Description:

Riveting Italian-born conductor Daniele Gatti returns to the Philadelphia Orchestra podium for the first time since 1993 for an evening of high-drama favorites. Mendelssohn's "Italian" Symphony, inspired by the composer's own European travels around 1830, is an ebullient portrait of the color and atmosphere, the people and landscapes of Italy. In contrast is the light-and-shadow drama of Brahms's First Symphony, the most important work in the form since Beethoven, which some have gone so far as to call "Beethoven's Tenth." Opening the concert is a gem of Italian opera, Rossini's witty, infectious Barber of Seville Overture.

Related Concerts:

• March 18, 2010
  Beethoven's "Eroica"
• March 20, 2010
  Beethoven's "Eroica"
• April 15, 2010
  Ax Plays Beethoven
• April 17, 2010
  Ax Plays Beethoven
• June 04, 2010
  Dutoit Conducts Strauss

Audio Samples:

ROSSINI - Overture to The Barber of Seville

MENDELSSOHN - Symphony No. 4 ("Italian")

BRAHMS - Symphony No. 1

Concert Enhancements:

Free Pre-Concert Conversation one hour prior to concert (About Pre-Concert Conversations)

Program Notes:

October 24, 2009 Download Adobe Acrobat to view Program Notes.

Series Information:

Part of the 2010 Masterworks Collection, and package Saturday 6B

Part of the 2010 Weekend Collection, and package Saturday 6B