the conflict was ending or after victory had been achieved. The emotions exhibited in these works range from despair to hope, from Sergei Prokofiev the bitterness of defeat to the exultation of victory. Born in Sontsovka, Ukraine, April 23, 1891 War Symphonies It is perhaps telling that while no Died in Moscow, March 5, German or Italian symphonies composed during the 1953 war are remembered today, many from other countries remain impressive monuments. Aaron Copland’s Third, widely considered the “Great American Symphony,” was premiered in October 1946, after the Allied victory. (The work incorporates his Fanfare for the Common Man, composed for the war effort four years earlier.) Igor Stravinsky’s Symphony in Three Movements, Ralph Vaughan Williams’s Fifth and Sixth symphonies, and a number of Bohuslav Martinů’s symphonies are among other enduring works that either openly or in more subtle ways engaged with the perilous times. Which brings us to the Soviet Union, where the relationship between the arts and politics was always complex and where the war extracted the largest number of causalities. The two leading Russian composers of the day both made important symphonic contributions: Dmitri Shostakovich with his Seventh Symphony, the “Leningrad” (1941), and Sergei Prokofiev with his Fifth Symphony (1944). These works were composed in dire times, received triumphant premieres, made the rounds internationally led by eminent conductors, and were enthusiastically greeted by appreciative audiences. Americans embraced both symphonies by their Soviet allies. Shostakovich was hailed on the cover of Time magazine in August 1942 and Prokofiev appeared on the cover three years later, after the premiere of the Fifth Symphony in January 1945. 34

Prokofiev’s Path to the FifthFor all its success, Prokofiev’s path to his Fifth was an arduous one— personally, professionally, and most specifically with regard to how to write a substantive work in a genre that kept causing him some difficulty. After enjoying a privileged childhood, molded by parents eager to cultivate his obvious musical gifts, Prokofiev went on to study at the St. Petersburg Conservatory with leading Russian composers of the day, including Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov and Reinhold Glière. He won early fame with challenging Modernist scores that were unlike what most composers were writing in Russia during the 1910s. Then came the October Revolution of 1917. Like other prominent figures from similarly comfortable family backgrounds, including Stravinsky and Rachmaninoff, Prokofiev left Russia. He made a long journey through Siberia, stopped off in Tokyo, and finally arrived in New York City in early September 1918. He would live in America, Paris, and other Western cities for nearly 20 years. In 1927 he returned for a visit to the Soviet Union and began to spend an increasing amount of time in his transformed native country. In the summer of 1936, with timing that boggles the mind today, he moved back permanently with his wife and their two young sons. He spent the rest of his life there, riding a roller coaster of official favor and stinging condemnation. He died on March 5, 1953, the same day as Joseph Stalin. Prokofiev had composed his First Symphony, the “Classical,” in the summer of 1917, before leaving Russia. This brief work, which charmingly looks back to Haydn, remains a popular repertory item but hardly represented a bold new symphonic statement. His next symphony was disappointingly received at its Paris premiere in 1925 under Serge Koussevitzky. For his symphonies No. 3 (1928) and No. 4 (1930) Prokofiev recycled music he had previously written for opera and ballet scores and still seemed to be struggling with the genre, which may explain a comment he made about the Fifth: “I consider my work on this symphony very significant both because of the musical material put into it and because I returned to the symphonic form after a 16-year interval. The Fifth Symphony completes, as it were, a long period of my works.” A Triumphant Premiere Prokofiev wrote some of his most compelling music during the Second World War, including the opera War and Peace, the ballet Cinderella, the Second String Quartet, and three impressive piano sonatas. Given the grim circumstances in the Soviet 35

Union, the Fifth Symphony was born under relatively comfortable conditions during the summer of 1944, which Prokofiev spent in an artists’ colony set up by the Union of Composers at Ivanovo, some 160 miles from Moscow. (Shostakovich, Glière, Kabalevsky, and other prominent figures were also there.) After absolutely devastating years for the Soviet Union in their struggle against the Germans, things were beginning to look more hopeful with the news from Normandy and Poland. By the time Prokofiev conducted the premiere at the Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatory on January 13 there was real good news: The day before the Soviet Army had surged forward. The work was heard after intermission and as Time reported: It was exactly 9:30 p.m. A woman announcer in a black dress stepped to the platform. Said she: “In the name of the fatherland there will be a salute to the gallant warriors of the First Ukrainian front who have broken the defenses of the Germans—20 volleys of artillery from 224 guns.” The dark days of Stalingrad were over; the Polish offensive of January 1945 had begun. As she spoke, the first distant volley shook the hall. That evening was a complete triumph for Prokofiev, but also an ending of sorts. The concert proved to be the last time he conducted as just a few days later he had a serious fall, most likely the result of untreated high blood pressure, and was ill, although productive, for the remaining eight years of his life. A Closer Look Prokofiev excelled in many genres, producing chamber, choral, and keyboard music, impressive concertos, as well a distinguished quantity of dramatic music: operas, ballets, and film scores. As mentioned earlier, symphonies proved a challenge for him and may be one reason he recycled music he had written earlier for stage projects. The Fifth Symphony does not do so to nearly the extent of his previous two essays in the genre, but it does have moments that may remind listeners of War and Peace and uses some musical ideas originally conceived for his ballet Romeo and Juliet. The seriousness of the four-movement Symphony is immediately apparent from the spare opening theme of the Andante, played by flutes and bassoon. This builds to a grand statement of epic scope, one that returns in the finale. There is throughout the work a profusion of thematic material and Prokofiev’s prodigious lyrical gifts 36

Prokofiev composed his are fully evident—what sounds like a passionate love Symphony No. 5 in 1944. theme is followed by a nervous repeated note motif, all of The first Philadelphia Orchestra which are seamlessly integrated. The first movement ends performances of the Symphony with a bold coda that pounds out the opening theme, took place in January 1947, now fully orchestrated and at full volume, suggestive of with George Szell on the Prokofiev’s comment that he “conceived it as a symphony podium. The Philadelphians of the greatness of the human spirit.” have performed the work many times, including on American The following scherzo (Allegro marcato) has both light and European tours. Its most and more ominous elements, showing off the composer’s recent appearance on a deft balletic writing as well as his affinity for the subscription series was in April grotesque. The following Adagio returns us to a lyrical, 2013, with Jaap van Zweden even elegiac, tone with soaring themes and a funereal conducting. middle section. Themes from the preceding movements are reviewed in the final Allegro giocoso, which begins The Orchestra recorded the Symphony three times: in with a slow introduction. The music has an inexorable 1957 for CBS with Eugene quality of moving forward and reaches a marvelous coda. Ormandy; in 1975 for RCA After all the epic grandeur heard to this point, the texture with Ormandy; and in 1990 for suddenly shifts to chamber music, with string soloists, Philips with Riccardo Muti. percussion, piano, and harp taking frantic center stage before the thrilling final chord for the full orchestra. Prokofiev’s score calls for piccolo, two flutes, two oboes, —Christopher H. Gibbs English horn, two clarinets, E-flat clarinet, bass clarinet, two bassoons, contrabassoon, four horns, three trumpets, three trombones, tuba, timpani, percussion (bass drum, cymbals, snare drum, suspended cymbal, tam- tam, tambourine, triangle, woodblock), piano, harp, and strings. Performance time is approximately 50 minutes.

Program notes © 2015. All rights reserved. Program notes may not be reprinted without written permission from The Philadelphia Orchestra Association. 37 Musical Terms

GENERAL TERMS of a composition within a and recapitulation, the Chord: The simultaneous composer’s output last sometimes followed sounding of three or more Oratorio: Large-scale by a coda. The exposition tones dramatic composition is the introduction of Coda: A concluding originating in the 16th the musical ideas, which section or passage added century with text usually are then “developed.” In in order to confirm the based on religious subjects. the recapitulation, the impression of finality Oratorios are performed exposition is repeated with Concertante: A work by choruses and solo modifications. featuring one or more solo voices with an instrumental Suite: A set or series of instruments accompaniment, and pieces in various dance Concerto grosso: A are similar to operas but forms type of concerto in which without costumes, scenery, Syncopation: A shift of a large group (known as and actions. rhythmic emphasis off the the ripieno or the concerto Rondo: A form frequently beat grosso) alternates with used in symphonies and a smaller group (the concertos for the final THE SPEED OF MUSIC concertino) movement. It consists (Tempo) Counterpoint: A of a main section that Adagio: Leisurely, slow term that describes alternates with a variety of Alla breve: Twice as fast the combination of contrasting sections (A-B- as before simultaneously sounding A-C-A etc.). Allegretto: A tempo musical lines Scherzo: Literally “a between walking speed Cross rhythm: The joke.” Usually the third and fast simultaneous use of movement of symphonies Allegro: Bright, fast conflicting rhythmic and quartets that was Andante: Walking speed patterns or accents introduced by Beethoven Doppio movimento: Dissonance: A to replace the minuet. The Twice as fast combination of two or more scherzo is followed by a Doppio valore: Twice as tones requiring resolution gentler section called a trio, slow Fugue: A piece of music after which the scherzo is Giocoso: Humorous in which a short melody repeated. Its characteristics Larghetto: A slow tempo is stated by one voice are a rapid tempo in triple Largo: Broad and then imitated by the time, vigorous rhythm, and Marcato: Accented, other voices in succession, humorous contrasts. Also stressed reappearing throughout an instrumental piece of Meno mosso: Less the entire piece in all the a light, piquant, humorous moved (slower) voices at different places character. Moderato: A moderate Meter: The symmetrical Sonata form: The form in tempo, neither fast nor grouping of musical which the first movements slow rhythms (and sometimes others) Più mosso: Faster Op.: Abbreviation for opus, of symphonies are usually Presto: Very fast a term used to indicate cast. The sections are Tempo giusto: the chronological position exposition, development, Appropriate tempo 38 February The Philadelphia Orchestra Jessica Griffin Enjoy the ultimate in flexibility with a Create-Your-Own 3-Concert Series today! Choose 3 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 30 performances including:

Valentine’s Concert Saturday, February 14 8 PM Stéphane Denève Conductor The Philadelphia Shakespeare Theatre Walton Selections from As You Like It Berlioz Overture to Beatrice and Benedict Tchaikovsky Romeo and Juliet Mendelssohn Excerpts from Incidental Music to A Midsummer Night’s Dream Gil Shaham Friday, February 20 8 PM Saturday, February 21 8 PM Sunday, February 22 2 PM Robin Ticciati Conductor Gil Shaham Violin Wagner Prelude to Act I of Lohengrin Berg Violin Concerto Ligeti Atmosphères Debussy La Mer

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.