WETA Classical’s 2025-2026 series of NSO Showcase broadcasts kicks off on November 5th. This season marks the National Symphony Orchestra’s 95th anniversary, and we are proud to celebrate their artistry with some magnificent archival performances recorded at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts-- mostly by our own recording engineer, Charles Lawson.
The first program (airing November fifth and streaming all month long) is a tribute to the spirit of resilience and to triumph in the midst of tragedy. It opens with Beethoven’s rambunctious Symphony No. 2, composed in the town of Heiligenstadt, where he was courageously coming to terms with his incurable deafness. Next is “Summer Night,” the suite from Prokofiev’s comic opera, Wedding in a Monastery, which dates from World War II. Another masterpiece, Ravel’s Concerto for the Left Hand, was commissioned by Paul Wittgenstein, a young man who was just beginning his concert career when he lost his right arm in World War I. Undeterred, he commissioned works from Richard Strauss, Franz Schmidt, Erich Korngold, Benjamin Britten, Sergei Prokofiev, Paul Hindemith, and most famously, Maurice Ravel whose challenge was to make the piano part sound as full as if it were played with two hands. Guest soloist Cédric Tiberghien said that the concerto shows off Ravel’s wizardry: “it really speaks straight to everyone because it has so many moods. You see basically the whole history of music—classical, jazz, in just 20 minutes.”
We close November’s concert with Tchaikovsky’s last symphony, the Sixth, the Pathétique. Tchaikovsky died in a cholera epidemic just 9 days after the premiere. Gianandrea Noseda shared his interpretation of the symphony’s 3rd movement Scherzo, claiming “that is not celebratory, that is an invasion of rats.” Tune into November’s NSO Showcase to hear why he believes in this ghoulish interpretation.
December’s program, per tradition, is devoted to Handel’s Messiah, conducted in December 2022 by early music expert Fabio Biondi. The orchestra is joined by soloists and the Choral Arts Society of Washington, prepared by WETA Classical’s own Scott Tucker.
In January, the spotlight shines on Sibelius and Schumann. We’ll feature a March 2023 performance of Sibelius’ Symphony No. 2 with Ukrainian-born Dalia Stasevska conducting. Gianandrea Noseda leads the orchestra in two important works by Schumann: the Symphony No. 3, the “Rhenish,” from a January 2023 concert, as well as a dazzling performance of Schumann’s Concert Piece for 4 Horns featuring principal Abel Pereira and the NSO horn section from April 2023.
Don’t miss the start of another great NSO Showcase season here on WETA Classical and join us in offering our best wishes to our own National Symphony Orchestra as they embark on their 95th year.
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