Join us on Monday, April 1 at 7 p.m. on WRTI HD-2 for an encore presentation of The Philadelphia Orchestra in Concert. Celebrated pianist Emanuel Ax returns to perform Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 4 in G major.
The concert also features the moving Symphony No. 4 in E minor by Brahms. Former Principal Guest Conductor Nathalie Stutzmann is on the podium.
Ax hears an allusion to classical Greek mythology in Ludwig van Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 4. It comes in the second movement, an extraordinary exchange between an aggressive body of strings and a gentle, persuasive solo piano. The movement has been likened to the musician Orpheus taming the vengeful Furies at the gates of Hell with his beautiful playing. On this week’s Philadelphia Orchestra in Concert broadcast, you’ll hear the beautiful playing of Emanuel Ax.
In addition to Beethoven’s Fourth Piano Concerto, today we’ll hear the Fourth Symphony by Beethoven’s greatest symphonic successor: Johannes Brahms. From the moment he set to work on his Fourth, Brahms had a plan for its powerful finale. Using a fragment from a Bach cantata as a recurring theme, he built a majestic edifice in the Baroque passacaglia form. It’s a fitting culmination not only to this moving, autumnal symphony, but to Brahms’s entire symphonic output.
Listen during the broadcast for producer Susan Lewis’s interviews with pianist Emanuel Ax and Nathalie Stutzmann.
Detailed program notes from the concert
PROGRAM:
Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 4 in G major, Op. 58
Brahms: Symphony No. 4 in E minor, Op. 98
The Philadelphia Orchestra
Nathalie Stutzmann, conductor
Emanuel Ax, piano
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.
