The Philadelphia Orchestra

Vladimir Jurowski ConductorVsevolod Grivnov TenorAlexey Zuev PianoSherman Howard SpeakerTatiana Monogarova SopranoSergei Leiferkus BaritoneWestminster Symphonic ChoirJoe Miller Director

Rachmaninoff/ Songsorch. Jurowski I. “Christ Is Risen,” Op. 26, No. 6 II. “Dreams,” Op. 38, No. 5 III. “The Morn of Life,” Op. 34, No. 10 IV. “So Dread a Fate,” Op. 34, No. 7 V. “All Things Depart,” Op. 26, No. 15 VI. “Come Let Us Rest,” Op. 26, No. 3 VII. “Before My Window,” Op. 26, No. 10 VIII. “The Little Island,” Op. 14, No. 2 IX. “How Fair this Spot,” Op. 21, No. 7 X. “What Wealth of Rapture,” Op. 34, No. 12 (U.S. premiere of orchestrated version)

Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No. 4 in G minor, Op. 40 I. Allegro vivace II. Largo III. Allegro vivace

Intermission

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Season 2013-2014Thursday, February 13, at 8:00Friday, February 14, at 8:00Saturday, February 15, at 8:00

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Rachmaninoff The Bells, Op. 35 I. Allegro, ma non tanto II. Lento—Adagio III. Presto—Prestissimo IV. Lento lugubre—Allegro—Andante— Tempo I

This program runs approximately 1 hour, 45 minutes.

These concerts are presented in cooperation with theSergei Rachmaninoff Foundation.

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.

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The Philadelphia Orchestra

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 innovation in music-making. The Orchestra is inspiring the future and 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 triumphantly opened his inaugural season as the eighth artistic leader of the Orchestra in fall 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. Yannick has been embraced by the musicians of the Orchestra, audiences, and the

community itself. His concerts of diverse repertoire attract sold-out houses, and he has established a regular forum for connecting with concert-goers through Post-Concert Conversations.

Under Yannick’s leadership the Orchestra returns to recording with a newly-released CD on the Deutsche Grammophon label of Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring and Leopold Stokowski transcriptions. In Yannick’s inaugural season the Orchestra has also returned to the radio airwaves, with weekly Sunday afternoon broadcasts on WRTI-FM.

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 Orchestra is also 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 while also enjoying annual residencies in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., and at the Bravo! Vail festival.

Musician-led initiatives, including highly-successful Cello and Violin Play-Ins, shine a spotlight on the Orchestra’s musicians, as they spread out from the stage into the community. The Orchestra’s commitment to its education and community partnership initiatives manifests itself in numerous other ways, including concerts for families and students, and eZseatU, a program that allows full-time college students to attend an unlimited number of Orchestra concerts for a $25 annual membership fee. 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. 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 … has never sounded better.” In his first season he took the Orchestra to new musical heights. His second builds on that momentum with highlights that include a Philadelphia Commissions Micro-Festival, for which three leading composers have been commissioned to write solo works for three of the Orchestra’s principal players; the next installment in his multi-season focus on requiems with Fauré’s Requiem; and a unique, theatrically-staged presentation of Strauss’s revolutionary opera Salome, a first-ever co-production with Opera Philadelphia.

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. In addition he becomes the first ever mentor conductor of the Curtis Institute of Music’s conducting fellows program in the fall of 2013. He has made wildly successful appearances with the world’s most revered ensembles, and 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 Orchestra returns to recording with a newly-released CD on that label of Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring and Leopold Stokowski transcriptions. Yannick continues a fruitful recording relationship with the Rotterdam Philharmonic for DG, BIS, and EMI/Virgin; the London Philharmonic 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, awarded by the Quebec government; and an honorary doctorate by the University of Quebec in Montreal.

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

Nigel P

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ConductorOne of today’s most sought-after conductors, Vladimir Jurowski has been a frequent guest with The Philadelphia Orchestra since making his debut in 2005. He made his international debut in 1995 at the Wexford Festival conducting Rimsky-Korsakov’s May Night, and the same year made his debut at the Royal Opera House with Verdi’s Nabucco. Mr. Jurowski was appointed principal guest conductor of the London Philharmonic in 2003 and became principal conductor in September 2007. From 2001 to 2013 he served as music director of the Glyndebourne Festival Opera. He also holds the titles of principal artist of the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and artistic director of the Russian State Academic Symphony. As a guest he has conducted many of the world’s leading orchestras, including the Berlin and Vienna philharmonics, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, the Boston and Chicago symphonies, and the Dresden Staatskapelle.

Recent and upcoming performance highlights include debuts with the New York Philharmonic and the NHK and San Francisco symphonies; tours with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe and the Mahler Chamber Orchestra; and return visits to the Cleveland Orchestra, the Berlin Radio Symphony, and the Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia. Mr. Jurowski made his debut at the Metropolitan Opera in 1999 with Verdi’s Rigoletto and has since returned for Janácek’s Jenufa, Tchaikovsky’s The Queen of Spades, Humperdinck’s Hansel and Gretel, and, in 2013, Strauss’s Die Frau ohne Schatten.

Mr. Jurowski’s discography includes the first-ever recording of the cantata Exile by Giya Kancheli for ECM, Meyerbeer’s L’Étoile du Nord for Marco Polo, Massenet’s Werther for BMG, and a series of records for PentaTone with the Russian National Orchestra. The London Philharmonic has released a wide selection of his live recordings on its LPO Live label. His tenure at Glyndebourne has been documented in CD releases of Rossini’s La Cenerentola, Wagner’s Tristan and Isolde, and Prokofiev’s Betrothal in a Monastery, as well as DVD releases of Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi, Johann Strauss Jr.’s Die Fledermaus, Wagner’s Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, Mozart’s Don Giovanni, and Rachmaninoff’s The Miserly Knight, all released by Medici Arts.

Sheila R

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SoloistsRussian tenor Vsevolod Grivnov makes his Philadelphia Orchestra debut with these performances. A principal soloist with the Bolshoi Theatre, recent performances with that company include Verdi’s La traviata, A Masked Ball, and Luisa Miller, and Cilea’s Adriana Lecouvreur. He has sung Levko in Rimsky-Korsakov’s May Night at the Wexford Festival; Dmitri in Musorgsky’s Boris Godunov; Fernando in Donizetti’s La favorita; and Prince Guidon in Rimsky-Korsakov’s The Golden Cockerel at Nice Opera. He made his American debut as Dmitri in Boris Godunov at the Houston Grand Opera and later debuted at the Royal Danish Opera as Fenton in Verdi’s Falstaff, a role he has also performed at the New Israeli Opera. Other engagements have included Bach’s Mass in B minor with the Orchestra of the Teatro Massimo in Palermo; Stravinsky’s Pulcinella with the San Francisco Symphony; Shostakovich’s Six Romances on Texts by Japanese Poets in Venice; and Stravinsky’s The Wedding with the RIAS Kammerchor in Berlin, which was recorded by Harmonia Mundi. Mr. Grivnov has performed Rachmaninoff’s The Bells with Vladimir Jurowski and the Oslo Philharmonic and at the BBC Proms.

Russian pianist Alexey Zuev is making his Philadelphia Orchestra debut. Born in 1982 in St. Petersburg, he gave his first public performance at age eight and won the International Prokofiev Competition at 17. Recent and upcoming performance highlights include his debut with the London Philharmonic and Vladimir Jurowski; performances with the World Orchestra for Peace in St. Petersburg and Moscow with Valery Gergiev; Britten’s Piano Concerto in Switzerland; recital and concerto performances in Luxembourg, Austria, Germany, Italy, Switzerland, and Russia; and appearances at the Kreuth and St. Gallen festivals, Klavier-Olympiade in Bad Kissingen, Alpenklassik in Bad Reichenhall, and Kissinger Sommer, among others. Mr. Zuev’s 2008 debut CD of works by Weber, Schubert, and Brahms is on Moscow’s Art Classics “Russian Virtuosos” series. Also available on disc are his performances of Schumann, Liszt, and Debussy at the Ruhr International Piano Festival; a live recital disc of works by Beethoven, Stravinsky, Schumann, Chopin, and Marina Schmotova; and, with pianist Alexei Lubimov, four-hand arrangements of Debussy’s Three Nocturnes and Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun released on ECM.

Kristen Loken A

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SoloistsSherman Howard, who is making his Philadelphia Orchestra debut, has appeared with the New Jersey Symphony in Sibelius’s Suite from The Tempest. His Broadway credits include Gore Vidal’s The Best Man, A Bengal Tiger in the Baghdad Zoo, All My Sons, and Inherit the Wind. With the Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey he has appeared as Henry II in The Lion in Winter, Scrooge in A Christmas Carol, Galileo Galilei in Life of Galileo, Lopakhin in The Cherry Orchard, Benedick in Much Ado About Nothing, and the title role in Enrico IV. Mr. Howard’s Off-Broadway credits include Another Part of the Forest, Titus Andronicus, Geography of a Horse Dreamer, The Lady or the Tiger, The Crate, and I’m Not Rappaport. He also appeared with Lauren Bacall in the national tour of Sweet Bird of Youth. Mr. Howard has appeared in numerous productions across the U.S., including Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead, Sheridan, Nine Armenians, The Front Page, Getting Out, The Runner Stumbles, The Merchant of Venice, The Mystery Cycle, and Cyrano de Bergerac. His television credits include Homeland, Person of Interest, Cold Case, Seinfeld, ER, Star Trek, OP-Center, Good and Evil, and Law and Order.

Highlights of Russian soprano Tatiana Monogarova’s 2013-14 season include the title role of Tchaikovsky’s Iolanta at the Grand Theatre in Warsaw with Valery Gergiev; her debut with the Zurich Opera singing Lisa in Tchaikovsky’s The Queen of Spades with Jirí Belohlávek; a return to the role of Cio-Cio San in Puccini’s Madame Butterfly with Cape Town Opera; and performances of Britten’s War Requiem with the London Philharmonic and Vladimir Jurowski at the Southbank Centre in London, the Musikverein in Vienna, and the Rostropovich Festival in Moscow. In the 2012-13 season she returned to the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow as Tatiana in Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin, a signature role she has also performed on tour with the Bolshoi in Europe and Israel. In future seasons she makes debuts with Washington National Opera, l’Opéra National du Rhin in Strasbourg, and Frankfurt Opera. Ms. Monogarova, who is making her Philadelphia Orchestra debut, has performed Rachmaninoff’s The Bells with Vladimir Jurowski and the London Philharmonic; with Robert Spano and the Atlanta Symphony; and at the BBC Proms, also with Mr. Jurowski.

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Eugene B

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Soloist/ChorusBaritone Sergei Leiferkus has appeared in opera houses around the world in roles such as Scarpia in Puccini’s Tosca, Iago in Verdi’s Otello, Rangoni in Musorgsky’s Boris Godunov, Telramund in Wagner’s Lohengrin, and Alberich in Wagner’s Ring Cycle. Highlights of the current season include a role written especially for him: Professor Filip Filippovich Preobrazhensky in Alexander Raskatov’s A Dog’s Heart at the Opéra de Lyon; and concert engagements in Moscow, St. Petersburg, and at the Schleswig-Holstein Festival in Germany. Mr. Leiferkus has recorded nearly 40 CDs. His first recording of Musorgsky songs received a Grammy nomination; another recording of all of Musorgsky’s songs was awarded the Cannes Classical Award and the Diapason d’Or Prize in 1997. Video recordings include operas staged at the Mariinsky Theatre (Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin and Prokofiev’s The Fiery Angel) and at Covent Garden (Otello and Borodin’s Prince Igor). Mr. Leiferkus was born in St. Petersburg and graduated from that city’s Conservatory. His debut with the Berlin Philharmonic under Kurt Masur in the early 1980s launched his international career. He made his Philadelphia Orchestra debut in 1989.

The Westminster Symphonic Choir is composed of students at Westminster Choir College of Rider University in Princeton. The Choir has recorded and performed with major orchestras under virtually every internationally acclaimed conductor of the past 78 years. The Westminster Symphonic Choir, led by conductor Joe Miller, director of choral activities at the college, made its Philadelphia Orchestra debut in 1934 with Leopold Stokowski in Bach’s Mass in B minor. In addition to these current performances, highlights of the Westminster Symphonic Choir’s 2013-14 season include Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with The Philadelphia Orchestra conducted by Yannick Nézet-Séguin and the Vienna Chamber Orchestra conducted by Mark Laycock; Handel’s Messiah with the New York Philharmonic and Andrew Manze; and Rouse’s Requiem with the New York Philharmonic and Alan Gilbert. The Westminster Choir has made two recordings with Dr. Miller: Noël, a collection of French Christmas music and sacred works; and Flower of Beauty, which received four stars from Choir and Organ magazine and earned critical praise from American Record Guide as “the gold standard for academic choirs in America.”

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Peter B

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Framing the ProgramSome composers over the past two centuries formed particularly close relationships with specific orchestras, such as Mendelssohn with the Leipzig Gewandhaus, Mahler and the Vienna Philharmonic, and Bernstein with the New York Philharmonic. During the latter part of his career Sergei Rachmaninoff remarked that he often wrote with the sound of The Philadelphia Orchestra in his head and as a soloist he said that he would “rather perform with The Philadelphia Orchestra than any other of the world.” Beginning with his first American tour in 1909, he showed a special affinity for the “Philadelphia Sound” and started writing most of his symphonic works for it, including the Fourth Piano Concerto we hear tonight, the Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, the Third Symphony, and the Symphonic Dances. He and the Orchestra also collaborated on landmark recordings of the concertos and other pieces.

The all-Rachmaninoff program today opens with a selection of his songs, a genre he cultivated during his Russian years before emigrating in the wake of the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution. Originally composed for voice and piano, we hear them today in luminous orchestrations from the mid-1960s by Vladimir Michailovich Jurowski (1915-72), grandfather of Vladimir Jurowski who conducts the Philadelphians in this concert.

The program concludes with The Bells, a choral symphony that Rachmaninoff composed in Russian to a haunting poem by Edgar Allan Poe. Leopold Stokowski led The Philadelphia Orchestra in the U.S. premiere of the work in 1920.

Parallel Events1913RachmaninoffThe Bells

1926Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No. 4

MusicStravinskyThe Rite of SpringLiteratureMannDeath in VeniceArtSargentPortrait of Henry JamesHistoryBalkan War

Music BartókThe Miraculous MandarinLiteratureMilneWinnie the PoohArtMunchThe Red HouseHistoryTrotsky expelled from Moscow

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The MusicSongs

Sergei RachmaninoffBorn in Semyonovo, Russia, April 1, 1873Died in Beverly Hills, California, March 28, 1943

Sergei Rachmaninoff composed over 80 songs between the early 1890s and 1916; each collection of songs that he published evinced a marked advance in subtlety, insight, and musical resource. After the composition of his magisterial collection of Six Songs, Op. 38, in 1916, Rachmaninoff, who fled the Bolshevik Revolution with his family the following year, wrote no more. He may have wondered who would comprise the audience for more Russian songs after he became an émigré composer in the West—perhaps the very thought of setting Russian poetry while in exile proved too poignant to bear. Whatever the reason, after 1917 Rachmaninoff’s wellspring of song dried up, never to return.

An Honored Tradition The distinguished Russian film composer Vladimir Michailovich Jurowski (1915-72), grandfather of Vladimir Jurowski who conducts the Philadelphians in this concert, selected a number of Rachmaninoff’s most characteristic songs and orchestrated their elaborate and often orchestral sounding piano parts with taste, skill, and an informed understanding of the composer’s style. By so doing, Jurowski himself was following in a hallowed tradition, for orchestrating the songs of honored contemporaries for concert performance was a common and venerated practice among 19th-century Russian composers. Furthermore, this set provides a welcome overview of Rachmaninoff’s signal but underrated achievement as a song composer. Finally, this music, too little known outside of Russia, is ravishing.

A curious feature of the selections that Jurowski made from the Fourteen Songs, Op. 34 (1912), and the Six Songs, Op. 38, is the indirect manner by which the texts were selected to be set to music. In 1912 Rachmaninoff began an intimate five-year epistolary relationship with Marietta Sergeyevna Shaginian (1888-1982), a gifted writer of Armenian heritage who signed her letters to the composer with the pseudonym “Re.” At Rachmaninoff’s request, Shaginian compiled a selection of poems for his last two song collections; in gratitude he dedicated to her the first one of his Op. 34, a setting of Pushkin’s lyric Muza (“Muse”). On March 15, 1912, he wrote to her “that

the mood [of the selected poetry] should be sad rather than witty, as bright tones do not come easily to me.”

A Closer Look This group commences with “Christ Is Risen,” composed in 1906. Despite the opening quotation from the Obikhod chant of the Russian Orthodox Easter liturgy, this is an exceedingly somber song: The text by Dmitri Merezhkovsky portrays Christ lamenting the soiled world into which he rose again. “Dreams” effects a complete change of mood: A voluptuous poem by the symbolist Fyodor Sologub is enveloped by enchanting music. “The Morn of Life” is an exultant paean to the transformative power of love set to a poem by Fyodor Tyutchev. In the following song, “So Dread a Fate,” Rachmaninoff composes ineffably poignant music to adorn a poem by Apollon Maykov in which the poet mourns the death of his young daughter. (Although this haunting song was published in 1912, its first version was written in 1910 on the death of the great actress Vera Komissarzhevskaya.)

The subdued mood continues with “All Things Depart,” in which Rachmaninoff creates a concise masterpiece of declamatory power inspired by Daniil Rathaus’s meditation on the fragility of life. “Come Let Us Rest” is a further example of Rachmaninoff’s mastery of declamation: It is a setting of Sonya’s concluding monologue from the fourth act of Anton Chekov’s play Uncle Vanya. “Before My Window” is a refulgent setting of a poem by Countess Adolfovna Einerling, who published under the nom-de-plume “Galina.” “The Little Island” is an inspired setting of a translation of one of Shelley’s lyric poems by Konstantin Balmont. Rachmaninoff returns to the poetry of “Galina” for the gently pantheistic “How Fair this Spot.” This selection concludes with the exultant “What Wealth of Rapture,” in which the poet Afanasy Fet describes how a lover’s racing pulse is gradually becalmed through a rapturous contemplation of the starry firmament.

—Byron Adams

Rachmaninoff composed his Op. 26 songs in 1906; Op. 38 in 1916; Op. 34 in 1912 (except No. 7, which was composed in 1910 and revised in 1912); Op. 26 in 1906; Op. 14 in 1896 (except No. 1, which was composed in 1894); and Op. 21 in 1901 (except No. 1, which was composed in 1900). The set heard tonight was orchestrated by Vladimir Michailovich Jurowski in 1963.

These concerts are the United States premiere of this orchestrated version of these songs and the first Philadelphia Orchestra performances of any of the Rachmaninoff songs in this set, although Marcella Sembrich sang “Before My Window” with piano accompaniment only in Springfield on February 18, 1913.

The score for the songs in this orchestration calls for solo tenor, two flutes, two oboes, two clarinets, bass clarinet, two bassoons, four horns, two trumpets, three trombones, tuba, timpani, percussion (bass drum, cymbals, tubular bells), harp, celeste, and strings.

Performance time for the set is approximately 27 minutes.

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“Khristos voskres”(Dmitri Merezhkovsky)

“Khristos voskres,” poyut vo khrame;No grustno mne … dusha molchit.Mir polon krov’yu i slezami,i etot gimn pred altaryamitak oskorbitel’no zvuchit.Kogda b On bïl mezh nas i videl,chevo dostig nash slavnïy vek,kak brata brat voznenavidel,kak opozoren chelovek,i esli b zdes’, v blestyashchem khrame,“Khristos voskres,” On uslïkhal,kakimi b gor’kimi slezami,pered tolpoy On zarïdal!

“Son”(Fyodor Sologub)

V mire net nichevo vozhdelenneye sna,

charï est’ u nevo, u nevo tishina,u nevo na ustakh ni pechal’ i ni smekh, i v bezdonnïkh ochakh mnogo taynïkh

utekh.U nevo shiroki, shiroki dva krïla,i legki, tak legki, kak polnochnaya mgla.Ne ponyat’, kak nesyot, i kuda i na chom,on krïlom ne vzmakhnyot,

i ne dvinet plechom.

“Sey den’ ya pomnyu”(Fyodor Tyutchev)

Sey den’, ya pomnyu, dlya menyabïl utrom zhiznennovo dnya:stoyala molcha predo mnoyu, vzdïmalas’ grud’ eyo, aleli shchoki, kak zarya, vsyo zharche rdeya i gorya!I vdrug, kak solntse zolotoye, lubvi priznan’ye molodoye istorglos’ iz grudi eya i novïy mir uvidel ya!

“Christ Is Risen”

“Chris is risen!” they sing in the churches;but I am sad, my heart is silent.The earth is full of tears and bloodshed,and this song of praise before the altars sounds like a mockery.If He came among us and could see the triumphs of our glorious age—how brother hates brother, how shameful men have become—if He were here, in this glittering church to hear the chant “Christ is risen!,” what bitter tears He would weep in front of the multitude!

“Dreams”

Nothing in the world is more longed-for than a dream:

it possesses enchantment, brings silence,its features show neither laughter nor pain,in its fathomless eyes lie great secret

delights.It soars to the heights on shining wings,as lightly as the darkness of midnight.Incomprehensible, outside time and space,on wings that are still,

motionless.

“The Morn of Life”

I remember that day: for meit was the morning of the day of life.She stood in silence before me, her breast heaving, her cheeks flushing red as dawn, glowing with increasing fire … and suddenly, like the golden sun, a youthful confession of love burst from her breast. And I beheld a new world!

(Please turn the page quietly.)

“So Dread a Fate”

So dread a fate! So dread a fate!She lives! … and now awakes.See: she wants to speak, she opens her eyes and smiles.When she sees me, she will understand the meaning of my bitter tears, and will whisper with a smile:“But I am alive! Why are you weeping?”But no! She lies … silent, still, unmoving.

“All Things Depart”

All things depart, nothing will ever return.Life hurries on, like passing moments.Words uttered once find echo

in oblivion.Who can call back yesterday’s dawn?A flower grows, and tomorrow is withered.A flame spring sup, only to die in ashes …The waters flow past, never still for

a moment …There cannot be any joy in my song!

“Come Let Us Rest”

Come let us rest! Let us hear the angels, let us

see the heavens covered with stars like diamonds;

all earthly evil, all our sufferings swept away by the

grace which will fill the world, and our life will be

peaceful, gentle, sweet as a caress. I believe it, I believe it …

Come let us rest … come let us rest.

“Ne mozhet bït’!”(Apollon Maykov)

Ne mozhet bït’! Ne mozhet bït’!Ona zhiva! … seychas prosnyotsya …Smotrite: khochet govorit’,otkroyet ochi, ulïbnyotsa,menya uvidevshi, poymyot,chto neuteshnïy plach’ moy znachit, i vdrug s ulïbkoyu shepnyot:“Ved’ ya zhiva! O chom on plachet!”No net! Lezhit … tikha, nema, nedvizhna …

“Prokhodit vsyo”(Daniil Rathaus)

Prokhodit vsyo, i net k nemu vozvrata.Zhizn’ mchitsya vdal’, mgnoveniya bïstreye.Gde zvuki slov, zvuchavshikh nam

kogda-to?Gde svet zari nas ozarivshikh dney?Rastsvel tsvetok, a zavtra on uvyanet.Gorit ogon’, chtob vskore otgoret’ …Idyot volna, nad ney drugaya

vstanet …Ya ne mogu veselïkh pesen pet’!

“Mï otdokhnyom”(Anton Chekhov)

Mï otdokhnyom! Mï uslïshim angelov, mï uvidim vse

nebo v almazah, mï uvidim, kak vse zlo zemnoye,

vse nashi stradaniya v miloserdii, kotoroye napolnit

soboyu ves’ mir, i nasha zhizn’ stanet tikhoyu,

nezhnoyu, sladkoyu, kak laska. Ya veruyu, veruyu …

Mï otdokhnyom … Mï otdokhnyom.

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“U moyevo okna”(Glafira Galina)

U moyevo okna cheremukha tsvetyot,tsvetyot zadumchivo pod rizoy serebristoy … i vetkoy svezhey i dushistoysklonilas’ i zovyot …Eyo trepeshchushchikh vozdushnïkh

lepestkov ya radostno lovlyu veseloye dïkhan’ye, ikh sladkiy aromat tumanit mne soznan’ye, i pesni o lyubvi oni poyut bez slov …

“Ostrovok”(trans. Konstantin Balmont)

Iz moray smotrit ostrovok, evo zelyonïye uklonïukrasil trav gustïkh venokfialki, anemonï.Nad nim spletayutsya listï,vokrug nevo chut’ pleshchut volnï.Derev’ya grustnï, kak mechtï,kak statui, bezmolvnï.Zdes’ ele dïshit veterok,syuda groza ne doletayet, i bezmyateznïy

ostrovokvsyo dremlet, zasïpayet.

“Zdes’ khorosho”(Glafira Galina)

Zdes’ khorosho …Vzglyani, vdaliognyom gorit reka;tsvetnïm kovrom luga legli,beleyut oblaka.Zdes’ net lyudey …zdes’ tishinazdes’ tol’ko Bog da ya.Tsvetï, da staraya sosna,da tï, mechta moya!

“Before My Window”

Before my window flowers a cherry tree, blossoming dreamily in bridal whiteness …its silvery branches gently sway,and rustling call to me …I draw down the trembling

blossomsand joyfully breathe their fresh perfume,until their sweetness clouds my senses,singing a wordless song of love …

“The Little Island”(Percy Bysshe Shelley)

There was a little lawny isletBy anemone and violet,Like mosaic paven:And its roof was flowers and leavesWhich the summer’s breath enweaves,Where nor sun nor showers nor breezePiece the pines and tallest trees,Each a gem engraves;—Girt by many an azure waveWith which the clouds and mountains

paveA lake’s blue chasm.

“How Fair this Spot”

How fair this spot!I gaze around me, wherethe golden brook flows past, the fields are covered with flowers, white clouds sail above.There is no-one here,silence reigns;here I am alone with God,with the flowers, the ancient pines,and with you, my only dream!

(Please turn the page quietly.)

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“What Wealth of Rapture”

What wealth of rapture:it is night and we are alone!The river is as smooth as glass,reflecting a myriad of stars.Oh come, bend your headand look intothe purity of its depths!

Oh, tell me I have lost all reason!Call it what you will!In this moment my mind is faint,my heart is floodedwith love and desireand I cannot speak

or understand!

I am sick with love,with the pains of love!Oh listen, believe me!I cannot hide my agony,but have to tell youhow I love you!You, you alone,I love you, I desire you!

“Kakoye schast’ye”(Afanasy Fet)

Kakoye schast’ye:i noch’, i mï odni!Reka—kak zerkaloi vsya blestit zvezdami;a tam-to … golovu zakin’—ka da vzglyani:kakaya glubina i chistota nad nami.

O nazïvay menya bezumnïm!nazovi chem khochesh’;v etot mig ya razumom slabeyui v serdtse chuvstvuyutakoy priliv lyubvi,chto ne mogu molchat’, ne stanu,

ne umeyu!

Ya bolen, ya vlyublen;no, muchas’ i lyubya—O, slushay! o poymi!—ya strasti ne skrïvayu,i ya khochu skazat’,chto ya lyublyu tebya—tebya, odnu tebyalyublyu ya i zhelayu!

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The MusicPiano Concerto No. 4

Sergei Rachmaninoff

One of the proudest chapters in the history of The Philadelphia Orchestra is the relationship between Sergei Rachmaninoff and the ensemble during the long tenures of Leopold Stokowski and Eugene Ormandy. In the 1920s, ’30s, and ’40s, when Rachmaninoff was far more esteemed as a pianist than as a composer by the modernists of the time, Stokowski and Ormandy kept after him for new works, and gave the world premieres of them. Forced to present 70 or 80 concerts and recitals a year just to put food on his family’s table, beset (as always) by doubts about his abilities as a composer, confronted with audiences and critics who preferred his old “hits” to his new compositions, Rachmaninoff nonetheless responded to this Orchestra’s call with works such as the Third Symphony, the Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, the Symphonic Dances, and the Piano Concerto No. 4.

A More “Modern” Approach These later compositions do not woo us with lush melodies, but invigorate us with caustic wit, finely-etched details, harmonic freedom, and bold rhythms. At times, they sound like what Haydn might have written had he been composing between two World Wars instead of during the Age of Enlightenment. Was Rachmaninoff keeping up with the times at last, or were the times finally catching up with the sardonic side of his nature? In any case, without loving the sensuous, “Hollywood” Rachmaninoff of the early works any less, we can now appreciate these later and sharper inspirations, these (to quote T.S. Eliot) “thoughts of a dry brain in a dry season.”

Throughout Rachmaninoff’s lifetime, the great popularity of his Piano Concerto No. 2 overshadowed all his other works, even the masterful Concerto No. 3. Though this latter work is now acknowledged to be a superb musical epic, the Mt. Everest for piano virtuosos, the composer himself performed it with drastic cuts, for fear of wearing out the audience’s patience. He was even more concerned that listeners would find his Concerto No. 4 too long, considering its more “modern” style. He joked to his friend, the composer Nikolai Medtner, that the piece might have to be performed on successive evenings, like Wagner’s Ring. Conceived in 1914, incorporating

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music written as early as 1911, but actually composed in 1926, this Concerto did not receive its world premiere in Philadelphia until March 18, 1927, and Rachmaninoff continued to revise it after that, not producing the definitive version until 1941.

A Closer Look Unlike his other concertos, which begin softly and build to their forte climaxes, this one plunges right into the middle of the excitement (Allegro vivace), with the theme in big piano chords, as if the composer were trying to get this “Rachmaninoff” thing over with as soon as possible. The dry, rustling passages that follow have their counterparts in the previous concertos, but they also show an awareness of what Prokofiev and Gershwin were doing around that time, in the 1920s. The meditative second theme is adventurous harmonically and has some beautiful, Chopin-like ornamentation. The ideas come in profusion after that, introducing new themes or recasting old ones; far from overstaying their welcome, they rush by almost too fast to catch. Through it all, Rachmaninoff seems to be toying with our expectations. There is even a brilliant “final” coda at about the seven-minute mark, when the movement actually has several more minutes to go; the end, when it does come, is sudden and sarcastic.

About the last thing one would expect in this lean, mean, modernistic music is a slow movement (Largo) that sounds as if it was lifted straight from Grieg’s Peer Gynt Suite. The much-repeated falling phrase, with its chromatic harmony, is uncannily Grieg-like; Rachmaninoff seems to return to it and wrestle with it, as if trying to free himself from an old influence. The sudden dramatic outburst at mid-movement, which spends itself quickly, is based on a chromatic version of that same phrase. In the end, Rachmaninoff is liberated by a splendid passage from one of his own withheld works, an Etude-Tableau for piano in C minor, composed in 1911 but not published until after his death.

In another rather brutal gesture, Rachmaninoff cuts the slow movement short with an orchestral outburst that launches the finale (Allegro vivace). The movement is unmatched in Rachmaninoff’s orchestral works for tension and ferocity, demanding the utmost in brilliance and attack from the soloist; this composer whom we’re used to thinking of as ultra-lyrical even treats the broad second theme with impatience. With familiarity, we may have become used to the bracing sarcasm of Rachmaninoff’s Symphonic Dances, but lovers of his piano concertos may be startled to find it here. Rachmaninoff manages to tame

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this wild music to a full close, softly, in dreamy D-flat major. But a devilish little hopping theme in the violins, which was hinted at in the first movement, gets the music started again, slowly at first, on its long climb toward a frenzied conclusion. Incidentally, Rachmaninoff was in the audience at the 1924 world premiere of Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue; in these closing pages of the Fourth Concerto, one can tell the experience wasn’t wasted on him.

—David Wright

Rachmaninoff composed his Fourth Piano Concerto in 1926.

The Philadelphia Orchestra, conductor Leopold Stokowski, and the composer as soloist gave the world premiere of the Piano Concerto No. 4, in March 1927. Most recently on subscription the work was performed in April 2003 by pianist Horacio Gutiérrez and Alan Gilbert on the podium.

The Orchestra has recorded Rachmaninoff’s Fourth Piano Concerto twice: in 1941 with Rachmaninoff and Stokowski for RCA and in 1961 with Philippe Entremont and Eugene Ormandy for CBS.

The score calls for solo piano, piccolo, two flutes, two oboes, English horn, two clarinets, two bassoons, four horns, two trumpets, three trombones, tuba, timpani, percussion (bass drum, cymbals, side drum, tambourine, triangle), and strings.

The Concerto runs approximately 25 minutes in performance.

The MusicThe Bells

Sergei Rachmaninoff

For Russian composers born in the 19th century, one of the pervasive sounds of daily life was the ringing of bells from the belfries of onion-domed Orthodox churches: Whether in the city or in the countryside, the tolling and chiming of bells was a constant sonorous reality. Unsurprisingly, the plangent sonority of bells, large and small, resonates throughout Russian music of the 19th century and, for those composers whose musical development predated the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917, such as Rachmaninoff and Stravinsky, into the 20th century as well. From the grand and somber coronation bells that ring in Musorgsky’s Boris Godunov (1874), to the coruscating pealing that occurs throughout the last act of Rimsky-Korsakov’s The Legend of the Invisible City of Kitezh and the Maiden Fevroniya (1907), to the funereal knells that conclude Stravinsky’s Requiem Canticles (1966), bells were an integral part of the Russian musical tradition.

With the music of Sergei Rachmaninoff, the Russian obsession with tintinnabulation, the resonating tones after a bell has been struck, reached its zenith. He conjured the timbre and rhythmic patterns of bells in works for solo piano; in suites for two pianos; in a cappella choral pieces, such as his Vespers, Op. 37; and throughout his orchestral works. Indeed, the final sonority of his last orchestral score, the Symphonic Dances, Op. 45 (1940), is a loud stroke on a tam-tam that, like a great bell, is meant to ring on into silence after the last tumultuous chord from the orchestra has ended.

It must have seemed fortuitous to Rachmaninoff when, during the summer of 1912, an anonymous admirer sent him a typescript of the Symbolist poet Konstantin Balmont’s free Russian translation of Edgar Allan Poe’s poem The Bells (1849). (After the composer’s death, it was revealed that this copy had been posted to him by Maria Davilova, a student cellist at the Moscow Conservatory.) As Rachmaninoff had enjoyed writing his Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom, Op. 31, in 1910, he sought to compose more choral music. At the same time, he had, as he later told an interviewer, “sketched out a plan for a symphony.” With the arrival of the copy of Balmont’s translation of Poe, these two impulses coalesced into the creation of a choral symphony in four movements, The Bells, Op. 35.

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Another fortuitous event may well have played a decisive part in the genesis of Rachmaninoff’s choral symphony, a genre that was exceedingly uncommon in Russian music of this period. In 1910 the Irish composer and conductor Sir Charles Villiers Stanford invited Rachmaninoff to appear at the Leeds Festival. Rachmaninoff accepted the engagement, playing his Second Piano Concerto on the same program that featured the premiere of a new choral symphony by Stanford’s erstwhile pupil Ralph Vaughan Williams, his massive A Sea Symphony on texts by Walt Whitman. Several British writers, most notably Daniel Gideon Jaffé, have observed the striking similarities between A Sea Symphony and The Bells, especially evident in their hurtling scherzos as well as the introspective codas with which both symphonies end. Rachmaninoff, who was not prone to gushing praise of other composers, deeply admired Vaughan Williams’s music. In a remarkable coincidence, Rachmaninoff participated in the English conductor Sir Henry Wood’s Jubilee Concert in 1938 that included the premiere of another of Vaughan Williams’s major vocal works, the Serenade to Music. Rachmaninoff wrote to Wood the next morning requesting him to tell Vaughan Williams “how much I enjoyed hearing his work.”

A Closer Look In A Sea Symphony, Vaughan Williams uses the sea as a metaphor for human aspiration; in The Bells Rachmaninoff employs the imagery of bells to illustrate the stages of human existence. The opening movement (Allegro ma non tanto) describes the exaltation of childhood. The second movement Largo—Adagio is a solemn hymn to marriage, while the third (Presto—Prestissimo) paints a terrifying picture of a fiery apocalypse. The concluding Lento lugubre sounds the death knell. The theme of death pervades The Bells, as the ringing, chiming, warning, and tolling of each successive movement is intertwined with the virtual omnipresence of the “Dies irae” chant from the Roman Catholic plainsong Requiem Mass, a theme that Rachmaninoff knew well from works by Berlioz and Liszt and that he used in many of his own works. Poe’s poem ends in bleak despair, but Rachmaninoff concludes his score with a moving evocation of the “peace that passes all understanding.” The composer conducted the successful premiere of The Bells in St. Petersburg on December 13, 1913; fittingly, he last conducted it in Chicago in 1941, his final appearance anywhere as a conductor.

—Byron Adams

The Bells was composed in 1913.

Leopold Stokowski and The Philadelphia Orchestra gave the United States premiere of the work, in February 1920, with soprano Florence Hinkle, tenor Arthur Hackett, bass Frederick Patton, and the Philadelphia Orchestra Chorus. The piece was last heard here on subscription in 1992, with Charles Dutoit, Alexandrina Pendatchanska, Kaludi Kaludov, Kevin McMillan, and the Choral Arts Society of Philadelphia.

The Orchestra has recorded The Bells three times: in 1954 with Eugene Ormandy, Frances Yeend, David Lloyd, Mack Harrell, and the Temple University Choirs for CBS; in 1973 with Ormandy, Phyllis Curtin, George Shirley, Michael Devlin, and the Temple University Choirs; and in 1992 with Dutoit, Pendatchanska, Kaludov, Sergei Leiferkus, and the Choral Arts Society.

Rachmaninoff scored the work for piccolo, three flutes, three oboes, English horn, three clarinets, bass clarinet, three bassoons, contrabassoon, six horns, three trumpets, three trombones, tuba, timpani, percussion (bass drum, chimes, cymbals, orchestra bells, snare drum, tam-tam, tambourine, triangle), harp, pianino, celeste, organ, strings, soprano, tenor, bass, and mixed chorus.

The Bells runs approximately 35 minutes in performance.

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Kokola(trans. Konstantin Balmont)

I. Slyshish, sani mchatsya v ryad,Mchatsya v ryad,Kolokolchiki zvenyat.Serebristym legkim zvonom slukh nash

sladostno tomyat.Etim penyem i gudenyem o zabvenye govoryat.O, kak zvonko, zvonko, zvonko,Tochno zvuchnyi smekh rebyonka,V yasnom vozdukhe nochnomGovoryat oni o tom.Shto za dnyami zabluzhdenya Nastupayet

vozrozhdenye.Shto volshebno naxlazhdenye,

naxlazhdenye nezhnym snom.Sani mchatsya, mchatsya v ryad.Kolokolchiki zvenyat.Zvyozdy slushayut, kak sani, ubegaya, govoryatI, vnimaya im, goryat.I mechtaya i blistaya, v nebe dukhami paryat;I izmenchivym siyanyem,Molchalivym obayanyem,Vmeste s zvonom, vmeste s penyem,

o zabvenye govoryat.

II. Slyshish, k svadbe zov svyatoy,Zolotoy.Skolko nezhnovo blazhenstva v etoy pesne

molodoy!Skovz spokoinyi vozdukh nochiSlovno smotryat hyi to ochiI blestyat,Iz volny pevuchikh zvukov na lunu oni

glyadyat.Iz prizyvnykh divnykh keliy,Polny skazochnykh vesehy,Narastaya, upadaya, bryzgi svetlyye letyat.Vnov potukhnut, vnov blestyat,I ronyayut svetlyi vzglyadNa gryadushcheye, gde dremlet

bezmyatezhnost nezhnykh snov,Vozveshchayemykh soglasyem zolotykh

kolokolov.

The Bells(Edgar Allan Poe)

I. Hear the sledges with the bells—Silver bells!What a world of merriment their melody

foretells!How they tinkle, tinkle, tinkle,In the icy air of night!While the stars that oversprinkleAll the heavens seem to twinkleWith a crystalline delight;Keeping time, time, time,In a sort of Runic rhyme,To the tintinnabulation that so musically

wellsFrom the bells, bells, bells, bells,Bells, bells, bells—From the jingling and the tinkling of the

bells.

II. Hear the mellow wedding bells—Golden bells!What a world of happiness their harmony

foretells!Through the balmy air of nightHow they ring out their delight!From the molten-golden notes,And all in tune,What a liquid ditty floatsTo the turtle-dove that listens, while she gloatsOn the moon!Oh, from out the sounding cells,What a gush of euphony voluminously wells!How it swells!How it dwellsOn the Future!—how it tellsOf the rapture that impelsTo the swinging and the ringingOf the bells, bells, bells, bells,Bells, bells, bells—To the rhyming and the chiming of the bells!

III. Slyshish, voyushchiy nabat,Tochno stonet medniy ad.Eti zvuki, v dikoy muke, skazku uzhasov

tverdyat!Tochno molyat im pomoch,Krik kidayut pryamo v noch,Pryamo v ushi temnoy nochiKazhdyi zvuk,To dlinneye, to korocheVyklikayet svoy ispug.I ispug ikh tak velik.Tak bezumen kazhdyi krik,Shto razorvannyye zvony, nesposobnyye

zvuchat,Mogut tolko bitsya, bitsya, i krichat, krichat,

krichatI k pylayushchey gromade,Vopli skorbi obrashchat.A mezh tem ogon bezumnyi,I glukhoy i mnogoshumnyi, vsyo gorit,To iz okon, to na krysheMchitsya vyshe, vyshe, vyshe,I kak budto govorit: Ya khochuVyshe mchatsya, razgoratsya vstrechu

lunnomu luchu,Il umru, il totchas, totchas, vplot do

mesyatsa vzlechu.O, nabat, nabat, nabat,Yesli b ty vernul nazadEtot uzhas, eto plamya, etu iskru, etot

vzglyad,Etot pervyi vzglyad ognya,O kotorom ty veshchayesh s voplem,

s plachem i zvenyaA teper nam net spasenya.Vsyudu strakh i vozmushchenye.Tvoy prizyv,Dikikh zvukov nesoglasnostVozveshchayet nam opasnost.To rastyot beda glukhaya, to spadayet,

kak priliv.Slukh nash chutko lovit volny v peremene

zvukovoy,Vnov spadayet, vnov rydayet medno

stonushchiy priboy!

III. Hear the loud alarum bells—Brazen bells!What a tale of terror, now, their turbulency

tells!In the startled ear of nightHow they scream out their affright!Too much horrified to speak,They can only shriek, shriek,Out of tune,In a clamorous appealing to the mercy of

the fire,In a mad expostulation with the deaf and

frantic fire,Leaping higher, higher, higher,With a desperate desire,And a resolute endeavorNow—now to sit, or never,By the side of the pale-faced moon.Oh, the bells, bells, bells!What a tale their terror tellsOf despair!How they clang, and clash, and roar!What a horror they outpourOn the bosom of the palpitating air!Yet the ear, it fully knows,By the twanging,And the clanging,How the danger ebbs and flows;Yet the ear distinctly tells,In the jangling,And the wrangling,How the danger sinks and swells,By the sinking or the swelling in the anger

of the bells—Of the bells—Of the bells, bells, bells, bells,Bells, bells, bells—In the clamor and the clanging of the bells!

(Please turn the page quietly.)

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IV. Pokhoronnyi slyshen zvon,Dolgiy zvon!Gorkoy skorbi slyshny zvuki, gorkoy zhizni

konchen son.Zvuk zheleznyi vozveshchayet o pechali

pokhoron.I nevolno my drozhim,Ot zabav svoikh speshim,I rydayem, vspominayem, shto i my glaza

smezhim.Neizmenno monotonnyi,Etot vozglas otdalyonnyi.Pokhoronnyi tyazhkiy zvon,Tochno ston.Skorbnyi gnevnyiI plachevnyiVyrastayet v dolgiy gul,Vozveshchayet, shto stradalets

neprobudnym snom usnul.V kolokolnykh kelyakh rzhavykhOn dlya pravykh i nepravykhGrozno vtorit ob odnom:Shto na serdtse budto kamen, shto glaza

somknutsya snom.Fakel traurnyi gorit.S kolokolni kto-to kriknul, kto-to gromko

govorit,Kto-to chyornyi tam stoit.I khokhochet, i gremit,I gudit, gudit, gudit,K kolokolne pripadayet,Gulkiy kolokol kachayet,Gulkiy kolokol ryadayet,Stonet v vozdukhe nemomI rotyazhno vozveshchayet o pokoye

grobovom.

IV. Hear the tolling of the bells—Iron bells!What a world of solemn thought their

monody compels!In the silence of the night,How we shiver with affrightAt the melancholy menace of their tone!For every sound that floatsFrom the rust within their throatsIs a groan.And the people—ah, the people—They that dwell up in the steeple,All alone,And who, tolling, tolling, tolling,In that muffled monotone,Feel a glory in so rollingOn the human heart a stone—They are neither man nor woman—They are neither brute nor human—They are Ghouls:—And their king it is who tolls:—And he rolls, rolls, rolls,RollsA paean from the bells!And his merry bosom swellsWith the paean of the bells!And he dances, and he yells:Keeping time, time, time,In a sort of Runic rhyme,To the paean of the bells:—Of the bells:Keeping time, time, timeIn a sort of Runic rhyme,To the throbbing of the bells—Of the bells, bells, bells—To the sobbing of the bells:—Keeping time, time, time,As he knells, knells, knells,In a happy Runic rhyme,To the rolling of the bells—Of the bells, bells, bells—To the tolling of the bells—Of the bells, bells, bells, bells,Bells, bells, bells,—To the moaning and the groaning of the bells.

Program notes commissioned by The Philadelphia Orchestra—© 2014 Byron Adams and David Wright.

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Musical TermsGENERAL TERMSA cappella: Unaccompanied voicesCadence: 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 tonesChromatic: Relating to tones foreign to a given key (scale) or chordCoda: A concluding section or passage added in order to confirm the impression of finalityDissonance: A combination of two or more tones requiring resolutionMeter: The symmetrical grouping of musical rhythmsOctave: The interval between any two notes that are seven diatonic (non-chromatic) scale degrees apart

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.Requiem: A musical setting of the Latin mass for the deadRondo: 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. Also an instrumental piece of a light, piquant, humorous character.

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.

THE SPEED OF MUSIC (Tempo)Adagio: Leisurely, slowAllegro: Bright, fastLargo: BroadLento: SlowLugubre: Dismal, dark, sadPrestissimo: As fast as possiblePresto: Very fastVivace: Lively

TEMPO MODIFIERSMa non tanto: But not too much so

DYNAMIC MARKSForte (f): Loud

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February/March The Philadelphia Orchestra

Yannick’s “Eroica”February 20 & 22 8 PM February 23 2 PMYannick Nézet-Séguin Conductor Truls Mørk Cello

Strauss Metamorphosen Shostakovich Cello Concerto No. 1 Beethoven Symphony No. 3 (“Eroica”)

The February 20 concert is sponsored by the Hassel Foundation.

Firebird and CinderellaFebruary 28 2 PM March 1 8 PMStéphane Denève Conductor Eric Le Sage Piano The Philadelphia Dance Company (Philadanco) Joan Myers Brown Executive Artistic Director

Stravinsky Dumbarton Oaks Poulenc Aubade Prokofiev Excerpts from Cinderella Stravinsky Suite from The Firebird

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