alexander nevsky - the philadelphia orchestra · pdf filealexander nevsky (1938) gave sergei...

17
Season 2012-2013 The Philadelphia Orchestra Stéphane Denève Conductor Michelle DeYoung Mezzo-soprano The Philadelphia Singers Chorale David Hayes Music Director Thursday, November 15, at 8:00 Friday, November 16, at 2:00 Saturday, November 17, at 8:00 27 Alexander Nevsky Original Production Credits (1938) Director Sergei M. Eisenstein D.I. Vasiliev Music Sergei Prokofiev Story Sergei M. Eisenstein Pyotr A. Pavlenko Cinematography Edward Tisse Concert Presentation Credits Producer John Goberman Music Adaptation William D. Brohn Subtitles Sonya Friedman Music Copying and Preparation Peggy Serra Alexander Nevsky is a production of PGM Productions, New York, presented by arrangement with IMG Artists, New York.

Upload: lamhanh

Post on 29-Mar-2018

246 views

Category:

Documents


0 download

TRANSCRIPT

Page 1: Alexander Nevsky - The Philadelphia Orchestra · PDF fileAlexander Nevsky (1938) gave Sergei Prokofiev (1891-1951) the opportunity to work with the visionary director Sergei Eisenstein

Season 2012-2013The Philadelphia Orchestra Stéphane Denève ConductorMichelle DeYoung Mezzo-sopranoThe Philadelphia Singers ChoraleDavid Hayes Music Director

Thursday, November 15, at 8:00Friday, November 16, at 2:00Saturday, November 17, at 8:00

27

Alexander Nevsky

Original Production Credits (1938) Director Sergei M. Eisenstein D.I. Vasiliev Music Sergei Prokofiev Story Sergei M. Eisenstein Pyotr A. Pavlenko Cinematography Edward Tisse

Concert Presentation Credits Producer John Goberman MusicAdaptation William D. Brohn Subtitles Sonya Friedman MusicCopyingandPreparation Peggy Serra

AlexanderNevsky is a production of PGM Productions, New York,presented by arrangement with IMG Artists, New York.

Page 2: Alexander Nevsky - The Philadelphia Orchestra · PDF fileAlexander Nevsky (1938) gave Sergei Prokofiev (1891-1951) the opportunity to work with the visionary director Sergei Eisenstein

Cast PrinceAlexanderNevsky Nikolai Cherkasov VassilyBuslai N.P. Okhlopkov GavriloOlexich A.L. Abrikosov Ignat D.N Orlov Pavsha V.K. Novikov Damash N.N. Arski AmeflaTimofeyevna V.O. Massalitinova Olga V.S. Ivasheva Vassilissa A.S. Danilova

This program runs approximately 1 hour, 50 minutes, and will be performed without an intermission.

28

Page 3: Alexander Nevsky - The Philadelphia Orchestra · PDF fileAlexander Nevsky (1938) gave Sergei Prokofiev (1891-1951) the opportunity to work with the visionary director Sergei Eisenstein

3 Story Title

The Philadelphia Orchestra

Renowned for its distinctive sound, beloved for its keen ability to capture the hearts and imaginations of audiences, and admired for an unrivaled legacy of “firsts” in music-making, The Philadelphia Orchestra is one of the preeminent orchestras in the world.

The Philadelphia Orchestra has cultivated an extraordinary history of artistic leaders in its 112 seasons, including music directors Fritz Scheel, Carl Pohlig, Leopold Stokowski, Eugene Ormandy, Riccardo Muti, Wolfgang Sawallisch, and Christoph Eschenbach, and Charles Dutoit, who served as chief conductor from 2008 to 2012. With the 2012-13 season, Yannick Nézet-Séguin becomes the eighth music director of The Philadelphia Orchestra. Named music director designate in 2010, Nézet-Séguin brings a vision that extends beyond symphonic music into the

vivid world of opera and choral music.

Philadelphia is home and the Orchestra nurtures an important relationship not only with patrons who support the main season at the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts but also those who enjoy the Orchestra’s other area performances at the Mann Center, Penn’s Landing, and other venues. The Philadelphia Orchestra Association also continues to own the Academy of Music—a National Historic Landmark—as it has since 1957.

Through concerts, tours, residencies, presentations, and recordings, the Orchestra is a global ambassador for Philadelphia and for the United States. Having been the first American orchestra to perform in China, in 1973 at the request of President Nixon, today The Philadelphia

Orchestra boasts a new partnership with the National Centre for the Performing Arts in Beijing. The Orchestra annually performs at Carnegie Hall and the Kennedy Center while also enjoying a three-week residency in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., and a strong partnership with the Bravo! Vail Valley Music Festival.

The ensemble maintains an important Philadelphia tradition of presenting educational programs for students of all ages. Today the Orchestra executes a myriad of education and community partnership programs serving nearly 50,000 annually, including its Neighborhood Concert Series, Sound All Around and Family Concerts, and eZseatU.

For more information on The Philadelphia Orchestra, please visit www.philorch.org.

Jessica Griffin

29

Page 4: Alexander Nevsky - The Philadelphia Orchestra · PDF fileAlexander Nevsky (1938) gave Sergei Prokofiev (1891-1951) the opportunity to work with the visionary director Sergei Eisenstein
Page 5: Alexander Nevsky - The Philadelphia Orchestra · PDF fileAlexander Nevsky (1938) gave Sergei Prokofiev (1891-1951) the opportunity to work with the visionary director Sergei Eisenstein

30

ConductorStéphane Denève is chief conductor of the Stuttgart Radio Symphony and the former music director of the Royal Scottish National Orchestra. He is a familiar presence on stage in Verizon Hall, at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center, and at the Gerald R. Ford Amphitheater in Vail, having appeared as guest conductor numerous times since making his Philadelphia Orchestra debut in 2007. He conducts the ensemble in two subscription series this month.

Mr. Denève regularly appears at major concert venues with the world’s leading orchestras and soloists. He made his Carnegie Hall debut with the Boston Symphony earlier this year. Other recent engagements include appearances with the Chicago, London, Bavarian Radio, Hamburg NDR, and Swedish Radio symphonies; the Los Angeles and Munich philharmonics; the Orchestra Sinfonica dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome; the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin; and London’s Philharmonia Orchestra. Highlights of the 2012-13 season include tours to Europe and Asia; his debut with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra; Offenbach’s TheTalesofHoffmann at the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona; and return visits to the Boston, New World, Toronto, São Paulo, and BBC symphonies.

In the field of opera Mr. Denève has conducted productions at the Royal Opera House, the Glyndebourne Festival, La Scala, Netherlands Opera, La Monnaie in Brussels, Paris Opera, the Opéra National de Paris, the Teatro Comunale Bologna, and Cincinnati Opera. He enjoys close relationships with many of the world’s leading artists, including Jean-Yves Thibaudet, Leif Ove Andsnes, Emanuel Ax, Lars Vogt, Nikolaï Lugansky, Yo-Yo Ma, Pinchas Zukerman, Joshua Bell, Leonidas Kavakos, Hilary Hahn, Gil Shaham, and Natalie Dessay.

A graduate of and prizewinner at the Paris Conservatory, Mr. Denève began his career as Georg Solti’s assistant at the Orchestre de Paris and the Opéra National de Paris; he also assisted Georges Prêtre and Seiji Ozawa during that time. Mr. Denève is a champion of new music and has a special affinity for the music of his native France. In 2012 he was shortlisted for Gramophone’s Artist of the Year award.

J. Henry Fair

Page 6: Alexander Nevsky - The Philadelphia Orchestra · PDF fileAlexander Nevsky (1938) gave Sergei Prokofiev (1891-1951) the opportunity to work with the visionary director Sergei Eisenstein

SoloistMezzo-soprano Michelle DeYoung makes her Philadelphia Orchestra debut with these performances. She has appeared with many of the world’s leading ensembles, including the New York, Vienna, Los Angeles, and Royal philharmonics; the Boston, Chicago, San Francisco, BBC, and São Paulo symphonies; the Cleveland, Royal Concertgebouw, Metropolitan Opera, and Bavarian State Opera orchestras; the Met Chamber Ensemble; London’s Philharmonia; the Orchestre de Paris; and the Staatskapelle Berlin. She has also appeared at the prestigious festivals of Ravinia, Tanglewood, Aspen, Cincinnati, Saito Kinen, Edinburgh, Salzburg, and Lucerne. This season Ms. DeYoung returns to the Boston Symphony (in Boston and Carnegie Hall) and the Chicago Symphony, and appears in Europe with the Finnish, Swedish, and Stockholm radio symphony orchestras, the Royal Flemish Philharmonic, the Staatskapelle Berlin, and the Hamburg State Opera.

Ms. DeYoung has sung at many of the world’s great opera houses, including the Metropolitan Opera, the Lyric Opera of Chicago, Houston Grand Opera, Seattle Opera, La Scala, the Bayreuth Festival, the Berlin Staatsoper, the Opéra National de Paris, the Théâtre du Châtelet, the Theater Basel, and Tokyo Opera. Her many roles include Fricka, Sieglinde, and Waltraute in Wagner’s RingCycle; Kundry in Wagner’s Parsifal; Venus in Wagner’s Tannhäuser; Brangäne in Wagner’s TristanandIsolde; Eboli in Verdi’s DonCarlos; Amneris in Verdi’s Aida; Marguerite in Berlioz’s TheDamnationofFaust; Judith in Bartók’s Bluebeard’sCastle; Dido in Berlioz’s LesTroyens; the title role in Saint-Saëns’s SamsonandDelilah; Gertrude in Thomas’s Hamlet; Jocasta in Stravinsky’s OedipusRex; and the title role in Britten’s TheRapeofLucretia. She also created the role of the Shaman in Tan Dun’s TheFirstEmperor at the Metropolitan Opera.

Ms. DeYoung’s recording of Mahler’s Kindertotenlieder and Symphony No. 3 with Michael Tilson Thomas and the San Francisco Symphony was awarded the 2003 Grammy Award for Best Classical Album. She also won 2001 Grammy awards for Best Classical Album and Best Opera Recording for LesTroyens with Colin Davis and the London Symphony.

Christian S

teiner

31

Page 7: Alexander Nevsky - The Philadelphia Orchestra · PDF fileAlexander Nevsky (1938) gave Sergei Prokofiev (1891-1951) the opportunity to work with the visionary director Sergei Eisenstein

ChorusCelebrating its 40th anniversary in the 2012-13 season, the Philadelphia Singers is a professional chorus with a mission to preserve and strengthen America’s rich choral heritage through performances, commissions, and music education. The ensemble was described by Wolfgang Sawallisch as “one of the musical treasures of Philadelphia.” The chorus performs regularly with leading national and local performing arts organizations, including The Philadelphia Orchestra, the New York Philharmonic, the Curtis Institute of Music, the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, Kimmel Center Presents, and the Mannes Orchestra.

In 1991 the Philadelphia Singers founded the Philadelphia Singers Chorale, a symphonic chorus composed of professional singers and talented volunteers, and the ensemble made its Philadelphia Orchestra debut in 1992. The Chorale was resident chorus of the Orchestra from 2000 to 2011. In addition to these current concerts, the Chorale will appear with the Orchestra this season for performances of Handel’s Messiahand Orff’s Carminaburana.Past performances have included Mahler’s Symphony No. 8 and DasklagendeLied; Berlioz’s RomeoandJuliet, TheDamnationofFaust, and Requiem; Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9; and the world premiere of Jennifer Higdon’s TheSingingRooms.Most recently the Chorale appeared with the Orchestra for performances of Ravel’s complete DaphnisandChloe, celebrating Charles Dutoit’s final concerts as chief conductor.

David Hayes was appointed music director of the Philadelphia Singers in 1992. Music director of the Mannes Orchestra of the Mannes College of Music in New York, he is also staff conductor of the Curtis Symphony and from 2000 to 2010 served as a cover conductor for The Philadelphia Orchestra. Mr. Hayes studied conducting with Charles Bruck at the Pierre Monteux School and with Otto-Werner Mueller at the Curtis Institute of Music.

32

Page 8: Alexander Nevsky - The Philadelphia Orchestra · PDF fileAlexander Nevsky (1938) gave Sergei Prokofiev (1891-1951) the opportunity to work with the visionary director Sergei Eisenstein

33

Framing the ProgramEver since 1914, when Camille Saint-Saëns became the first important composer to write for the silver screen, film has inspired the creation of great music. While some directors make use of existing compositions that were in no way originally related to movies, in other cases fruitful collaborations were formed with composers, similar to ones between a composer and a librettist when writing an opera.

Alexander Nevsky (1938) gave Sergei Prokofiev (1891-1951) the opportunity to work with the visionary director Sergei Eisenstein (1898-1948) and to help create one of the most acclaimed movies ever produced in the Soviet Union. Like Prokofiev, Eisenstein had previously lived in the West, working in Hollywood during the early 1930s, and was already hailed as a pioneer of the silent film era with such works as TheBattleshipPotemkin (1925) and October:TenDaysthatShooktheWorld (1928).

AlexanderNevsky is based on a famous historical figure. Prince Alexander of Novgorod initially earned renown in 1240 for defeating the Swedish army on the Neva River, hence his name “Nevsky,” which means “of the Neva.” He went on to put down the invading Teutonic Knights at a battle on the Peipus Lake in 1242. The Teutonic Knights were ancestors of the modern Germans, and so a work celebrating victory over them was heartily embraced by the Soviet authorities as Hitler’s expansionist ambitions became ever more apparent in the late 1930s. The relevance of the work is clear from Alexander’s monologue at the end: “If disaster ever threatens again, I’ll call all of Russia to arms!”

Prokofiev eventually fashioned a popular cantata from the music he wrote for the film, but today we have a rare opportunity to experience Eisenstein’s landmark epic together with all of the composer’s stunning music.

Parallel Events1938ProkofievAlexanderNevsky

MusicBartókViolin Concerto No. 2LiteratureDu MaurierRebeccaArtDufyRegattaHistoryAustria annexed by Nazi Germany

Page 9: Alexander Nevsky - The Philadelphia Orchestra · PDF fileAlexander Nevsky (1938) gave Sergei Prokofiev (1891-1951) the opportunity to work with the visionary director Sergei Eisenstein

Alexander NevskyFilm historians honor Sergei Eisenstein as a pioneer of the silent era, chiefly for the revolutionary techniques of narrative montage and cross-cutting he developed in TheBattleshipPotemkin (1925) and October:TenDaysthatShooktheWorld (1928). But this visionary director—now recognized as one of the geniuses of the 20th century—must also be recognized for a prescient understanding of the potential of music in cinematic drama. Eisenstein’s first sound film, AlexanderNevsky, which was shot in six months during the summer and autumn of 1938, opened up a whole new range of possibilities for the use of music in cinema. It is still emulated by filmmakers today, and it remains one of the few ideal marriages of the visual with the aural—or as the director himself called it, “the organic cinematographic fusion of sound and image.”

Western Influences Nevskywas, as much as any film of its era, a collaboration between director and composer—and much of the credit for its success must go to its score. Through a felicity of historical circumstance Eisenstein found that he had at his disposal one of the great composers of the century. Sergei Prokofiev, who had resettled in Russia in 1936 after nearly 20 years in the West, was eager to ingratiate himself with Soviet officialdom. He had already welcomed such projects as the film score for LieutenantKijé and the ballet RomeoandJuliet—works of a firmly tonal and emotionally direct style with which he felt he could make an immediate contact with both his audience and with skeptical Soviet authorities, who still regarded his “Western” outlook with suspicion.

Eisenstein, too, had recently spent time in the West, during which he had worked on a film version of Upton Sinclair’s QuevivaMéxico!—a financial disaster that was later reedited and released in 1939 as ATimeintheSun. Despite this failure, he had learned a great deal about film and sound technique during this Hollywood period (1930-32). What had especially fascinated him were new developments in film music—for this was the beginning of the golden era of movie scores of Erich Wolfgang Korngold, Dimitri Tiomkin, Bernard Herrmann, and others. So Eisenstein, like Prokofiev later, returned to the Soviet Union somewhat humbled, but with his creativity and drive intact—and he was fiercely determined to reestablish his position as Russia’s foremost film auteur.

34

Page 10: Alexander Nevsky - The Philadelphia Orchestra · PDF fileAlexander Nevsky (1938) gave Sergei Prokofiev (1891-1951) the opportunity to work with the visionary director Sergei Eisenstein

35

Prince Alexander Nevsky—the Perfect Subject His first new Soviet film was the expensive BezhinMeadow, two-thirds of which had been shot already when the project was abruptly canceled in a swirl of bureaucratic intrigue. After this fiasco, he realized the need for an undertaking that would meet with both official and popular approval. When the idea of a film on the historical figure of Alexander Nevsky was broached in the fall of 1937, he knew he had found the subject for his project. Prince Alexander of Novgorod (1220-63), who had defeated the Swedes in 1240 on the Neva River near the present St. Petersburg (and was thus called “Nevsky,” i.e., “of the Neva”), was a central hero for Russians. After his remarkable heroism against the Swedes, Nevsky had led the army of Novgorod against crusading Teutonic Knights, defeating them in April 1242 in a famous battle on Peipus Lake (Lake Chud, in Estonia). To this day Prince Nevsky is honored not only for saving Russians against Western domination, but also for his later efforts in uniting the principalities of Vladimir, Kiev, and Novgorod, efforts seen as an early step toward Russian nationhood.

The battle at Novgorod was the perfect subject for a propagandistic film at this time, since the Medieval tale of a Teutonic threat had clear applications to the Soviet situation of 1937-38, when the threat of attack from Hitler’s Germany was becoming ever more palpable. Officials of the state-run Mosfilm Studio were quite open, in fact, about their intention of making a film that would “prepare every Russian man, woman, and child to meet with optimism any war that came.” The finished film (co-directed with Dmitri Vasiliev, on a script by Eisenstein and Pyotr Pavlenko) succeeded beyond the dreams of either the director or the studio: It was an artistic masterpiece and a box-office hit, but even more important it reaped the enthusiastic approval of Stalin himself, who apparently felt himself flatteringly symbolized in the dashing figure of Nevsky.

According to Harlow Robinson’s excellent biography of Prokofiev, Stalin reportedly approached Eisenstein at the film’s premiere in Moscow (on December 1, 1938) and exclaimed, “Sergei Mikhailovich, you are a good Bolshevik after all!” Though the film would have a momentary eclipse in 1939, when Stalin signed the non-aggression pact with Germany (during which the anti-German Nevsky was unceremoniously withdrawn from circulation), it was re-released when Hitler invaded Russia in June 1941, and went on to become one of the most popular of Soviet films.

Page 11: Alexander Nevsky - The Philadelphia Orchestra · PDF fileAlexander Nevsky (1938) gave Sergei Prokofiev (1891-1951) the opportunity to work with the visionary director Sergei Eisenstein

The Music The use of music in Nevsky strikes us today as remarkably “modern,” even in relation to Hollywood films of the same era, which if anything tend to overuse music. (Nevsky’s 106-minute running time includes slightly more than 50 minutes of music.) For Eisenstein, silence was as important as sound, and his goal was to achieve a sound track in which “the absence of music on screen feels like a pause or a caesura,” as he wrote in an essay. “Even if that pause sometimes lasts for a whole reel, it should be no less strictly maintained than a calculated rhythmic break in sound, no less strictly counted than measures of rests.” Indeed, some of the most effective moments of Nevskyare scenes without music—the very absence of which can be breathtaking, as in the battle sequences that are accompanied only by the rhythmic clanking of spear on sword.

Prokofiev, whose earlier experiences in opera and ballet had well prepared him for the dramatic use of music for film, worked in intimate collaboration with the film’s day-to-day production. He would view the day’s rushes in the screening room each night, and return the next day with a completed musical number. “Prokofiev works like a clock,” Eisenstein wrote. “The clock isn’t fast and it isn’t slow.” Occasionally the composer would write music for a planned sequence before it was shot, and in an unprecedented spirit of give-and-take, Eisenstein and his cinematographer, Edward Tisse, would tailor their shots to match the music. “Eisenstein’s respect for music was so great,” wrote Prokofiev, “that at times he was prepared to cut or add to his sequences so as not to upset the balance of a musical episode.” The composer’s completed score for the film consisted of 21 musical numbers, of a wide variety of forms and textures. In addition to dynamic music depicting the battlefield, there are pieces that attempt to re-create the Catholic church chant of the Teutons (such as the “Peregrinus expectavi” section), and warmly orchestrated pieces employing melodic elements of Russian folk song. Prokofiev exaggerates the square monotony of the former, while emphasizing the heroic lyricism of the latter. Throughout the project (and afterward as well) Eisenstein praised the composer vigorously, declaring him a “perfect composer for the screen”—one whose music “never remains merely an illustration, but reveals the movement and the dynamic structure in which are embodied the emotion and meaning of an event.”

Eisenstein’s film is remarkably potent in its imagery and

36

Page 12: Alexander Nevsky - The Philadelphia Orchestra · PDF fileAlexander Nevsky (1938) gave Sergei Prokofiev (1891-1951) the opportunity to work with the visionary director Sergei Eisenstein

37

characterization, despite occasional technical crudeness. The re-creation of 13th-century Novgorod, with its flimsy, too-white buildings, will doubtless strike some as stiff and stagy, and the comically fake-looking pontoons of “ice” into which the Germans sink during the “Battle on the Ice” could pose a challenge to a modern sense of cinematic verisimilitude. But Eisenstein’s shots are so brilliantly arranged, his mis-en-scène so painterly and representational in design, that the viewer is swept away by the force of imagery and sound. Further, the brilliant performances by Nikolai Cherkasov (as a serenely handsome Nevsky), Nikolai Okhlopkov (Buslai), Alexander Abrikosov (Gavrilo), Dmitri Orlov (Ignat), and Vera Ivasheva (Olga) are as vital to the film’s texture and force as Clark Gable’s and Vivien Leigh’s performances are to the success of GoneWiththeWind.

Reconstructing the Score Until recently, however, Eisenstein’s and Prokofiev’s Nevsky suffered from a flaw that seriously compromised the quality of its impact: The sound track of the original film was so appallingly bad that much of the force of this brilliant score was lost to sheer technical inadequacies. “Ironically,” writes John Goberman, “the best film score ever written is probably the worst sound track ever recorded.” In 1986 Goberman, until recently executive producer for LivefromLincolnCenter, set out to remedy the situation, enlisting the talents of the arranger and orchestrator William D. Brohn to reconstruct a score that could be played live by a full orchestra with chorus and mezzo-soprano soloist.

Their task was made viable by the lucky circumstance that Prokofiev himself had composed, in 1939, a cantata version of the Nevsky score, which though reordered and condensed contained almost all of the musical material for the film—rescored for the full orchestra that Prokofiev would doubtless have used if it had been feasible with the soundtrack technology available to him. (Prokofiev used a small chamber orchestra to record the soundtrack, a practice that permitted him to experiment with techniques of close miking as a means of emphasizing individual instruments.) In this manner Goberman and Brohn were able to create the orchestral score used into today’s screening of Nevsky.

Partly this reconstructive task was a matter of restoring the various segments of the cantata to their rightful places in the film; occasionally this involved only slight variations of orchestration. In the film score, for example, the theme of “The Field of the Dead” is first stated by

Page 13: Alexander Nevsky - The Philadelphia Orchestra · PDF fileAlexander Nevsky (1938) gave Sergei Prokofiev (1891-1951) the opportunity to work with the visionary director Sergei Eisenstein

the violins; Prokofiev gave this line to the mezzo-soprano in the 1939 cantata, so for the reconstruction it was returned to the violins. In other cases, as in the battle scenes, repetition of material that had been omitted for the tighter structure of the cantata was simply restored to the film. In addition Goberman and Brohn have taken a section from the cantata that does not appear in the film and have placed it over the opening credits. The final reconstructed score—into which has been placed a series of timings for the aid of performers—lends a remarkable sense of (in Goberman’s words) “what Prokofiev heard when he saw the magnificent images created by Eisenstein.” These timings, extracted from the original film score, are in any case not intended to be precisely synchronized at every juncture. As Goberman points out, Prokofiev composed in such a way that “each musical cue contains a great sweep of music and film so that, with some attention to original tempos, conductors of our reconstructed score will not be slavishly locked to a second-by-second performance.”

As powerful as Nevsky is for modern audiences, how much more inspirational it must have been for its creator’s audiences. The hymn-like “Song of Alexander Nevsky,” and especially the spirited “Arise, People of Russia” (“Arise, ye people free and brave, defend our fair, our native land”) were tunes powerful enough to make even the most stoic viewer react. And as if that were not enough, Alexander’s monologue at the close of the film makes the story’s topical nature crystal-clear: “If disaster ever threatens again,” he declares, sternly but persuasively, “I’ll call all of Russia to arms. If you stand back, you’ll be severely punished. I’ll punish you myself, if I’m alive. And if I die, my sons will!”

—Paul J. Horsley

Program note © 2012. All rights reserved. Program note may not be reprinted without written permission from The Philadelphia Orchestra Association.

38

ProkofievcomposedthescoretoAlexander Nevsky in1938.

ThePhiladelphiaOrchestrahasperformedtheentirescorewiththefilmtwicebeforethesecurrentconcerts:in1988attheMannCenterwithYuriTemirkanov,ChristineCairns,andtheChoralArtsSocietyofPhiladelphia,andonsubscriptioninMarch1997,againwithTemirkanovandtheChoralArtsSociety,butthistimewithLarissaDiadkova.TheOrchestrafirstperformedtheCantatainMarch1945,withEugeneOrmandy,RosalindNadell,andtheWestminsterChoir.

TheOrchestrarecordedthecantataversionofAlexander Nevsky twice,bothwithOrmandy:in1945forCBSwithJennieTourelandtheWestminsterChoir,andin1974withBettyAllenandtheMendelssohnClubofPhiladelphia.

Thescorecallsforpiccolo,twoflutes,twooboes,Englishhorn,twoclarinets,bassclarinet,tenorsaxophone,fourhorns,threetrumpets,threetrombones,tuba,timpani,percussion(bassdrum,blocks,cymbals,maracas,sidedrum,tambourine,triangle),harp,organ,strings,mezzo-soprano,andmixedchorus.

Performancetimeisapproximately1hour,50minutes.

Page 14: Alexander Nevsky - The Philadelphia Orchestra · PDF fileAlexander Nevsky (1938) gave Sergei Prokofiev (1891-1951) the opportunity to work with the visionary director Sergei Eisenstein

Orchestra HeadlinesPhiladelphia Orchestra Chamber Music ConcertTickets are now on sale for the second concert in The Philadelphia Orchestra’s 28th Season Chamber Music Series on Sunday, November 18, at 3:00 PM in Perelman Theater at the Kimmel Center. Tickets range from $19.00-$28.00. For more information, call Ticket Philadelphia at 215.893.1999 or visit www.philorch.org.

Milhaud String Quintet No. 2, Op. 316Debussy String Quartet in G minor, Op. 10Rachmaninoff Trioélégiaque in D minor, Op. 9, for violin, cello, and piano

Luba Agranovsky Piano (Guest)Robert Cafaro CelloMiyo Curnow ViolinElina Kalendareva ViolinRobert Kesselman Double BassDmitri Levin ViolinKathryn Picht Read CelloKerri Ryan Viola

Rittenhouse Square Lecture-LuncheonThe third in this season’s series of Lecture-Luncheons sponsored by the Rittenhouse Square Volunteer Committee takes place on Friday, December 7, at 11:15 AM in the Orchestra Room at the DoubleTree Hotel in Philadelphia. The guest lecturer will be Temple University Professor of Piano Michael Klein, and the celebrity guest will be Paul Arnold, Philadelphia Orchestra violinist. Single admission price is $36.00, by reservation only. Tickets are also available at the door for the Lecture only at $15.00. For more information, please call Fran Schwartz at 215.884.2659.

Headlinescontinuedonnextpage

39

Page 15: Alexander Nevsky - The Philadelphia Orchestra · PDF fileAlexander Nevsky (1938) gave Sergei Prokofiev (1891-1951) the opportunity to work with the visionary director Sergei Eisenstein

Philadelphia Orchestra Musicians in Concert1807 & Friends, a chamber music group whose roster includes many Philadelphia Orchestra musicians, presents a concert on Monday, November 26, at 7:30 PM, at the Academy of Vocal Arts, 1920 Spruce Street, Philadelphia. The performance, which features pianist Natalie Zhu, includes works by Mozart, Bloch, and Dvorák. Single tickets are $17.00. For more information, please call 215.438.4027 or 215.978.0969.

The Wister Quartet, which includes former Orchestra Assistant Concertmaster Nancy Bean, Philadelphia Orchestra violinist Davyd Booth, former Assistant Principal Cello Lloyd Smith, and violist Pamela Fay, presents a concert at the German Society of Pennsylvania, on Sunday, December 9, at 3:00 PM. The program includes works by Corelli, Mozart, and Schumann. Single tickets are $20. For more information, please call 215.627.2332 or visit www.germansociety.org.

The Dolce Suono Ensemble, which includes numerous Orchestra members, will present DSE on the Road concerts on Sunday, December 9, at 3:00 PM at the McEvoy Auditorium at the Smithsonian American Art Gallery in Washington, D.C. The Ensemble will be joined by the Washington National Opera Domingo-Cafritz Young Artists. Tickets are $20.00, $15.00 seniors, and $10.00 students. For more information, call 267-252-1803 or visit www.dolcesuono.com.

The Lower Merion Symphony, led by Philadelphia Orchestra Co-Principal Bassoon Mark Gigliotti, presents the second concert of its 2012-13 season on Sunday, December 16, at 3:00 PM at Rosemont College’s McShain Auditorium, 1400 Montgomery Avenue in Bryn Mawr. Philadelphia Orchestra Associate Principal Viola Kerri Ryan is the concert’s guest artist in Handel’s Viola Concerto; the remainder of the program is Bruckner’s symphony No. 5. For more information, please e-mail [email protected].

Philadelphia Orchestra Principal Clarinet Ricardo Morales and pianist Natalie Zhu present a concert on Monday, January 14, at 8:00 PM, at the American Philosophical Society, 427 Chestnut Street. The concert, presented by the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, features works by Stanford, Higdon, Debussy, and Weber. Tickets are $24.00. For more information visit www.pcmsconcerts.org or call 215.569.8080.

40

Page 16: Alexander Nevsky - The Philadelphia Orchestra · PDF fileAlexander Nevsky (1938) gave Sergei Prokofiev (1891-1951) the opportunity to work with the visionary director Sergei Eisenstein

41

Wagner’s Ring SelectionsNovember 29 & December 1 8 PM November 30 2 PMDonald Runnicles Conductor Lars Vogt Piano

Beethoven Piano Concerto No. 1 Wagner Orchestral Highlights from TheRing

An American in ParisNovember 23 & 24 8 PM November 25 2 PMStéphane Denève Conductor

DebussyImages Poulenc Suite from LesBiches Gershwin AnAmericaninParis

TICKETS Call 215.893.1955 or log on to www.philorch.org PreConcert Conversations are held prior to every Philadelphia

Orchestra subscription concert, beginning 1 hour before curtain. All artists, dates, programs, and prices subject to change. All tickets subject to availability.

November/December The Philadelphia Orchestra

Create-Your-Own 4-Concert Series Now Available!

Enjoy the ultimate in flexibility with a Create-Your-Own 4-Concert Series today! Choose 4 or more concerts that fit your schedule and your tastes. Hurry, before tickets disappear for Yannick’s Inaugural Season.

The 2012-13 season has over 70 performances to choose from including:

Jessica Griffin

Page 17: Alexander Nevsky - The Philadelphia Orchestra · PDF fileAlexander Nevsky (1938) gave Sergei Prokofiev (1891-1951) the opportunity to work with the visionary director Sergei Eisenstein

16 Story Title

Tickets & Patron ServicesSubscriber Services:215.893.1955Call Center: 215.893.1999

Fire Notice: The exit indicated by a red light nearest your seat is the shortest route to the street. In the event of fire or other emergency, please do not run. Walk to that exit.

No Smoking: All public space in the Kimmel Center is smoke-free.

Cameras and Recorders: The taking of photographs or the recording of Philadelphia Orchestra concerts is strictly prohibited.

Phones and Paging Devices: All electronic devices—including cellular telephones, pagers, and wristwatch alarms—should be turned off while in the concert hall.

Late Seating: Latecomers will not be seated until an appropriate time in the concert.

Wheelchair Seating: Wheelchair seating is available for every performance. Please call Ticket Philadelphia at 215.893.1999 for more information.

Assistive Listening: With the deposit of a current ID, hearing enhancement devices are available at no cost from the House Management Office. Headsets are available on a first-come, first-served basis.

Large-Print Programs: Large-print programs for every subscription concert are available on each level of the Kimmel Center. Please ask an usher for assistance.

PreConcert Conversations: PreConcert Conversations are held prior to every Philadelphia Orchestra subscription concert, beginning one hour before curtain. Conversations are free to ticket-holders, feature discussions of the season’s music and music-makers, and are supported in part by the Wells Fargo Foundation.

Lost and Found: Please call 215.670.2321.

Web Site: For information about The Philadelphia Orchestra and its upcoming concerts or events, please visit www.philorch.org.

Subscriptions: The Philadelphia Orchestra offers a variety of subscription options each season. These multi-concert packages feature the best available seats, ticket exchange privileges, guaranteed seat renewal for the following season, discounts on individual tickets, and many other benefits. For more information, please call 215.893.1955 or visit www.philorch.org.

Ticket Turn-In: Subscribers who cannot use their tickets are invited to donate them and receive a tax-deductible credit by calling 215.893.1999. Tickets may be turned in any time up to the start of the concert. Twenty-four-hour notice is appreciated, allowing other patrons the opportunity to purchase these tickets.

Individual Tickets: Don’t assume that your favorite concert is sold out. Subscriber turn-ins and other special promotions can make last-minute tickets available. Call Ticket Philadelphia at 215.893.1999 or stop by the Kimmel Center Box Office.

Ticket Philadelphia StaffGary Lustig, Vice PresidentJena Smith, Director, Patron

ServicesDan Ahearn, Jr., Box Office

ManagerCatherine Pappas, Project

ManagerMariangela Saavedra, Manager,

Patron ServicesJoshua Becker, Training SpecialistKristin Allard, Business Operations

CoordinatorJackie Kampf, Client Relations

CoordinatorPatrick Curran, Assistant Treasurer,

Box OfficeTad Dynakowski, Assistant

Treasurer, Box OfficeMichelle Messa, Assistant

Treasurer, Box OfficePatricia O’Connor, Assistant

Treasurer, Box OfficeThomas Sharkey, Assistant

Treasurer, Box OfficeJames Shelley, Assistant Treasurer,

Box OfficeJayson Bucy, Lead Patron Services

RepresentativeFairley Hopkins, Lead Patron

Services RepresentativeMeg Hackney, Lead Patron

Services RepresentativeTeresa Montano, Lead Patron

Services RepresentativeAlicia DiMeglio, Priority Services

RepresentativeMegan Brown, Patron Services

RepresentativeJulia Schranck, Priority Services

RepresentativeBrand-I Curtis McCloud, Patron

Services RepresentativeScott Leitch, Quality Assurance

Analyst

42