Listen to our Philadelphia Orchestra in Concert broadcast at 7 pm on the Classical Stream at WRTI.org on Christmas Day! It's the Orchestra’s annual Glorious Sound of Christmas concert, a tradition since the Philadelphians recorded its best-selling Glorious Sound of Christmas album in 1962.
The fabled "Philadelphia Sound" was burnished to full sheen for that recording, and the same “Philadelphia Sound” was on display in December, 2015 when Bramwell Tovey conducted the Orchestra and the Mendelssohn Club of Philadelphia.
For the past 150 years the Mendelssohn Club has been devoted to sharing great choral music as a way to connect artists, audiences, and communities, and they join the Philadelphia Orchestra for this performance.
We’ll hear seven pieces before intermission, and seven after—and eight of them will be in arrangements by Mr. Tovey himself. Many of his arrangements include piano parts, which he will play. Maestro Tovey could also be a terrific stand-up comedian, as you will hear on Sunday!
It’s a treat for the whole family! We hope you’ll be listening Monday, December 25th from 7 to 9 pm on the WRTI Classical Stream.
PROGRAM:
The Glorious Sound of Christmas
Bramwell Tovey, Conductor
Mendelssohn Club of Philadelphia, Alan Harler, Artistic Director
Traditional/ “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel” arr. Tovey
Mendelssohn/ “Hark! the Herald Angels Sing” arr. Harris
Traditional/ “Good King Wenceslas” arr. Tovey
Holst/arr. Tovey - “In the Bleak Midwinter”
Tovey - “The Rittenhouse Carol” -- (World premiere)
Hairston/arr. Tovey “Mary’s Boy Child”
Tchaikovsky “Waltz of the Flowers,” from The Nutcracker, Op. 71
INTERMISSION
Tormé/arr. Lowden - “The Christmas Song”
Gruber/arr. Tovey - “Silent Night”
Moore - “The Night Before Christmas,” a poem with music
Pierpont/arr. Tovey Jingle Bells Overture
Traditional/arr. Tovey “God Rest Ye, Merry Gentlemen”
Anderson - Sleigh Ride
Wade/arr. Harris “O Come, All Ye Faithful”
