Philadelphia Orchestra Principal Percussionist Christopher Deviney has long been drawn to the music of guitarist Pat Metheny and his composing partner, pianist Lyle Mays.
This Sunday, August 1st at 1 PM on WRTI 90.1, and Monday, August 2nd at 7 PM on WRTI HD-2, The Philadelphia Orchestra in Concert re-broadcast features the 2017 world-premiere performance of Deviney’s orchestration of three Metheny jazz tunes into a Duo Concerto for Vibraphone, Marimba, and Orchestra.
The music is from Metheny's award-winning album Imaginary Day.
In this re-broadcast of a concert from March of 2017, Guest Conductor Bramwell Tovey is on the podium, as Mr. Deviney makes his Philadelphia solo debut playing the vibes; he's joined by internationally acclaimed percussionist and marimba virtuoso She-e Wu in a work that taps into the global influences of the Metheny original, from Javanese gamelan sounds to Iranian folk music to Gaelic tunes.
The concert begins with an early Leonard Bernstein composition, his Prelude, Fugue, and Riffs, in which Lenny gives a lively spin to Baroque forms in a jazz-hall style work for clarinet and ensemble, premiered by Benny Goodman, and played in this concert by the Philadelphia Orchestra’s celebrated Principal Clarinet, Riccardo Morales.
And following intermission, the great Ninth Symphony (“From the New World”) by Antonin Dvo?ák, a work that was immediately hailed as a masterpiece after its Carnegie Hall premiere.
Part of the inspiration came from Dvo?ák’s encounter with African-American spirituals and with Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s poem The Song of Hiawatha.
WRTI’s Susan Lewis and Debra Lew Harder will speak backstage with Bramwell Tovey, Chris Deviney, and She-e Wu.
Read detailed program notes from the concert
PROGRAM:
Bernstein: Prelude, Fugue, and Riffs for Solo Clarinet and Jazz Ensemble
Riccardo Morales, clarinet
Metheney and Mays/arr. and orch. By Chris Deviney: Imaginary Day Duo Concerto for Vibraphone, Marimba, and Orchestra
Chris Deviney, vibraphone
She-e Wu, marimba
Michael Jones and Daniel Schwartz, tenors
INTERMISSION
Dvo?ák: Symphony No. 9 in e-minor (“From the New World”)
The Philadelphia Orchestra
Bramwell Tovey, conductor
Gregg Whiteside is producer and host of the Philadelphia Orchestra in Concert broadcasts on WRTI, every Sunday at 1 PM on WRTI 90.1 FM, online at WRTI.org, and on our new mobile app! Hear rebroadcasts of Sunday concerts on Mondays at 7 PM on WRTI HD-2.
