Join us on Sunday, May 23rd at 1 PM on WRTI 90.1 and Monday, May 24th at 7 PM on WRTI HD-2 to hear The Philadelphia Orchestra perform Gustav Mahler’s last completed composition, which he lived neither to premiere nor even rehearse: his Symphony No. 9.
Yannick Nézet-Séguin conducted this extraordinary work back in 2019, about which Mahler said very little. It has been musicians, critics, and listeners who have invented their own “program” for the work, especially the one that makes connections with farewell and death.
Listen on-demand here. Also, find out about upcoming Mahler events presented on the Orchestra's Digital Stage
Since the Mahler revival of the 1960s, in which Leonard Bernstein played a commanding role, Lenny’s views of the Ninth Symphony have been particularly influential.
Said Bernstein: “The Ninth is the ultimate farewell; the closest we have ever come, in any work, to experiencing the very act of dying, of giving it all up.”
But it’s also a kind of prophetic vision: of the end of the Romantic movement, of tonality, of the symphony itself as we know it. What’s thrilling about this music, is that it can be more than one thing at the same time. Is the powerfully moving finale a hymn to the end of all things, or an affirmative love-song to life and to mortality? Perhaps, it is both at the same time.
The work will be played without intermission, or interruption.
Detailed program notes from the 2019 concert are here.
PROGRAM:
Mahler – Symphony No. 9 in D
I. Andante comodo
II. Im Tempo eines gemächlichen Ländlers. Etwas täppisch und sehr derb
III. Rondo—Burleske: Allegro assai. Sehr trotzig
IV. Adagio: Sehr langsam und noch zurückhaltend
The Philadelphia Orchestra
Yannick Nézét-Séguin, 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.
