Join us for The Philadelphia Orchestra in Concert, on Sunday, June 1 at 1 p.m. on WRTI 90.1, and Monday, June 2 at 7 p.m. on WRTI HD-2. Music and artistic director Yannick Nézet-Séguin leads performances from 2013 – in his first season at the Orchestra’s helm – as well as 2018 and 2019. Featured works include Janáček’s Sinfonietta, Dvořák’s Seventh Symphony, Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante for Violin and Viola, and the Serenade for Winds by Richard Strauss.
This program opens with a performance from 2013, during Yannick’s first year leading the Philadelphians. Leoš Janáček’s brilliant Sinfonietta opens and closes with a muscular fanfare that shows off the virtuosity and flair of the Philadelphia Orchestra’s brass and percussion sections. In 1926, Janáček was celebrating the recently established independence of Czechoslovakia from the Empire of Austria-Hungary. He dedicated the Sinfonietta to his country’s army, and said it was intended to express "contemporary free man, his spiritual beauty and joy, his strength, courage and determination to fight for victory."
In another performance from 2013, the orchestra’s woodwind and horn sections are featured this week in Richard Strauss’ youthful Serenade in E-flat Major, Op. 7. The 17-year-old composer modeled the work on wind serenades of the Classical era. Yet this one-movement serenade already bears Strauss’ distinct and original musical voice, even as he seemed to channel Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.
Mozart himself also appears on this week’s program, with a 2019 concert performance of his Sinfonia concertante in E-flat Major, K. 364. Featured are two distinguished soloists from the Philadelphia Orchestra: associate concertmaster Juliette Kang and principal viola Choong-Jin Chang. At the time Mozart composed this work in 1779 in Paris, the sinfonia concertante form was a recent invention, and he had likely heard examples by Joseph Bologne, the Chevalier de Saint-Georges, a leading Parisian musician of the time.
This program concludes with an impassioned and monumental work by Antonín Dvořák, his Symphony No. 7 in D Minor, Op. 70. The music dates from a period when the composer had attained wide acclaim and popularity in England, making several successful visits there. The Seventh Symphony was commissioned by the Royal Philharmonic Society and the composer conducted its wildly successful premiere in 1885. It’s a work of sweeping grandeur, magnificent orchestral color, irresistible melodies, and high drama – all in perfect balance.
PROGRAM:
Janáček: Sinfonietta
Mozart: Sinfonia Concertante in E-flat Major, K. 364
R. Strauss: Serenade in in E-flat Major for 13 wind instruments, Op. 7
Dvořák: Symphony No. 7 in D Minor, Op. 70
The Philadelphia Orchestra
Yannick Nézet-Séguin, conductor
Juliette Kang, violin
Choong-Jin Chang, viola
WRTI PRODUCTION TEAM:
Melinda Whiting: Host
Alex Ariff: Senior Producer
Joseph Patti: Broadcast Engineer
Mel Spiegel and Kayla John: Production Assistants
Listen to The Philadelphia Orchestra in Concert broadcasts, every Sunday at 1 p.m. on WRTI 90.1, streaming at WRTI.org, on the WRTI mobile app, and on your favorite smart speaker. Listen again on Mondays at 7 p.m. on WRTI HD-2. Listen for up to two weeks after broadcast on WRTI Replay.
