Three richly orchestrated works on this Sunday’s Philadelphia Orchestra in Concert re-broadcast complete the series of concerts from last January celebrating the music of Vienna.
Yannick Nezet-Seguin conducts a work by the 20-year-old Anton Webern, composed before he began his studies with Arnold Schoenberg, and it is a magical, almost mystical, evocation of a summer's day, Im Sommerwind (In the Summer Wind). Inspired by Wille’s poem of the same title, the work wasn’t even discovered until 60 years after Webern’s death, and The Philadelphia Orchestra gave the work its world premiere in 1962, with Eugene Ormandy conducting.
On this program we’ll also hear a performance by one of the great pianists of his generation, Leif Ove Andsnes, exploring all the wonders of Robert Schumann’s Piano Concerto in A minor, a work that unites piano and orchestra in a genuinely novel way, and that had a profound impact on the future direction of concerto composition. Edvard Grieg chose Schumann’s Piano Concerto in A minor as the model for his own, in the same key.
And, after intermission, the music of a colossus of the Viennese musical scene, with close musical and personal ties to Schumann, Johannes Brahms – whose stirring Symphony No. 2 offers a fitting finale to the Orchestra’s Vienna series!
Read detailed program notes from the concert
During intermission, WRTI’s Bliss Michelson speaks with Leif Ove Andsnes, and Susan Lewis gets a few words from Yannick about this third installment of the Music of Vienna series.
Be sure to join us, from 1 to 3 pm on Sunday, Sept. 11th as we say auf wiedersehen to Wien!
PROGRAM:
Webern: Im Sommerwind (In the Summer Wind)
Schumann: Piano Concerto in A minor
Leif Ove Andsnes, piano
INTERMISSION
Brahms: Symphony No. 2
Yannick Nezet-Seguin, Conductor
Gregg Whiteside is producer and host of The Philadelphia Orchestra in Concert broadcasts on WRTI 90.1 FM in Philadelphia and streaming online at WRTI.org, every Sunday from 1 to 3 pm.
