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Home , EMI Classics, George Enescu, Sarah Chang

27 Season 2014-2015

Thursday, May 7, at 8:00 Friday, May 8, at 2:00 The Orchestra Saturday, May 9, at 8:00 Cristian Măcelaru Conductor

Ligeti Romanian Concerto I. Andantino— II. Allegro vivace— III. Adagio ma non troppo— IV. Molto vivace First performances

Beethoven Symphony No. 1 in C major, Op. 21 I. Adagio molto—Allegro con brio II. Andante cantabile con moto III. Menuetto (Allegro molto e vivace)—Trio— Menuetto da capo IV. Adagio—Allegro molto e vivace

Intermission

Dvořák in A minor, Op. 53 I. Allegro ma non troppo—Quasi moderato— II. Adagio ma non troppo—Più mosso—Un poco tranquillo, quasi tempo I III. Finale: Allegro giocoso ma non troppo

Enescu Romanian Rhapsody in A major, Op. 11, No. 1

This program runs approximately 1 hour, 50 minutes.

The May 7 concert is sponsored by MedComp.

The May 8 and 9 concerts are sponsored by the Blanche and Irving Laurie Foundation.

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. 228 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 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 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 , 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 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 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 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. 29 Conductor-in-Residence

Sorin PopaSorin Winner of the 2014 Solti Award, Cristian Măcelaru is conductor-in-residence of The Philadelphia Orchestra. He began his tenure as assistant conductor in September 2011 and became associate conductor in November 2012. He made his Orchestra subscription debut in April 2013 stepping in unexpectedly for . Mr. Măcelaru recently made two successful appearances with the Chicago Symphony on subscription programs two seasons in a row as a replacement for Pierre Boulez. In addition to two subscription weeks in Philadelphia, Mr. Măcelaru’s 2014-15 season includes his official Carnegie Hall conducting debut, with the Danish National Symphony. Replacing that orchestra’s chief conductor, Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos, Mr. Măcelaru led the ensemble in Denmark and on a German and U.S. tour in January/February 2015. He also returns on subscription to Chicago and has subscription debuts with the Toronto, Baltimore, Houston, Hallé, St. Louis, Seattle, Detroit, Bournemouth, Milwaukee, and Indianapolis symphonies, and the Residentie Orkest in the .

An accomplished violinist, Mr. Măcelaru was the youngest concertmaster in the history of the Miami Symphony and made his Carnegie Hall debut with that orchestra at age 19. He also played in the first violin section of the Houston Symphony for two seasons. Formerly he held the position of resident conductor at Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music. Mr. Măcelaru was the founder and artistic director of the Crisalis Music Project, a program in which young musicians perform in a variety of settings, side-by-side with established, renowned artists. He also served as a conductor with the Houston Youth Symphony.

Mr. Măcelaru received the 2012 Sir Emerging Conductor Award, an honor given only once before in the Foundation’s history. He has participated in the conducting programs of the Tanglewood Music Center and the Aspen Music Festival, studying under , Murry Sidlin, Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos, Robert Spano, Oliver Knussen, and Stefan Asbury. Mr. Măcelaru’s main studies were with Larry Rachleff at Rice University, where he received his master’s degree in conducting as well as a master’s in violin performance. He completed undergraduate studies in violin performance at the University of Miami. 30 Soloist

Colin Bell Philadelphia-born violinist Sarah Chang was eight years old when she made her debut with the . She made her Philadelphia Orchestra debut at age 10 at the Academy of Music Anniversary Concert in 1991 and her subscription debut two years later. Since then, she has performed with the most esteemed orchestras, conductors, and accompanists, dazzling audiences with her technical virtuosity and emotional depth. In addition to these current performances, highlights of Ms. Chang’s 2014-15 season include U.S. appearances with the Houston, Detroit, Madison, and symphonies; European engagements in Spain, Germany, and Turkey; and concert appearances in Malaysia, Australia, and New Zealand. Highlights from recent seasons have included performances with the New West, Vancouver, Pacific, and Cincinnati symphonies; the Ravinia and Aspen music festivals; and with The Philadelphia Orchestra at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center. As a recital and chamber musician, she regularly travels throughout the world and has performed with such artists as , , Yo-Yo Ma, and . Ms. Chang’s most recent recording for EMI Classics—her 20th for the label—features the Brahms and Bruch violin concertos with and the Dresden Philharmonic. She has also recorded the Prokofiev Violin Concerto No. 1 and Shostakovich Violin Concerto No. 1 live with the and ; the Dvořák Violin Concerto with the London Symphony and ; and several and discs with artists including pianists and . Along with Pete Sampras, , and Tom Brady, Ms. Chang has been a featured artist in Movado’s global advertising campaign “The Art of Time.” She was honored as a Young Global Leader for 2008 by the World Economic Forum for her professional achievements, commitment to society, and potential in shaping the future of the world. Her numerous awards also include the Harvard University Leadership Award and the Avery Fisher Career Grant. In 2011 Ms. Chang was named an official Artistic Ambassador by the United States Embassy. 31 Framing the Program

Parallel Events Art knows no borders. As a young moved to Music 1799 Vienna in order to continue to find success, to study, and Haydn Beethoven to have access to the latest innovations in music. Similarly, Symphony “Theresienmesse” Antonín Dvo ák traveled to New York to take up a position No. 1 Literature ř Schlegel as director of the National Conservatory of Music. György Lucinde Ligeti and George Enescu both had to leave their native Art countries, forced by political unrest. What all four have David in common is the idea of a strong national identity that Rape of the followed them wherever they went, their music filled with Sabine Women references to the folk idioms of their native lands. History NY abolishes I chose to frame the music of Beethoven and Dvořák with slavery two born in my native country who represent my own background through the folk music that is 1879 Music found in these works. The premiere of Ligeti’s Romanian Dvořák Tchaikovsky Concerto, inspired by Bartók’s research into Romanian Violin Concerto Eugene Onegin folk music, was cancelled in Budapest for the reason that Literature it sounded “too Romanian.” Political tension between the Ibsen two countries was so strong at this time that even art was A Doll’s House bound by this notion—that borders are not to be crossed. Art Rodin How wonderful it is that in music we find the perfect John the Baptist conduit to unite us, regardless of ethnicity or political History conviction, while at the same time we celebrate our British Zulu War individuality by connecting each one with their own past. —Cristian M celaru 1951 Music ă Ligeti Prokofiev Romanian Symphony No. 7 Concerto Literature Wouk The Caine Mutiny Art Rauschenberg White Painting History Rosenbergs convicted of spying 32 The Music Romanian Concerto

In the early stages of his career the great 20th-century Hungarian composer György Ligeti often wrote for the “bottom drawer.” He later explained about these hidden- away pieces: “In Communist Hungary it was impossible even so much as to dream of having them performed.” Six weeks after the failed Hungarian Revolution against Soviet domination that rocked Budapest in October 1956, Ligeti fled with his wife to the West. In the years to come journalists would sometimes ask him for whom he composed, a question to which he could hardly relate: “A György Ligeti banned artist does not ask questions of this kind because Born in Dicsöszentmárton, the products of his art never reach an audience. And so Transylvania, May 28, 1923 I did not write ‘for’ anyone, but simply for the sake of the Died in Vienna, June 12, music itself, from an inner need. A real performance—this 2006 struck me as an unattainable luxury in Hungary.” Many of Ligeti’s “bottom drawer” works were challenging avant-garde compositions but the Romanian Concerto from 1951 that we hear today will strike most listeners as immediately appealing and quite traditional. At the time, however, the work proved unacceptable to the authorities. In the final movement there is a section in F major in which a dissonant F-sharp is sounded: “This was reason enough,” Ligeti recalled, “for the apparatchiks responsible for the arts to ban the entire piece.” Romanian InfluencesThere seems to have been more to the objections than a technicality of harmony and that concerned the use of folk melodies. Ligeti explained that “under Stalin’s dictatorship, even folk music was allowed only in a ‘politically correct’ form, in other words, if forced into the straitjacket of the norms of socialist realism.” He had grown up in Hungarian-speaking Transylvania (in what is now ) and was exposed as a child to Romanian folk music, which fascinated him with its unusual scales, tunings, and other distinctive features. By his mid-20s, Ligeti was living in and associated with the Folklore Institute. He later recalled that he participated in several trips to record partly Romanian, partly Hungarian folk music (in Covasint near Arad and in Inaktelke near Cluj in the region of Kalotaszeg). The present four-movement [Romanian] Concerto 33

for orchestra (with string and wind solos) is based on a large number of Romanian folk tunes recorded by me, most of which exist on wax cylinders and records of the Bucharest Folklore Institute. In Covasint, on the other hand, I got to know the common harmonic idioms of Romanian peasant music which I have used in the Concerto in a stylized form. Folksong and Fakesong Ligeti’s explorations of this folk repertory had a direct bearing on his own compositions, as they had previously for his great Hungarian precursor Béla Bartók. The influence found expression in various ways, ranging from direct quotation to newly invented music written in a folk style. Two decades earlier Bartók had laid out three basic approaches for using folk materials. In the first, one could “take over a peasant melody unchanged or only slightly varied, write an accompaniment to it and possibly some opening and concluding phrases.” He compared this least obtrusive adaptation to providing “an ornamental setting for a precious stone.” In the second approach “the composer does not make use of a real peasant melody but invents his own imitation of such melodies.” Bartók became unusually adept at inventing his own folk tunes, as did Ligeti. The third way is more abstract: The composer has so “completely absorbed the idiom of peasant music which has become his musical mother tongue” that it comes naturally, not as quotation or imitation, but simply as creation. Ligeti drew upon his ethnomusicological studies in 1951 when composing the Romanian Concerto, but admitted, “Not everything in it is genuinely Romanian as I also invented elements in the spirit of the village bands.” He scored the Concerto for winds, horns, trumpets, percussion, and strings and meant for it to be played by an army band. The piece was rehearsed by the Hungarian Radio Symphony, but never performed or broadcast. The manuscript was then lost, although the orchestral parts were later discovered and the piece reconstructed without the composer’s involvement. His publisher, Schott, subsequently acquired rights to the work, which Ligeti corrected, and four decades later it slowly entered the repertory. A Closer Look The piece unfolds in four continuous movements; the first two are orchestrated versions of Ballad and Dance, a now lost work for two Ligeti had written the previous year. The relaxed opening Andantino has an old-fashioned character to it, partly 34

Ligeti composed his Romanian from its use of modes other than those of the major and Concerto in 1951. minor scales. The following quick dance (Allegro vivace) These are the first Philadelphia features solo clarinet, piccolo, and violin, reminding us that Orchestra performances of the this is entitled a concerto. piece. A sustained note in the clarinets leads to the third Ligeti’s score calls for two movement (Adagio ma non troppo) in which more flutes (II doubling piccolo), modern and unusual sounds appear. Ligeti makes two oboes (II doubling English particularly imaginative use of the French horns, which horn), two clarinets, two harken back to his very earliest musical memories as bassoons, three horns, two a child: “The alpenhorn (called a bucium in Romanian) trumpets, percussion (bass sounded completely different from ‘normal’ music. Today drum, crash cymbals, snake I know that this stems from the fact that the alpenhorn drum, suspended cymbal), and produces only the notes of its natural harmonic series strings. and that the fifth and seventh harmonies (i.e., the major Performance time is third and minor seventh) seem ‘out of tune’ because they approximately 12 minutes. sound lower than on the piano, for example. But it is this sense of ‘wrongness’ that is in fact what is ‘right’ about the instrument, as it represents the specific ‘charm’ of the horn timbre.” The finale (Molto vivace) is the movement that riled the apparatchiks. Introduced by a trumpet signal, the music quickly turns into a wild dance with demonic solo violin. Ligeti’s biographer Richard Steinitz characterizes the movement as “eccentrically exuberant, it exudes the high- spirited and kitschy cheekiness which Ligeti so evidently enjoys: a sort of Keystone Kops meets Beijing Opera on the plains of Transylvania.” The French horns return to calm things down at the end before a final striking chord sounded by the entire orchestra. —Christopher H. Gibbs 35 The Music Symphony No. 1

It seems fitting that Beethoven composed his First Symphony at the dawn of a new century, 1799-1800, for even contemporaries realized that his symphonies changed the conception of the genre. Beethoven’s orchestral legacy cast an imposing shadow that composers had to deal with in various ways for the remainder of the century—and beyond. Brahms long delayed writing his First Symphony and when he did it was immediately labeled “Beethoven’s Tenth.” Some composers avoided writing symphonies entirely, or Ludwig van Beethoven called them by other names. Wagner, who never wrote a Born in Bonn, probably mature symphony, transferred Beethoven’s compositional December 16, 1770 devises to his massively orchestrated and symphonically Died in Vienna, March 26, conceived operas. 1827 An Emerging Master But it took even Beethoven some time to become BEETHOVEN, symphonic master and role model. The idea of dividing his career into three stages began during his lifetime and has never been abandoned. The First Symphony dates, of course, from his early, “Classical” era. More precisely, it comes from late in his first period, just a year or two before the personal crisis brought about by Beethoven’s gradual loss of hearing that is so powerfully reflected in the “Heiligenstadt Testament” and the “Eroica” Symphony. By the mid-1790s, Beethoven had essayed most of the important instrumental genres, but had held off tackling the symphony and string quartet, perhaps because these were the kinds of pieces in which his teacher Haydn had made his greatest mark and enjoyed his most significant successes. When he did finally write, perform, and publish his first two symphonies and his set of six string quartets, Op. 18, he had reached full artistic maturity. These works represent Beethoven at the height of his Classical powers, building on the achievements of Haydn and Mozart while not hiding his debt to them. What did Beethoven’s contemporaries make of the 29-year-old composer’s Grande Simphonie when it was first performed in April 1800 and published the following year? They listened to the work with fresh ears, knowing their Haydn and Mozart, but happily oblivious to how Beethoven would transform the genre within just a few 36

Beethoven’s First Symphony years. They used the word “masterpiece” repeatedly and was composed between 1799 praised the work’s “originality.” After holding off writing and 1800. a symphony for years, Beethoven had achieved his goal Fritz Scheel was the conductor of a place alongside his most illustrious predecessors. A for the first Philadelphia Viennese critic, writing in 1806, declared just that: The Orchestra performances First Symphony is “a masterpiece that does equal honor to of the piece, in January [Beethoven’s] inventiveness and his musical knowledge. 1902. The most recent Being just as beautiful and distinguished in its design subscription performances as its execution, there prevails in it such a clear and were in September 2005, with lucid order, such a flow of the most pleasant melodies, Christoph Eschenbach. Some and such a rich, but at the same time never wearisome, of the conductors who have led instrumentation that this symphony can justly be placed the work here include Leopold next to Mozart’s and Haydn’s.” Stokowski, , , Saul Caston, A Closer Look The opening Adagio molto seems Eugene Ormandy, Seiji Ozawa, to begin in the wrong tonality, with a dominant chord , and Wolfgang resolving to the subdominant key. A critic at the time Sawallisch. remarked: “No one will censure an ingenious artist like The Philadelphia Orchestra has Beethoven for such liberties and peculiarities, but such recorded the First Symphony a beginning is not suitable for the opening of a grand three times: in 1937 for RCA concert in a spacious opera house.” In other words, the with Ormandy; in 1965 for actual sound is not so strange, but the context, at the CBS with Ormandy; and in beginning of a grand symphony, is unexpected and jarring. 1985 for EMI with Muti. Today we find it wonderful. The vibrant Allegro con brio The score calls for two flutes, that follows is filled with playful energy. two oboes, two clarinets, two The second movement (Andante cantabile con moto) bassoons, two horns, two begins with the second violins presenting a courtly theme trumpets, timpani, and strings. that is taken up fugally by other instruments; this theme Performance time is alternates with a more light-hearted melody. Beethoven approximately 30 minutes. generally favored fast scherzos rather than the older minuet and trio for the “dance” movement of his symphonies, and here, although marked Menuetto (Allegro molto e vivace), the spirit and fast tempo preclude polite dancing and make it a scherzo in all but name. Unusually, the final movement also begins with an Adagio that mischievously leads to an Allegro molto e vivace. This opening finds Beethoven at his most playful: After a loud chord sounded by the full orchestra, the first violins slowly work their way up the notes of the scale, first three notes, then four, five, six, and seven, eventually tipping over into the energetic octave scale that initiates the fast tempo sustained for the rest of the movement. No wonder Beethoven’s audiences were delighted, as they have been ever since. —Christopher H. Gibbs 37 The Music Violin Concerto

Although at various points in his life Dvořák looked approvingly toward Wagner, the most lasting influence on his career was the example of , his friend and mentor who first pressed European publishers to promote the music of this artistic giant among Bohemians. The musical influence from Brahms’s style found its most concrete expression in Dvořák’s Seventh Symphony of 1885, called “Brahms’s Fifth” by some. Before that, however, Dvořák composed a Violin Concerto on the heels of his mentor’s own masterpiece in that Antonín Dvořák form: Brahms conducted the premiere of his D-major Born in Nelahozeves, Concerto in Leipzig in January 1879, and Dvořák began Bohemia, September 8, his Concerto in July of that year. 1841 Died in Prague, May 1, A Collaboration with Joachim The point of contact 1904 between the two works was the violinist Joseph Joachim (1831-1907), the extraordinary Hungarian virtuoso whose playing style influenced many prominent composers of the era. A complex character whose virtuosity on the violin was only one facet of a wide-ranging musicality, Joachim has become immortalized partly for the influence he exerted over composers writing violin pieces for him; those who were the least bit unsure of themselves often sought out his advice on specifics of violin technique, advice he was all too happy to offer. Like two decades before (who had rewritten his famous G-minor Violin Concerto several times on Joachim’s advice), Dvořák sought Joachim’s council during the composition of his Concerto, and the resulting changes were rather drastic. Dvořák wrote the work with characteristic speed during the summer of 1879 and sent it to Joachim, with a dedication, in November. The violinist, who had already promoted Dvořák’s chamber music in public performances, said that he would look at the Concerto carefully. When Dvořák visited him in Berlin the next April they worked on revisions together. As the composer reported to his publisher Fritz Simrock, “According to the wishes of Mr. Joachim I have revised the entire Concerto and have not left a single bar untouched. This will certainly please him. I put the greatest effort into it, and the Concerto has been completely transformed. I’ve retained the themes and added a few new ones. 38

Dvořák composed his Violin The entire conception of the work, however, is new. The Concerto from 1879 to 1882. harmony, rhythm, and instrumentation are new.” The first Philadelphia Orchestra Dvořák sent the revised version to Joachim, who did performances of the Concerto nothing for two years. During this period the composer were in October 1905, with himself moved on to other projects, such as his opera soloist Emile Sauret and Dimitrij and the Sixth Symphony. When Joachim finally Fritz Scheel on the podium. responded he expressed further reservations and urged Since then it has been heard that Dvořák continue tinkering with the piece. “Although approximately once each the work proves that you know the violin well,” he wrote decade, the most recent subscription performances to Dvořák, “certain details make it clear that you have not being in October 2004 played it yourself for some time. While working on this with Sarah Chang and Jiří revision, I was struck by the many beauties of your concerto, Bělohlávek. which it will be a pleasure for me to perform. I confess that I still do not think the Violin Concerto in its present shape The Orchestra has recorded to be ripe for the public, especially because of its orchestral this work twice: for CBS in 1965 with Isaac Stern and accompaniment, which is still rather heavy. I should prefer Eugene Ormandy, and for you to find this out for yourself by playing the piece with EMI in 1988 with Kyung-Wha me.” And so Dvořák returned to Berlin in the fall of 1882 to Chung and Riccardo Muti. work again with Joachim. As promised, the Concerto was played in the presence of the composer, accompanied by The Concerto is scored for solo the orchestra of a music conservatory of which Joachim violin, two flutes, two oboes, was the director. Yet further revisions and cuts resulted. two clarinets, two bassoons, four horns, two trumpets, Finally the work was complete to the satisfaction of both timpani, and strings. men. In the end it was clear that Joachim had invested Performance time is quite a bit of effort into the piece. And although Dvořák approximately 30 minutes. retained the Concerto’s dedication to him, the actual first performance fell to another. It received its premiere instead at the hands of František Ondříček, an aspiring young Czech, in Prague in October 1883. Since then it has maintained—like the composer’s Piano Concerto—a quiet but steady presence in the repertory. A Closer Look The fiercely dramatic first movement (Allegro, ma non troppo—Quasi moderato) is formed of a two-part thematic statement, consisting of a resolute orchestral subject of a thunderous and vaguely Brahmsian drama, which is contrasted with a deliciously lyrical second section. This first movement is linked by a bridge passage to the second (Adagio), a poignant and folk-like reflection in F major, of simple “Bohemian” charm. (Dvořák was urged to separate these movements, but held firm: “The first movement would be too short and cannot be complete in itself: it would be necessary to add a third part and to this—sincerely speaking—I am not inclined.”) The finale (Allegro giocoso, ma non troppo) is formed of a series of vigorous folk dances, including the famous dumka—which then builds to a bracing, brilliant close. —Paul J. Horsley/Christopher H. Gibbs 39 The Music Romanian Rhapsody No. 1

George Enescu, the leading Romanian composer of the 20th century, was astounding the musical world before the age of 10. He had taken up the violin at four and started composing the next year. By seven he was studying with eminent teachers at the conservatory in Vienna and came to the attention of Johannes Brahms. At 13 he was off to study in ; he is still better known in some circles by the French form of his name, Georges Enesco. A stocky, awkward boy with a dreamy expression, he was an accomplished violin virtuoso who also played George Enescu cello and piano. After three years studying with Ambroise Born in Liveni Virnav, Thomas, Gabriel Fauré, and , he composed Romania, August 19, 1881 his official Op. 1, the Poème roumain (1897) for orchestra Died in Paris, May 4, 1955 and textless chorus, the piece that was immediately recognized as the product of a great musical mind. Enescu continued to concertize throughout his career— he was one of the foremost violinists of his generation, as recordings attest—and also became a distinguished teacher (celebrated violinist was a pupil) and conductor. He led The Philadelphia Orchestra in 1923 and 1939 and appeared as violin soloist six times during those years as well. These multiple musical gifts and international commitments ultimately limited the time he could devote to composition and therefore his body of works is not large. In addition to chamber music, five symphonies, and a violin concerto, he devoted many years to writing his impressive opera Oedipe, which premiered in Paris in 1936. Too Popular, Too Early By 1901, when the 20-year- old Enescu composed his two Romanian rhapsodies, Op. 11, his life had already been divided for years between Paris and Romania, the native land that remained a steady source of inspiration throughout his life. As he grew into a musician for all the world, he maintained a sturdy sense of national pride. His two episodic rhapsodies reflect this divided devotion, synthesizing elements of French Romanticism, Lisztian rhapsodizing, and Romanian folk melodies. Enescu conducted the premiere of both pieces in Bucharest in 1903 and the first was presented in Paris three years later. 40

Enescu composed his First And yet Enescu later rued the day he had ever composed Romanian Rhapsody in 1901. these “youthful sins,” for the rhapsodies became so Leopold Stokowski was popular that they continually drew public attention away on the podium for the first from his subsequent, more substantial efforts. Other Philadelphia Orchestra composers have encountered similar dispiriting situations performances of the work, of excessive success attached to a single work— in December 1928. Enescu Beethoven resented how the popularity of his early Septet himself led performances of overshadowed much greater pieces; Rachmaninoff found the First Rhapsody with the he constantly had to play his Prelude in C-sharp minor; Philadelphians, in February/ Prokofiev had the same problem with his march from The March and again in May 1939. Love for Three Oranges. At one point Enescu dismissed Most recently on subscription, his famous rhapsodies entirely, claiming to have thrown the piece was performed in them together with very little thought. Examination of his December 1960, with George sketches, however, contradicts this, revealing instead that Georgescu conducting. he devoted a great deal of care and detail to these works. The Philadelphia Orchestra and Eugene Ormandy recorded A Closer Look The First Rhapsody in A major has the First Romanian Rhapsody proved more popular than the Second in D major, which three times: in 1941 for RCA; is less festive. A folk-like character is immediately evident in 1957 for CBS (along with in the opening clarinet melody, in this case based on an the Second Rhapsody); and in actual folk tune (“I Have a Penny and I Wish to Spend 1972 for RCA. It on a Drink”) that is taken up by other instruments. The Rhapsody is scored Enescu’s orchestration was influenced by folk and popular for three flutes (III doubling ensembles, such as the evocation of the cimbalom piccolo), two oboes, English through the imaginative use of two harps. The piece horn, two clarinets, two unfolds in various sections with different tempos that bassoons, four horns, two effortlessly flow one to the next, sometimes repeating trumpets, two cornets, three earlier themes, and displays a range of moods, from trombones, tuba, timpani, carefree to furious. Several solo instruments are given percussion (cymbals, snare the chance to shine, most notably viola and flute. As drum, triangle), two harps, and befits a rhapsody, one often gets a sense of improvisatory strings. freedom combined with folk flavor and the infectious spirit Performance time is of dance. approximately 11 minutes. —Paul Horsley/Christopher H. Gibbs

Program notes © 2015. All rights reserved. Program notes may not be reprinted without written permission from The Philadelphia Orchestra Association. 41 Musical Terms

GENERAL TERMS the beginning of the 19th an instrumental piece of Chord: The simultaneous century as the lightest a light, piquant, humorous sounding of three or more movement of a symphony character. tones Mode: Any of certain Tonic: The keynote of a Chromatic: Relating to fixed arrangements of the scale tones foreign to a given diatonic tones of an octave, Triad: A three-tone chord key (scale) or chord as the major and minor composed of a given tone Da capo: Repeated from scales of Western music (the “root”) with its third the beginning Octave: The interval and fifth in ascending order Diatonic: Melody or between any two notes in the scale harmony drawn primarily that are seven diatonic Trio: See scherzo from the tones of the major (non-chromatic) scale or minor scale degrees apart THE SPEED OF MUSIC Dominant: The fifth Op.: Abbreviation for opus, (Tempo) degree of the major or a term used to indicate Adagio: Leisurely, slow minor scale, the triad built the chronological position Allegro: Bright, fast upon that degree, or the of a composition within a Andante: Walking speed key that has this triad as composer’s output Andantino: Slightly its tonic Rhapsody: Generally an quicker than walking speed Dumka: A sung lament instrumental fantasia on Cantabile: In a singing or an instrumental piece folksongs or on motifs style, lyrical, melodious, generally of a ruminative taken from primitive flowing nature national music Con brio: Vigorously, with Fugue: A piece of music Scale: The series of fire in which a short melody tones which form (a) any Con moto: With motion is stated by one voice major or minor key or (b) Giocoso: Humorous and then imitated by the the chromatic scale of Moderato: A moderate other voices in succession, successive semi-tonic tempo, neither fast nor reappearing throughout steps slow the entire piece in all the Scherzo: Literally “a Più mosso: Faster voices at different places joke.” Usually the third Tranquillo: Quiet, Harmonic: Pertaining to movement of symphonies peaceful, soft chords and to the theory and quartets that was Vivace: Lively and practice of harmony introduced by Beethoven Harmony: The to replace the minuet. The TEMPO MODIFIERS combination of scherzo is followed by a Ma non troppo: But not simultaneously sounded gentler section called a trio, too much musical notes to produce after which the scherzo is Molto: Very chords and chord repeated. Its characteristics Quasi: Almost progressions are a rapid tempo in triple Un poco: A little Minuet: A dance in triple time, vigorous rhythm, and time commonly used up to humorous contrasts. Also 42 Tickets & Patron Services

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