The debut Philadelphia Orchestra appearance by conductor Joshua Weilerstein highlights a concert broadcast of Brahms Symphony No. 3, Weber's Clarinet Concerto No.2 featuring soloist Ricardo Morales, and the first-ever Philadelphia Orchestra performance of a work by the youngest winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Music, Caroline Shaw. It's March 31 at 1 PM on WRTI 90.1, and April 1 at 7 PM on WRTI HD-2.The broadcast kicks off with Ms. Shaw's Entr'acte for String Orchestra, about which she writes:
“Entr’acte was composed in 2011 after hearing the Brentano Quartet play Haydn’s Op. 77 No. 2 — with their spare and soulful shift to the D-flat major trio in the minuet. It is structured like a minuet and trio, riffing on that classical form but taking it a little further. I love the way some music (like the minuets of Op. 77) suddenly takes you to the other side of Alice’s looking glass, in a kind of absurd, subtle, technicolor transition.”
Ms. Shaw adapted it for string orchestra in 2014, and it’s this version we’ll hear Sunday afternoon, in its Philadelphia Orchestra premiere.
Then, it’s Weber's Clarinet Concerto No. 2, with Philadelphia Orchestra Principal Clarinet Ricardo Morales as soloist.
Weber wrote his second concerto for Heinrich Joseph Baermann, the most celebrated clarinetist of his time. It’s lyrical, light-textured, and – as in all of Weber’s orchestral works -- his mastery of color and tone is complete, and his writing for the soloist, though breathtakingly difficult, is wholly idiomatic and songful.
Ricardo Morales is one of the most sought-after clarinetists in the world today, and a favorite of Philadelphia Orchestra audiences. He joined The Philadelphia Orchestra as principal clarinet in 2003 and holds the Leslie Miller and Richard Worley Chair.
Following intermission, a work by Johannes Brahms that’s full of his trademark passion, glorious melodies and rich harmonic writing, but with many artistic differences. For one thing, the Third is the most compact of Brahms’s symphonies, with balanced proportions, and a conflict between the pivotal pitches of the major and minor modes that creates a structure for the whole symphony.
Guest conductor Joshua Weilerstein is the artistic director of l’Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne, and enjoys a flourishing guest conducting career, having established a number of close relationships with orchestras in both the U.S. and Europe.
During intermission, WRTI’s Susan Lewis speaks backstage with both Ricardo Morales and Joshua Weilerstein.
Be sure to listen on Sunday, March 31st, from 1 to 3 pm on WRTI 90.1 and streaming at WRTI.org.
PROGRAM:
Caroline Shaw: Ent’racte for String Orchestra (2014)
Weber: Clarinet Concerto No. 2
Ricardo Morales, clarinet
INTERMISSION
Brahms: Symphony No. 3
The Philadelphia Orchestra
Joshua Weilerstein, conductor
Gregg Whiteside is producer and host of The Philadelphia Orchestra in Concert broadcasts, every Sunday at 1 pm on WRTI 90.1, streaming online at WRTI.org, and on the WRTI mobile app! Listen again on Mondays at 7 pm on WRTI HD-2.
