The Philadelphia Orchestra

Donald Runnicles ConductorJonathan Biss Piano

Elgar Cockaigne Overture, Op. 40 (“In London Town”)

Mozart Piano Concerto No. 13 in C major, K. 415 I. Allegro II. Andante III. Allegro

Intermission

Brahms Symphony No. 2 in D major, Op. 73 I. Allegro non troppo II. Adagio non troppo—L’istesso tempo, ma grazioso III. Allegretto grazioso (quasi andantino)—Presto, ma non assai—Tempo I—Presto, ma non assai—Tempo I IV. Allegro con spirito

This program runs approximately 1 hour, 55 minutes.

Philadelphia Orchestra concerts are broadcast on WRTI 90.1 FM on Sunday afternoons at 2 PM.Visit www.wrti.org to listen live or for more details.

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Season 2012-2013Thursday, April 25, at 8:00Friday, April 26, at 2:00Saturday, April 27, at 8:00

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The Philadelphia Orchestra

Renowned for its distinctive sound, beloved for its keen ability to capture the hearts and imaginations of audiences, and admired for an unrivaled legacy of “firsts” in music-making, The Philadelphia Orchestra is one of the preeminent orchestras in the world.

The Orchestra has cultivated an extraordinary history of artistic leaders in its 112 seasons, including music directors Fritz Scheel, Carl Pohlig, Leopold Stokowski, Eugene Ormandy, Riccardo Muti, Wolfgang Sawallisch, and Christoph Eschenbach, and Charles Dutoit, who served as chief conductor from 2008 to 2012. With the 2012-13 season, Yannick Nézet-Séguin becomes the eighth music director of The Philadelphia Orchestra. Named music director designate in 2010, Nézet-Séguin brings a vision that extends beyond symphonic music into the vivid world of opera and choral music.

Philadelphia is home and the Orchestra nurtures an important relationship not only with patrons who support the main season at the Kimmel Center but also those who enjoy the Orchestra’s other area performances at the Mann Center, Penn’s Landing, and other venues. The Philadelphia Orchestra Association also continues to own the Academy of Music, a National Historic Landmark.

Through concerts, tours, residencies, presentations, and recordings, the Orchestra is a global ambassador for Philadelphia and for the U.S. 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 Orchestra annually performs at

Carnegie Hall and the Kennedy Center while also enjoying a three-week residency in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., and a strong partnership with the Bravo! Vail festival.

The ensemble maintains an important Philadelphia tradition of presenting educational programs for students of all ages. Today the Orchestra executes a myriad of education and community partnership programs serving nearly 50,000 annually, including its Neighborhood Concert Series, Sound All Around and Family Concerts, and eZseatU.

In February 2013 the Orchestra announced a recording project with Deutsche Grammophon, in which Yannick and the ensemble will record Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring.

For more information on The Philadelphia Orchestra, please visit www.philorch.org.

Jessica Griffin

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Music DirectorYannick Nézet-Séguin triumphantly opened his inaugural season as the eighth music director of The Philadelphia Orchestra in the fall of 2012. From the Orchestra’s home in Verizon Hall to the Carnegie Hall stage, his highly collaborative style, deeply-rooted musical curiosity, and boundless enthusiasm, paired with a fresh approach to orchestral programming, have been heralded by critics and audiences alike. The New York Times has called Yannick “phenomenal,” adding that under his baton, “the ensemble, famous for its glowing strings and homogenous richness, has never sounded better.”

Over the past decade, Yannick has established himself as a musical leader of the highest caliber and one of the most exciting talents of his generation. Since 2008 he has been music director of the Rotterdam Philharmonic and principal guest conductor of the London Philharmonic, and since 2000 artistic director and principal conductor of Montreal’s Orchestre Métropolitain. He has appeared with such revered ensembles as the Vienna and Berlin philharmonics; the Boston Symphony; the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia; the Dresden Staatskapelle; the Chamber Orchestra of Europe; and the major Canadian orchestras. His talents extend beyond symphonic music into opera and choral music, leading acclaimed performances at the Metropolitan Opera, La Scala, London’s Royal Opera House, and the Salzburg Festival.

In February 2013, following the July 2012 announcement of a major long-term collaboration between Yannick and Deutsch Grammophon, the Orchestra announced a recording project with the label, in which Yannick and the Orchestra will record Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring. His discography with the Rotterdam Philharmonic for BIS Records and EMI/Virgin includes an Edison Award-winning album of Ravel’s orchestral works. He has also recorded several award-winning albums with the Orchestre Métropolitain for ATMA Classique.

A native of Montreal, Yannick studied at that city’s Conservatory of Music and continued studies with renowned conductor Carlo Maria Giulini and with Joseph Flummerfelt at Westminster Choir College. In 2012 Yannick was appointed a Companion of the Order of Canada, one of the country’s highest civilian honors. His other honors include Canada’s National Arts Centre Award; a Royal Philharmonic Society Award; the Prix Denise-Pelletier, the highest distinction for the arts in Quebec; and an honorary doctorate by the University of Quebec in Montreal.

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

Jessica Griffin

ConductorOne of today’s leading Wagnerian specialists, Donald Runnicles is the general music director of the Deutsche Oper Berlin, chief conductor of the BBC Scottish Symphony, music director of the Grand Teton Music Festival, and principal guest conductor of the Atlanta Symphony. He made his Philadelphia Orchestra debut in 2005 and has led the ensemble on numerous occasions, most recently last November in a program of highlights from Wagner’s Ring. He also maintains regular relationships with the Berlin Philharmonic and the London Symphony. A Scot by birth, Mr. Runnicles has literally returned home as chief conductor of the BBC Scottish Symphony, leading subscription concerts in various cities in Scotland and northern England, and anchoring the Symphony’s substantial presence at the U.K.’s two largest festivals, the Edinburgh International Festival and the London Proms.

From 1992 to 2008 Mr. Runnicles was music director of the San Francisco Opera, having unexpectedly won the job after stepping in for a colleague and conducting two Wagner Ring cycles in 1990. During his many years with the company, he led more than 60 productions, including the world premieres of John Adams’s Dr. Atomic and Conrad Souza’s Les Liaisons dangereuses, and the U.S. premieres of Olivier Messiaen’s Saint François d’Assise and Aribert Reimann’s Lear. At the close of his tenure he was given the San Francisco Opera Medal, the company’s highest honor, previously given to such luminaries as Leontyne Price, Marilyn Horne, and Plácido Domingo. Other awards include the Order of the British Empire (OBE) and honorary degrees from Edinburgh University, the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, and an honorary doctorate from the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama.

Mr. Runnicles’s recordings with the Atlanta Symphony include a critically acclaimed concert disc of works by Strauss and Wagner with soprano Christine Brewer, Mozart’s Requiem, and Orff’s Carmina burana. Also in his discography are a live recording of Wagner’s Tristan and Isolde with Ms. Brewer and John Treleaven; a Grammy-nominated recital of German romantic opera arias with tenor Ben Heppner; and Wagner’s Ring excerpts with the Dresden Staatskapelle.

Johannes Ifkovits

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SoloistAmerican pianist Jonathan Biss is a graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music and has been on the faculty there since 2010. He made his Philadelphia Orchestra debut in 2004 performing Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 24. Widely regarded for his orchestral, recital, and chamber music concerts, he performs a diverse repertoire that ranges from Mozart and Beethoven to works by contemporary composers, including commissions from Leon Kirchner, Lewis Spratlan, Timo Andres, and Bernard Rands. Mr. Biss’s engagements this season include performances with the Seattle, National, Swedish Radio, and Danish National symphonies, and the Rotterdam and Prague philharmonics. Another season highlight has been his four-part chamber music series entitled “Schumann: Under the Influence,” which has been presented at numerous venues including Wigmore Hall in London and the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam with partners Mark Padmore, Miah Persson, Kim Kashkashian, and the Elias Quartet. Mr. Biss made his Carnegie Hall recital debut in January 2011 performing works by Beethoven, Schumann, Janácek, and a new piece written for him by Mr. Rands; he presents his second Carnegie recital in January 2014.

Mr. Biss is an award-winning recording artist. Onyx Classics has so far released two CDs in a nine-year, nine-disc recording cycle of Beethoven’s complete sonatas. Mr. Biss wrote about this project and his relationship with Beethoven’s music more generally in Beethoven’s Shadow, published electronically by RosettaBooks as a Kindle Single. His recordings also include an album of Schubert sonatas and two Kurtág pieces from the collection Játékok on the Wigmore Hall Live label, and four recordings for EMI Classics, the first of which, in 2004, was of works by Beethoven and Schumann.

Mr. Biss made his New York recital debut at age 20 at the 92nd Street Y’s Tisch Center for the Arts in 2000 and his New York Philharmonic debut under Kurt Masur that same season. Born in 1980 he has said that his first performance triumph came even before his birthday, when his pregnant mother, violinist Miriam Fried, performed at Carnegie Hall. He grew up in a family of musicians, a circumstance detailed in more entertaining fashion in the biography and blog on his website, www.jonathanbiss.com.

Jimm

y Katz

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Framing the ProgramThe careers of the three composers on the program today unfolded in quite different ways. Edward Elgar was a slow starter who came to prominence in his mid-40s at the turn of the 20th century with the “Enigma” Variations for orchestra and the oratorio The Dream of Gerontius. With these works, as well as with the lively Cockaigne Overture from the same period, he quickly emerged as the leading English composer, indeed the first English composer for centuries to win broad international acclaim. In the concert overture Cockaigne, subtitled “In London Town,” Elgar captures the city in music, depicting the urban sounds of marching bands, church bells, and merry revelers.

Mozart, of course, was perhaps the earliest starter in the history of music, one who was already dazzling international audiences before the age of 10. Piano concertos became favored vehicles with which he could display his gifts. Today we hear the rarely performed Concerto No. 13 in C major, the last of a set of three he composed soon after moving to Vienna in 1781 and pursuing his career with a new determination and independence.

Brahms won great fame at age 20 when he was discovered and promoted by Robert Schumann. Already a noted pianist, his composing career rapidly grew in stature, except for two genres that proved troublesome: symphony and opera. Like Elgar, Brahms never did write an opera and he waited until his 40s to complete a first symphony. After that work triumphed in 1876, the Second Symphony followed quickly and easily the next summer and it, too, won immediate acclaim. If Brahms’s First Symphony is largely dark and brooding in C minor, the Second we hear today is generally bright and joyful in D major.

Parallel Events1782MozartPiano Concerto No. 13

1877BrahmsSymphony No. 2

1900ElgarCockaigne Overture

MusicHaydnSymphony No. 73LiteratureChoderlos de LaclosLes Liaisons dangereusesArtReynoldsColonel TarletonHistoryFirst U.S. commercial bank opens

MusicSaint-SaënsSamson and DelilahLiteratureJamesThe AmericanArtHomerThe Cotton PickersHistoryEdison invents the phonograph

MusicPucciniToscaLiteratureChekovUncle VanyaArtCézanneStill Life with OnionsHistoryWorld Exhibition in Paris

The MusicCockaigne Overture

Edward ElgarBorn in Broadheath (near Worcester), England, June 2, 1857Died in Worcester, February 23, 1934

Cockaigne was a medieval fantasyland of plenty and content, where food and drink were laid out for free. Hence, by some accounts, the term “cockney” for a Londoner.

Elgar’s Cockaigne is a portrait of London in the spirit of fantasy, a 15-minute tour of a city where a royal cavalcade is proceeding through the streets, supported by horse guards in their uniforms of scarlet, white, and silver; where street urchins are whistling along with their hands in their pockets; and where two young lovers are strolling in Regent’s Park or seeking a quiet moment in one of the city’s churches. Such are the elements in the program Elgar drew up for the piece, which he started in October 1900 and finished the following year. (The work had its first performance in London at Queen’s Hall on June 20, 1901, conducted by the composer.)

The real city, for him, was rather different. He moved there in 1890, a thoroughly experienced musician who was into his 30s and had begun to achieve modest success as a composer. London did not listen. The next year he retreated with his wife and baby daughter to his native territory, the region of quiet towns and hills around the cathedral city of Worcester. There he worked on choral music and light instrumental pieces until his “Enigma” Variations (1898-99) suddenly brought him not only national but also international prominence. Now he could return to London as a man of distinction—but only for visits, for not until 1912 did he again take up residence in the city.

A Closer Look Cockaigne was Elgar’s first orchestral work after the “Enigma” Variations. The opening is a sly and smiling maneuver that soon leads into a military march—a genre Elgar was about to make his own with the first of his set “Pomp and Circumstance.” In Cockaigne the march form is drawn in quick overview, with a middle section based on a big, broad tune: Here for the first time Elgar used the marking “nobilmente.” When the main march theme has come back and then slipped away, a variant of the majestic tune arrives, gentler and perhaps nostalgic, taking over the music for several musing minutes. About halfway through, the march reappears

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at full strength, and again disappears into the distance. (Marvelously Elgar evokes the space of the city, as the march fades to a far-off drumbeat.) A new melody arrives, identifiably churchy. Then the opening material is restored for a grand development that sweeps on through the Overture’s great tunes—reaching a point of Tchaikovskian rapture—and leads ultimately, with a heralding of bells, to the nobilmente melody in apotheosis.

Elgar dedicated the piece, commissioned by the Royal Philharmonic Society, to “my many friends, the members of British orchestras.” At the end, though, he inscribed a quotation from the 15th-century poem Piers Plowman: “Meatless and moneyless on Malvern hills”—the hills that dominate the landscape near Worcester. “Meatless and moneyless” he may no longer have been, but his Cockaigne was still in the Worcestershire countryside, not in the streets of London, however colorfully evoked.

—Paul Griffiths

Elgar composed the Cockaigne Overture from 1900 to 1901.

The Overture had its Philadelphia Orchestra premiere in January 1963 with William Smith conducting. The work has been heard only one other time on subscription concerts, in March/April 2005, with Roger Norrington.

The Orchestra recorded the Cockaigne Overture in 1962 with Eugene Ormandy for CBS.

The score calls for two flutes (II doubling piccolo), two oboes, two clarinets, two bassoons, contrabassoon, four horns, two trumpets, two cornets, three trombones, tuba, timpani, percussion (bass drum, cymbals, military drum, orchestra bells, snare drum, tambourine, triangle), optional organ, and strings.

The work runs approximately 15 minutes in performance.

The MusicPiano Concerto No. 13

Wolfgang Amadè MozartBorn in Salzburg, January 27, 1756Died in Vienna, December 5, 1791

Indentifying Mozart’s piano concertos can be a confusing business, one that reveals something of the role these pieces played in his career. Today we hear the Concerto No. 13, the numbering of which (unlucky associations aside) would have been meaningless to Mozart—it was bestowed long after his death and some catalogues count it differently. In Mozart’s day printed programs and concert announcements were relatively rare; if they do exist the information provided tends to be limited. When Mozart performed one of his concertos it was sometimes listed by key, which is not entirely helpful in this instance because he wrote three piano concertos in C major. Occasionally a program would say the work was “new,” but Mozart composed so many concertos, often in close succession, that there is rarely certainty which new one he performed on a specific concert. (His letters can be more informative because he gives exact descriptions of pieces.) Mozart produced our C-major Concerto during the winter of 1782-83 and it was published two years later as Op. IV. Opus numbers, however, are no longer used for Mozart’s compositions, as they are for Beethoven’s, so this too is unhelpful.

Amidst all this confusion Ludwig Ritter von Köchel would appear to have come to the rescue. (This seems appropriate since Ritter in German means knight.) In 1862 he published a massive chronological catalogue of Mozart’s compositions, which earned him some degree of immortality due to the “K” numbers that now identify the composer’s works. Today we hear K. 415, which would put an end to the matter were it not that Köchel’s catalogue has gone through many editions in the past 150 years (with a new one in the works) and the numbers keep changing. Our Concerto is now officially K. 387b, although fortunately most listings stick to the old numbering.

Mozart’s Cultivation of the Piano Concerto These labeling issues would be a minor matter except that they point to fundamental elements of Mozart’s engagement with the genre of the piano concerto. One is that he wrote a lot of them—the standard listing is 27, but once again numbers are misleading. His earliest attempts were not actually his own independent concertos but rather

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arrangements of piano sonatas by C.P.E. Bach, J.C. Bach, and lesser figures, possibly an assignment given to the pre-teen composer by his father, Leopold.

The issue of key is also important, as it was for many composers in Mozart’s day, when learned treatises were written about the specific affective qualities associated with particular keys. Of special interest is divining what keys meant for individual composers. We can see that Mozart seems to have associated some with nature, with love, with spirituality, even with Freemasonry. C major is the key of his great final symphony, the so-called “Jupiter,” as well as his late String Quintet, K. 515. His three piano concertos in C major—K. 415, K. 467, and K. 503—share a festive character often associated with this uncomplicated key without any sharps or flats. The Concerto we hear today has a somewhat larger orchestra than usual, with two trumpets and drums that add to the celebratory, even military flavor.

Mozart’s piano concertos brilliantly allowed him to display his gifts to the public and Concerto No. 13 is one of the earliest he wrote after moving in 1781 to Vienna, where he sought to jump-start his mature career. He began giving concerts, which he produced at his own expense so as to support himself and Constanze Weber, the singer he married the following summer. The C-major Concerto, K. 415, is the last of a group of three that he wrote in the late fall and early winter of 1782-83 for his Lenten concerts that season. The others are No. 11 in F major (K. 413) and No. 12 in A major (K. 414). Mozart placed an advertisement in a local paper offering handwritten copies of these pieces that could be played in two ways, either with piano and full orchestra or a quattro, with a string quartet and thus chamber music for the home.

A Closer Look In a letter to his father Mozart indicated that “These [three] concertos are a happy medium between what is too easy and too difficult; they are very brilliant, pleasing to the ear, and natural, without being vapid. There are passages here and there from which the connoisseurs alone can derive satisfaction, but these passages are written in such a way that the less learned cannot fail to be pleased, though without knowing why.” We see both qualities in the opening movement (Allegro), which begins as a quiet march with what initially seems to be a fugal unfolding but that soon explodes into the full orchestra. The movement continues to juxtapose the meltingly lyrical, especially for the piano soloist, with the festive and learned.

The following Andante is much more intimate and gives a relatively rare opportunity to experience the kinds of melodic embellishments Mozart would typically improvise in performance; in this Concerto, as with its cadenzas—he wrote them all out.

The finale (Allegro) has several surprises and an extraordinary opposition of moods. Things begin as expected with the piano alone softly stating a jaunty theme that is loudly answered by the full orchestra. The second appearance of the soloist is a complete contrast: The key changes to minor, the tempo slows to Adagio, the meter switches to duple, and the mood turns plaintive. After this brief interlude things get back on the happy track only to be interrupted once again by the solemn Adagio before ultimately leading to a final statement of the opening theme; the entire Concerto unexpectedly ends softly.

—Christopher H. Gibbs

Mozart composed the Piano Concerto No. 13 from 1782 to 1783.

William Kapell was the soloist in the Orchestra’s first, and only other, performances of the work, in April 1951 with Eugene Ormandy conducting.

In addition to the solo piano, Mozart scored the Concerto for two oboes, two bassoons, two horns, two trumpets, timpani, and strings.

Performance time is approximately 26 minutes.

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The MusicSymphony No. 2

Johannes BrahmsBorn in Hamburg, May 7, 1833Died in Vienna, April 3, 1897

Robert Schumann’s prophetic review in 1853 hailing the 20-year-old Johannes Brahms as the savior of Western music is well known. His effusive praise, however, may have had the unintended consequence of delaying a first symphony from the young genius. Schumann and everyone else wondered when Brahms would write one, what it would be like, and how he would answer one of the most pressing aesthetic questions of the day: the best way to write a symphony after the towering achievements of Beethoven. Berlioz, Liszt, Schumann, Mendelssohn, and other composers all came up with their own varying answers. Brahms’s was eagerly awaited.

But he kept delaying. Soon after receiving Schumann’s benediction, he started to write a symphony, but ultimately diverted the music to other pieces. Two orchestral serenades, Opp. 11 and 16, came fairly close to being full-fledged symphonies, and there are comparable aspirations evident in his unusually symphonic First Piano Concerto and the great “Haydn” Variations of 1873, which must have boosted his confidence in proving his orchestral prowess. In the end it took some 23 years before Brahms finished writing his magnificent Symphony No. 1 in C minor, a work immediately hailed as “Beethoven’s Tenth” by the celebrated conductor Hans von Bülow.

Unidentical Twins After all the angst of producing that work, his Second Symphony had no such protracted birth pangs; its labor was relatively quick and easy. Brahms may have felt liberated to some degree from the burden of expectations set up so long ago by Schumann and turned to writing quite a different kind of symphony the second time around. Throughout his career he frequently created works in contrasting pairs. The First and Second symphonies may be considered such an instance of unidentical twins. They present an intriguing juxtaposition of gravity and cheer, which some have interpreted as a glimpse of the two sides of Brahms’s personality. As the composer had said of another pair of works, the Academic Festival Overture and the Tragic Overture: “One laughs, the other weeps.”

Brahms wrote the Second Symphony between June and October 1877, while also correcting the proofs of the First Symphony and making a four-hand piano arrangement of that work. His physical surroundings apparently inspired him, as he began composing amidst the breathtaking beauty of the Wörthersee, a lake nestled in the Carinthian Alps of southern Austria (Mahler would later find inspiration there as well) and completed it in Lichtental near Baden-Baden. He informed his friend, the powerful Viennese critic Eduard Hanslick, that the Symphony was “so cheerful and lovely that you will think it especially for you or even your young lady! That’s no great feat, you will say, Brahms is a smart fellow and the Wörthersee virgin soil, with so many melodies flying around that you must be careful not to tread on any.”

The composer eventually sent the work to his good friend Theodor Billroth, a prominent Viennese physician, who responded: “I have already completely immersed myself in this piece, and it has given me many a happy hour. I cannot tell which movement is my favorite; I find each one magnificent in its own way. A cheerful, carefree mood pervades the whole, and everything bears the stamp of perfection and of the untroubled outpouring of serene thoughts and warm sentiments.”

Late Idyll Such descriptions of the Second as sunny, warm, even pastoral (similar therefore to Beethoven’s Sixth Symphony, which contrasted so with his famous Fifth, or to Dvorák’s Sixth Symphony) have been attached to the work from the beginning. But the piece also has its more somber moments, specifically in the first two movements. A conductor wrote to Brahms two years after the Symphony appeared to inquire about the dark tone that intrudes in the first movement with the trombones and timpani. The composer explained that “I would have to confess that I am, by the by, a severely melancholic person, that black wings are constantly flapping above us, that in my works—possibly not entirely without intent—this Symphony is followed by a small essay on the great ‘Why.’ If you do not know it [the motet “Why Is the Light Given to the Hard-pressed”] I will send it to you. It throws the necessary sharp shadows across the light-hearted symphony and perhaps explains those trombones and drums.” Musicologist Reinhold Brinkmann has explored what he calls the “Late Idyll” represented in this not-so-straightforward work.

After the popular and critical success of the First Symphony, which had its premiere in the relatively provincial Karlsruhe, Brahms was emboldened to premiere his Second in

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Vienna. Hans Richter was enlisted to conduct the Vienna Philharmonic for the first performance scheduled for early December 1877, but, as Walter Frisch has noted, “in one of those little ironies of music history, it had to be postponed until December 30 because the players were so preoccupied with learning Wagner’s Rheingold.”

A Closer Look The ear may be drawn, at the beginning of the first movement (Allegro non troppo), to the musical ideas presented by the woodwinds and brass, but the primary building block of the entire Symphony comes before, with the first four notes intoned in the lower strings: D, C-sharp, D, A. The movement is rich in melodic ideas, including a brief allusion to Brahms’s song from the same time (and in same key) “Es liebt sich so lieblich im Lenze!,” Op. 71, No. 1 (Love Is So Lovely in Spring).

The second movement (Adagio non troppo) is the least sunny and exhibits the “Brahmsian fog” of which critics commented during the composer’s time, with the dark sonorities of its instrumental palette and the thickness of the orchestration. The third movements of Brahms’s symphonies typically serve as a kind of intermezzo; that of the Second Symphony merges elements of the minuet (Allegretto grazioso) and the scherzo (Presto, ma non assai). The final movement (Allegro con spirito) begins with a soft and mysterious theme that suddenly bursts into a fortissimo statement with great energy and forward drive.

—Christopher H. Gibbs

Program notes © 2013. All rights reserved. Program notes may not be reprinted without written permission from The Philadelphia Orchestra Association and/or Paul Griffiths.

Brahms composed his Symphony No. 2 in 1877.

The Philadelphia Orchestra’s first performance of the Second Symphony was in December 1900, under Fritz Scheel’s direction. The most recent performances on the Orchestra’s subscription concerts were in October 2010, with Christoph von Dohnányi on the podium.

The Philadelphia Orchestra has recorded Brahms’s Second Symphony four times: with Leopold Stokowski in 1929 for RCA Victor; with Eugene Ormandy in 1939 for RCA Victor; with Ormandy in 1953 for CBS; and in 1988 with Riccardo Muti for Philips.

The score calls for two flutes, two oboes, two clarinets, two bassoons, four horns, two trumpets, three trombones, tuba, timpani, and strings.

The Symphony runs approximately 40 minutes in performance.

Musical TermsGENERAL TERMSCadence: The conclusion to a phrase, movement, or piece based on a recognizable melodic formula, harmonic progression, or dissonance resolutionCadenza: A passage or section in a style of brilliant improvisation, usually inserted near the end of a movement or compositionChord: The simultaneous sounding of three or more tonesDissonance: A combination of two or more tones requiring resolutionFugue: A piece of music in which a short melody is stated by one voice and then imitated by the other voices in succession, reappearing throughout the entire piece in all the voices at different placesK.: Abbreviation for Köchel, the chronological list of all the works of Mozart made by Ludwig von KöchelLegato: Smooth, even, without any break between notesMeter: The symmetrical grouping of musical rhythms

Op.: Abbreviation for opus, a term used to indicate the chronological position of a composition within a composer’s output. Opus numbers are not always reliable because they are often applied in the order of publication rather than composition.Rondo: A form frequently used in symphonies and concertos for the final movement. It consists of a main section that alternates with a variety of contrasting sections (A-B-A-C-A etc.).Scherzo: Literally “a joke.” Usually the third movement of symphonies and quartets that was introduced by Beethoven to replace the minuet. The scherzo is followed by a gentler section called a trio, after which the scherzo is repeated. Its characteristics are a rapid tempo in triple time, vigorous rhythm, and humorous contrasts.Sonata form: The form in which the first movements (and sometimes others) of symphonies are usually cast. The sections are exposition, development,

and recapitulation, the last sometimes followed by a coda. The exposition is the introduction of the musical ideas, which are then “developed.” In the recapitulation, the exposition is repeated with modifications.Tonic: The keynote of a scale

THE SPEED OF MUSIC (Tempo)Adagio: Leisurely, slowAllegretto: A tempo between walking speed and fastAllegro: Bright, fastAndante: Walking speedAndantino: Slightly quicker than andanteCon spirito: With spiritGrazioso: Graceful and easyL’istesso tempo: At the same tempoNobilmente: NoblyPresto: Very fast

TEMPO MODIFIERS

Ma non assai: But not muchNon troppo: Not too muchQuasi: Almost

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Simon Rattle and Lang LangMay 9 & 11 8 PM May 10 2 PMSimon Rattle Conductor Lang Lang Piano

Andrew Norman Unstuck Beethoven Piano Concerto No. 3 Sibelius Symphony No. 6 Sibelius Symphony No. 7

These concerts are sponsored by the Blanche and Irving Laurie Foundation.

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Hilary Hahn ReturnsMay 3 & 4 8 PM May 5 2 PMYannick Nézet-Séguin Conductor Hilary Hahn Violin

Strauss Love Scene from Feuersnot Korngold Violin Concerto Mahler Symphony No. 1

The May 3 concert is sponsored by the Louis N. Cassett Foundation.

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PreConcert Conversations: PreConcert Conversations are held prior to every Philadelphia Orchestra subscription concert, beginning one hour before curtain. Conversations are free to ticket-holders, feature discussions of the season’s music and music-makers, and are supported in part by the Wells Fargo Foundation.

Lost and Found: Please call 215.670.2321.

Web Site: For information about The Philadelphia Orchestra and its upcoming concerts or events, please visit www.philorch.org.

Subscriptions: The Philadelphia Orchestra offers a variety of subscription options each season. These multi-concert packages feature the best available seats, ticket exchange privileges, guaranteed seat renewal for the following season, discounts on individual tickets, and many other benefits. For more information, please call 215.893.1955 or visit www.philorch.org.

Ticket Turn-In: Subscribers who cannot use their tickets are invited to donate them and receive a tax-deductible credit by calling 215.893.1999. Tickets may be turned in any time up to the start of the concert. Twenty-four-hour notice is appreciated, allowing other patrons the opportunity to purchase these tickets.

Individual Tickets: Don’t assume that your favorite concert is sold out. Subscriber turn-ins and other special promotions can make last-minute tickets available. Call Ticket Philadelphia at 215.893.1999 or stop by the Kimmel Center Box Office.

Ticket Philadelphia StaffGary Lustig, Vice PresidentJena Smith, Director, Patron

ServicesDan Ahearn, Jr., Box Office

ManagerCatherine Pappas, Project

ManagerMariangela Saavedra, Manager,

Patron ServicesJoshua Becker, Training SpecialistKristin Allard, Business Operations

CoordinatorJackie Kampf, Client Relations

CoordinatorPatrick Curran, Assistant Treasurer,

Box OfficeTad Dynakowski, Assistant

Treasurer, Box OfficeMichelle Messa, Assistant

Treasurer, Box OfficePatricia O’Connor, Assistant

Treasurer, Box OfficeThomas Sharkey, Assistant

Treasurer, Box OfficeJames Shelley, Assistant Treasurer,

Box OfficeJayson Bucy, Lead Patron Services

RepresentativeFairley Hopkins, Lead Patron

Services RepresentativeMeg Hackney, Lead Patron

Services RepresentativeTeresa Montano, Lead Patron

Services RepresentativeAlicia DiMeglio, Priority Services

RepresentativeMegan Brown, Patron Services

RepresentativeJulia Schranck, Priority Services

RepresentativeBrand-I Curtis McCloud, Patron

Services RepresentativeScott Leitch, Quality Assurance

Analyst

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