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Suite Bergamasque 27 Season 2015-2016 Wednesday, September 30, at 7:00 The Philadelphia Orchestra Opening Night Gala Yannick Nézet-Séguin Conductor Bach/orch. Stokowski Toccata and Fugue in D minor, BWV 565 Debussy/orch. Stokowski “Clair de lune,” from Suite bergamasque Dukas The Sorcerer’s Apprentice Tchaikovsky from Suite from The Nutcracker, Op. 71a (with Disney’s Fantasia): III. Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy VII. Dance of the Reed Flutes V. Arabian Dance VI. Chinese Dance IV. Russian Dance VIII. Waltz of the Flowers This program runs approximately 1 hour, 15 minutes, and will be performed without an intermission. We thank the musicians of The Philadelphia Orchestra and Music Director Yannick Nézet-Séguin who are graciously donating their services in support of this event and The Philadelphia Orchestra. Philadelphia Orchestra concerts are broadcast on WRTI 90.1 FM on Sunday afternoons at 1 PM. Visit WRTI.org to listen live or for more details. 3 Story Title 29 The Philadelphia Orchestra Jessica Griffin The Philadelphia Orchestra Orchestra also reaches Carnegie Hall and the is one of the preeminent thousands of listeners on the Kennedy Center while also orchestras in the world, radio with weekly Sunday enjoying summer residencies renowned for its distinctive afternoon broadcasts on in Saratoga Springs, New sound, desired for its WRTI-FM. York, and Vail, Colorado. keen ability to capture the Philadelphia is home and The Philadelphia Orchestra hearts and imaginations the Orchestra nurtures an of audiences, and admired serves as a catalyst for important relationship with for a legacy of imagination cultural activity across patrons who support the and innovation on and off Philadelphia’s many main season at the Kimmel the concert stage. The communities, as it builds an Orchestra is transforming its Center, and also with those offstage presence as strong rich tradition of achievement, who enjoy the Orchestra’s as its onstage one. The sustaining the highest area performances at the Orchestra’s award-winning level of artistic quality, but Mann Center, Penn’s Landing, Collaborative Learning also challenging—and and other cultural, civic, initiatives engage over exceeding—that level by and learning venues. The 50,000 students, families, creating powerful musical Orchestra maintains a strong and community members experiences for audiences at commitment to collaborations through programs such as home and around the world. with cultural and community PlayINs, side-by-sides, PopUp organizations on a regional concerts, free Neighborhood Music Director Yannick and national level. Concerts, School Concerts, Nézet-Séguin’s highly collaborative style, deeply- Through concerts, tours, and residency work in rooted musical curiosity, residencies, presentations, Philadelphia and abroad. and boundless enthusiasm, and recordings, the Orchestra The Orchestra’s musicians, paired with a fresh approach is a global ambassador for in their own dedicated to orchestral programming, Philadelphia and for the roles as teachers, coaches, have been heralded by United States. Having been and mentors, serve a key critics and audiences alike the first American orchestra role in growing young since his inaugural season in to perform in China, in 1973 musician talent and a love 2012. Under his leadership at the request of President of classical music, nurturing the Orchestra returned to Nixon, The Philadelphia and celebrating the wealth recording, with two celebrated Orchestra today boasts a new of musicianship in the CDs on the prestigious partnership with the National Philadelphia region. For Deutsche Grammophon Centre for the Performing more information on The label, continuing its history Arts in Beijing. The ensemble Philadelphia Orchestra, of recording success. The annually performs at please visit www.philorch.org. 6 Music Director Chris Lee Music Director Yannick Nézet-Séguin is an inspired leader of The Philadelphia Orchestra, and he has renewed his commitment to the ensemble through the 2021-22 season. 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 him “phenomenal,” adding that under his baton, “the ensemble, famous for its glowing strings and homogenous richness, has never sounded better.” Highlights of his fourth season include a year-long exploration of works that exemplify the famous Philadelphia Sound, including Mahler’s Symphony No. 8 and other pieces premiered by the Orchestra; a Music of Vienna Festival; and the continuation of a commissioning project for principal players. Yannick has established himself as a musical leader of the highest caliber and one of the most thrilling 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 two CDs on that label; the second, Rachmaninoff’s Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini with pianist Daniil Trifonov, was released in August 2015. He continues fruitful recording relationships 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 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 appointments as Companion of the Order of Canada and Officer of the National Order of Quebec, a Royal Philharmonic Society Award, Canada’s National Arts Centre Award, the Prix Denise-Pelletier, and honorary doctorates from the University of Quebec, the Curtis Institute of Music, and Westminster Choir College. To read Yannick’s full bio, please visit www.philorch.org/conductor. 31 Framing the Program The Philadelphia Orchestra’s Opening Night Concert this Parallel Events season celebrates the 75th anniversary of Fantasia, Walt 1708 Music Disney’s masterpiece that so prominently features the Bach A. Marcello Fabulous Philadelphians. Toccata and Oboe Concerto Fugue in Literature Fantasia begins with the striking image of Leopold D minor Curll Stokowski conducting Johann Sebastian Bach’s Toccata The Charitable and Fugue in D minor, which opens the concert this Surgeon evening as well. Stokowski was crucial to the film in Art many ways, from helping to conceive the project, to Watteau orchestrating some of the pieces (Bach’s Toccata was Quellnymphe originally written for organ), to exposing generations of History children to classical music. He also played a starring role English capture and got to shake hands with Mickey Mouse! Sardinia The initial idea was to animate French composer Paul 1891 Music Dukas’s The Sorcerer’s Apprentice (the one piece Tchaikovsky Dvořák in Fantasia for which Stokowski conducted a pick- The Nutcracker Carnival up orchestra rather than the Philadelphians) but the Overture project ultimately expanded to a full-length feature that Literature included many works. Tonight we also hear Stokowski’s Doyle orchestration of the beloved piano piece “Clair de lune” The White from Claude Debussy’s Suite bergamasque, and the Company concert concludes with excerpts from Tchaikovsky’s ballet Art The Nutcracker, which will be accompanied by a screening Munch Melancholy of that part of Fantasia. History Discovery of Java Man 1897 Music Dukas Strauss The Sorcerer’s Don Quixote Apprentice Literature Kipling Captains Courageous Art Matisse Dinner Table History World Exhibition in Brussels 33 The Music Toccata and Fugue in D minor (orchestrated by Leopold Stokowski) Leopold Stokowski, who was music director of The Philadelphia Orchestra from 1912 to 1941, wonderfully transformed music he loved into vibrantly colored orchestrations of his own. The compositions that inspired him varied widely, ranging from pieces by Baroque masters to Romantic opera arias, from medieval plainchant to the piano music of Chopin and Debussy. He was particularly drawn to the music of J.S. Bach and over the years arranged some three dozen organ, instrumental, and vocal pieces. The largest number were those for organ, which was Stokowski’s Johann Sebastian Bach own instrument; when he emigrated from England to Born in Eisenach, America he served as organist at St. Bartholomew’s Church March 21, 1685 in New York City. This attraction seems natural as well Died in Leipzig, July 28, 1750 because the organ is itself an orchestra in the sounds and instrumental colors it can produce. From Baroque Organ to Modern Orchestra The organs of Bach’s time, especially early in his career, were manually pumped pipe instruments that produced nowhere near the volume of sound we now associate with great cathedral organs, let alone with a modern symphony orchestra. Yet some of Bach’s organ pieces, notably this Toccata and Fugue, anticipate such a sonic future. As Stokowski himself declared: “Bach foresaw … this immense volume that a modern organ or orchestra can produce. That showed foresight of a tremendous nature.” Stokowski’s advocacy of Bach’s organ works helped to make this music known; he was not capitalizing on the fame of beloved pieces, but rather helping to make them beloved. As the pianist Oscar Levant observed: “The highly polished and iridescent playing of the orchestra—as slick, colorful, and vibrant as the audience it attracted—virtually put Bach, for the first time, on the Hit Parade.” This was especially the case with the Toccata and Fugue in D minor, which some pianists played in piano transcriptions by virtuosos like Carl Tausig and Ferruccio Busoni but which was generally not well known.
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