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Photo Credit: Gerard Collett

Photo Credit: Carolyn Cruz

PAVILION SOLD OUT - Limited Lawn

Tchaikovsky Symphony No. 6 Pathetique

New York Philharmonic Yekwon Sunwoo, piano
Orchestral Series
Tuesday, July 22, 2025 at 6pm Gerald R. Ford Amphitheater
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Pavilion SOLD OUT, please email Ticketing@BravoVail.org to be added to the waitlist.

San Diego Symphony Music Director Rafael Payare makes his Bravo! Vail debut, leading the New York Philharmonic in a powerful program: W.G. Still's thought-provoking Darker America; Beethoven's youthful Piano Concerto No. 1, performed by Van Cliburn gold medalist, Yekwon Sunwoo; and Tchaikovsky's despairing Sixth Symphony, the 'Pathétique.'

Featured Artists

Rafael Payare

conductor

Yekwon Sunwoo

piano

Program Highlights

Rafael Payare, conductor
Yekwon Sunwoo, piano

STILL Darker America
BEETHOVEN Piano Concerto No. 1
TCHAIKOVSKY Symphony No. 6, Pathétique

All artists, programs, and pricing subject to change.

Darker America (1924–25)

William Grant Still (1895–1978)

Hailed in his lifetime as the “Dean of African-American Composers,” William Grant Still began his musical career making arrangements for a Memphis ensemble led by W. C. Handy. After serving in World War I, he performed as an oboist in the pit orchestra for Shuffle Along, the landmark musical by Eubie Blake and Noble Sissle. He later pursued private studies with George Chadwick, who encouraged Still to cultivate a distinctly American musical voice, and with Edgard Varèse, who introduced him to avant-garde techniques.

From the mid-1920s to about 1940, Still drew inspiration from Black music and culture. By the mid-1930s, his works addressing African-American themes garnered national attention as singular contributions to a growing movement of musical Americanism.

Still composed Darker America in 1924–25. With Varèse’s help, the work received its premiere at a high-profile concert of the International Composers’ Guild. As Still’s first large-scale composition, this tone poem fuses elements of African-American musical traditions with modernist gestures championed by Varèse. In a program note, Still wrote:

"Darker America, as its title suggests, is representative of the American Negro. His serious side is presented and is intended to suggest the triumph of a people over their sorrows through fervent prayer. At the beginning the theme of the American Negro is announced by the strings in unison. Following a short development of this, the English horn announces the sorrow theme which is followed immediately by the theme of hope, given to muted brass accompanied by strings and woodwind."

These two themes struggle for dominance, with sorrow briefly prevailing. “Then the prayer is heard (given to oboe); the prayer of numbed rather than anguished souls. Strongly contrasted moods follow, leading up to the triumph of the people near the end, at which point the three principal themes are combined.”

Piano Concerto No. 1 in C major, Op. 15 (1795, rev. 1800)

Ludwig van Beethoven (1770–1827)

Any composer writing a piano concerto in Vienna during the final years of the 18th century did so in the shadow of Mozart. Beethoven, who had several of Mozart’s concertos in his performing repertoire, was no exception. Much in Piano Concerto No. 1 recalls Mozart’s influence—particularly the vivid use of trumpets, horns, and timpani common in Mozart’s C-major works. Yet, Beethoven’s individuality shines through in the work’s originality and bold expression.

The first movement showcases subtle craftsmanship and imaginative development, revealing a musical intelligence already firmly in command. The Largo is introspective and lyrical, prefiguring the deeply expressive slow movements of Beethoven’s middle period, including the Pathétique Sonata. The finale is spirited and unmistakably Beethovenian, full of wit, rhythmic verve, and delightful surprises.

At the time, the concerto struck listeners as avant-garde. A Berlin review from 1804 noted:

“A new fortepiano concerto by Beethoven, provided with chromatic passages and enharmonic changes, occasionally to the point of bizarrerie, concluded the first part. … The first movement was splendidly worked out, but the modulations were far too excessive; the Adagio in A-flat major was an extremely pleasant piece, richly melodic, and was greatly embellished by the obbligato clarinet. The last movement, All’ Inglese, distinguished itself only by its unusual rhythms.”

A contemporary piano method clarified that All’ Inglese (“in the English style”) referred to music “of a very spirited character which often borders on the moderately comic.”

Symphony No. 6 in B minor, Op. 74, Pathétique (1893)

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840–1893)

Most symphonic subtitles are added posthumously or without the composer’s input. Pathétique (meaning “infused with pathos”) is a rare case of a subtitle receiving the composer’s brief approval. Tchaikovsky’s brother Modest proposed the name the day after the symphony’s premiere. The composer initially agreed but asked the publisher not to print it on the score shortly afterward—a request that was ignored.

The work’s original title at its premiere was simply Program Symphony. When asked by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov what the program entailed, Tchaikovsky replied that there was one—but that he preferred to keep it private. Months earlier, he had written to his nephew Bob Davidov, to whom the symphony is dedicated, that it would contain “a program of a kind that would remain an enigma to all … a program saturated with subjective feeling.”

The music itself is filled with mystery and depth. The symphony opens quietly, almost imperceptibly. A soaring string theme resembles the “Flower Song” from Bizet’s Carmen. There are echoes of Russian liturgical chant, a waltz in irregular 5/4 time, and a haunting march in the final movement. That finale famously fades into silence rather than offering a triumphant resolution.

The premiere audience was unsure how to respond. Tchaikovsky died just nine days later, likely of cholera. At the second performance three weeks later, the work received an overwhelmingly positive response. “This time,” Rimsky-Korsakov wrote, “the public greeted it rapturously, and since that moment the fame of the symphony has kept growing and growing, spreading gradually over Russia and Europe.”

Presto Club - 2025 Activity Booklet

Gerald R. Ford Amphitheater

530 S Frontage Rd E Vail, CO 81657 Venue information