Join us on Sunday, April 12 at 1 p.m. on WRTI 90.1 and Monday, April 13 at 7 p.m. on WRTI HD-2 as The Philadelphia Orchestra in Concert brings you a program from the 2025/2026 season featuring Une Barque sur l’océan by Maurice Ravel, the Alpine Symphony by Richard Strauss, and the Violin Concerto No. 1 in G Minor by Max Bruch, featuring soloist Gil Shaham. Stéphane Denève, music director of the Saint Louis Symphony, conducts.
This colorful concert opens with music evoking the sea by Ravel. Like many of his orchestral works, Une Barque sur l’océan (“A boat on the ocean”) was originally a piano piece. Almost immediately after finishing it, Ravel seems to have envisioned how a full orchestra could embody the sound of the sea, with a boat tossed by wind and waves as it makes its way through the waters. Through the composer’s subtle and rich orchestral effects, we can hear the sun glinting on the surface, the rocking of the vessel, the wind picking up, and the gathering of dark clouds that never quite serve up a storm. At the end, there is a final impression of salt spray before the boat disappears from view.
Acclaimed violinist Gil Shaham, a longtime favorite guest artist in Philadelphia, is soloist in Bruch’s beloved Violin Concerto No. 1 in G Minor. Bruch worked long and hard on this concerto, rewriting it by his own admission “at least half a dozen times,” and conferring with many violinists in the process. Most influential was Joseph Joachim, who would premiere the work in 1868. The violinist made many helpful suggestions as the two worked through the piece.
Bruch’s concerto was an immediate success, thanks to its rich blend of melodic invention, technical bravura, and pathos. Its appeal has never yet waned — not with audiences, who can revel in the work’s unfettered lyricism and sheer beauty, nor with violinists, who appreciate the opportunity to demonstrate their expressive and technical range. Stéphane Denève compliments Gil Shaham’s approach to the piece, noting that “apart from his amazing virtuosity that we all know, he has a great way to connect the different keys of this piece and the different, rhythmical details that make it very cohesive. So it's a real journey performing it with him.”
The final work on the program is its own journey, and there’s a close connection between the Alpine Symphony by Richard Strauss and the Bruch concerto that precedes it. Denève notes: “In the Alpine Symphony of Strauss, there is a quote, which is music not from Strauss himself. And it is a melody that appears in the Bruch Concerto, a sublime melody.” Indeed, this well-known theme plays a crucial role in both works, and the conductor asserts that it is no accident.
More of a massive tone poem than a symphony, the Alpine Symphony drew its inspiration from a mountain hike the composer took as a youngster, when he and some friends ventured up a towering Alpine peak. During the trek, they became lost, then found their way and reached the top. After that exhilarating experience, they were engulfed by a frightening storm on the way down. The adventure sparked all kinds of musical ideas, which the young composer sketched out. He noted in a letter to a friend that they were “a lot of nonsense and dramatic Wagnerian tone painting.”
But the idea never quite died. Strauss was in his 40s when he finally formed a clear idea of how to use these musical ideas. The catalyst was the death of Gustav Mahler, which affected Strauss deeply. Mahler had always found deep inspiration in nature, and Strauss paid tribute to his colleague and to nature with the work that would become his Alpine Symphony. This music expressed, as the composer put it, “moral regeneration through one’s own efforts, liberation through work, and adoration of eternal, magnificent Nature.” It’s a vast work, in a single movement comprising 22 vivid and colorful episodes. The music very clearly relates an alpine journey similar to Strauss’s boyhood experience, and the theme that Strauss borrowed from Bruch’s First Violin Concerto accompanies climactic moments throughout the mountain journey.
PROGRAM:
Ravel: Une Barque sur l’océan
Bruch: Violin Concerto No. 1 in g minor
R. Strauss: Alpine Symphony
The Philadelphia Orchestra
Stéphane Denève, conductor
Gil Shaham, violin
WRTI PRODUCTION TEAM:
Melinda Whiting: Host
Alex Ariff: Senior Producer and Broadcast Engineer
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 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, accessible from the WRTI homepage (look for Listen to The Philadelphia Orchestra in Concert On Demand).
