The Pastoral

About this event

Guest conductor Sameer Patel and local favorite Yvette Kraft leads us into the wild, chilly, and hauntingly beautiful Violin Concerto by Sibelius, music of icy brilliance and soaring lyricism. Beethoven’s Pastoral Symphony completes the journey with birdsong, summer storms, and rustic dances that celebrate the restorative beauty of the countryside.

Sameer Patel, conductor

Yvette Kraft, violin

Piotr Illych Tchaikovsky

Polonaise from Eugene Onegin

Jean Sibelius

Violin Concerto in D minor, Op.47

Ludwig van Beethoven

Symphony No.6 in F major ‘Pastoral’, Op.68

SATURDAY DOORS 6PM | PRECONCERT TALK 6:30PM | SHOW 7:30PM

SUNDAY DOORS 1:30PM | PRECONCERT TALK 2PM | SHOW 3PM

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Free K-12 Tickets

Bring the whole family! This show has free tickets available for all students K-12 through the Spokane Symphony FASTix program.

Get your tickets by calling The Fox box office at 509-624-1200.

Program Notes

Program notes by J. Michael Allsen

Guest conductor Sameer Patel leads the Spokane Symphony in this program of three works. We open with the Polonaise from Tchaikovsky’s opera Eugene Onegin . Then we welcome a local favorite, violinist Yvette Kraft, to play the expressively and technically challenging Violin Concerto by Sibelius. After intermission, we turn to the programmatic Pastoral Symphony of Beethoven, a gentle but thoroughly revolutionary work for its time.

This dignified dance comes from Act III of Tchaikovsky’s operatic masterpiece.

Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky

Born : May 7, 1840, Votkinsk, Russia.

Died : November 6, 1893, St. Petersburg, Russia.

Polonaise from Eugene Onegin

• Composed : 1877-78.

• Premiere : May 29, 1879 at the Moscow Conservatory.

• Duration : 5:00.

Background

When the singer Elizaveta Lavrovskaya suggested in the spring of 1877 that Tchaikovsky adapt Pushkin’s Eugene Onegin , he initially thought the idea was “wild.” Written nearly fifty years prior, the novel had achieved status as Russia’s definitive masterpiece, beloved by literate society. The story of Tatyana’s tragic love for the worldly Onegin and of his ultimate downfall was so famous that adapting it for the stage was a risky endeavor.

Tchaikovsky ultimately embraced the challenge, beginning composition at the story’s emotional climax: Tatyana’s passionate letter to Onegin, followed by his cool, polite rejection. Just as Tchaikovsky began writing, letters arrived from a former student, Antonina Milyukova, declaring her love. Life and art collided. Terrified of mirroring Onegin’s cruelty, Tchaikovsky relented and agreed to marry her. He poured himself into the score during their five-week engagement, but after a disastrous honeymoon, the opera was shelved as he fled the marriage. He would not finish Onegin until early the following year, after seeking refuge in Clarens, Switzerland.

Tchaikovsky remained cautious about Eugene Onegin even after it was finished, opting to premiere it quietly with students from the Moscow Conservatory. Yet he needn’t have worried. Its professional debut in St. Petersburg a few years later was a resounding success, cementing its place as one of his first works to achieve universal acceptance in Russia.

What You’ll Hear

The famous Polonaise sets the scene for Act III, which opens years after the disastrous duel in which Onegin killed his friend Lensky. As guests dance its stately rhythms in a fashionable St. Petersburg ballroom, the disgraced and remorseful Onegin is stunned to discover that the noble hostess is none other than Tatyana, whom he had cast aside years earlier. His desperate attempts to win her back are rejected by the now-married Tatyana, completing his emotional destruction.

The Violin Concerto of Jean Sibelius is an expansive work that calls for dramatic, forceful playing from the soloist, particularly in the stormy opening movement. It also demands passionate lyricism in the second movement, and astonishing technique in the finale.

Jean Sibelius

Born : December 8, 1865, Hämeenlinna, Finland.

Died : September 20, 1957, Järvenpää, Finland.

Concerto in D minor for Violin and Orchestra, Op. 47

• Composed : 1902-1903.

• Premiere : February 8, 1904, in Helsinki, with Victor Novacek as soloist. An extensively revised version—the version heard at these concerts—was premiered in Berlin on October 19, 1905, with Carl Halír as soloist, and conducted by Richard Strauss.

• Duration : 32:00.

Background

The years after the turn of the 20th century were frustrating for Sibelius—though his reputation in his native Finland was secure, international fame was proving to be elusive. His initial musical success had come with nationalistic works based upon Finnish folk legends, like The Swan of Tuonela . By 1900, though, he was trying to break this mold and establish himself as a symphonist in the tradition of Brahms and Dvořák. This self-imposed pressure caused turmoil in his personal life, which was plagued by marital problems, alcoholism, and mounting financial difficulties. Despite all this, the period was amazingly fertile: by 1915, he had written his first five symphonies, his violin concerto, six symphonic poems (including the famous Finlandia ), and several smaller works for orchestra. By the outbreak of World War I, he had won the wider recognition he desired and deserved.

Sibelius was a fine violinist and had started his musical training with dreams of becoming a great virtuoso. A shoulder injury when he was in his 20s and an increasing interest in composition ended his hopes for a solo career, but he never lost his interest in the instrument. When he was in his late 30s, he wrote: “There’s still a part of me that desires to become a violinist, and this expresses itself in unusual ways.” Shortly after he made this remark, he began work on the violin concerto, encouraged by German violinist Willy Burmeister, who promised to play the concerto in Berlin. For financial reasons, Sibelius decided to premiere it in Helsinki, and since Burmeister was unavailable to travel to Finland, Sibelius engaged Victor Novacek, a violin teacher at the Helsinki Conservatory. Novacek apparently played the concerto poorly, and the first performance was a flop. Sibelius was also dissatisfied with the piece itself and set to work revising it. A year later, he got his desired Berlin premiere, with the Bohemian virtuoso Carl Halíř as soloist. Though Sibelius referred to this concert as the concerto’s “trial by fire,” it was a tremendous success, leading one critic to make a poetic comparison to “the Nordic winter landscape painters, who through the distinctive interplay of white on white secure rare, sometimes hypnotic, sometimes powerful effects.” Sibelius dedicated his concerto to the Hungarian child prodigy Ferenc Vecsey, who played it in Berlin a year later, when he was just 13 years old. (Sibelius had in fact made the dedication when Vecsey was only ten years old!)

What You’ll Hear

The concerto is an expansive work that calls for dramatic, forceful playing for the soloist. The opening movement ( Allegro moderato ) begins with a passionate melody from the soloist, supported by a throbbing background of muted strings. This first section ends with a short cadenza and a transition before cellos and bassoons introduce a new major-key idea. The violin transforms this into a more passionate minor-key theme. Strings and woodwinds introduce a more forceful third idea. Though the movement has the general outlines of sonata form, Sibelius follows a freer course, developing these main ideas until the very end, and introducing several new themes along the way. At its midpoint, this movement features an extended solo cadenza.

Where the first movement was stormy and tense, the second ( Adagio di molto ) is quiet and lyrical. The movement opens with almost mysterious lines from the woodwinds, but the violin soon enters with a long romantic melody, supported by horns and woodwinds. A central episode is more dramatic in mood, with a new melody introduced by the orchestra. The final section returns to the calm mood of the opening, with the main theme now played by the orchestra as the soloist provides a delicate ornamental filigree.

Forceful rhythms in the timpani and low strings introduce the main theme of last movement ( Allegro, ma non tanto ), an energetic melody that critic Donald Francis Tovey called “a polonaise for polar bears.” The second theme is a syncopated dance melody introduced by the orchestra and further developed by the violin. Most of the movement is concerned with developing these two themes, most often played by the orchestra as the soloist provides a kind of virtuoso commentary. The violinist throws in every virtuoso trick in the book in this dazzling finale: long lines of double-stops and octaves, harmonics, and breathtaking passages that span the full range of the instrument.

Beethoven himself labeled his Sixth Symphony the Pastoral Symphony , a tribute to his love of life in the country. This is a gentle work, but for its time, a revolutionary one. Its five movements include rustic dances, exuberant bird song, and a remarkably realistic thunderstorm.

Ludwig van Beethoven

Born : December 17, 1770 (baptism date), Bonn, Germany.

Died : March 26, 1827, Vienna, Austria.

Symphony No. 6 in F Major, Op. 68, “Pastoral”

• Composed : Between 1803 and 1808.

• Premiere : December 22, 1808, in Vienna.

• Duration : 40:00.

“No one can love the country as much as I do.”

– Beethoven

Background

At some point in 1803, Beethoven sketched a brief musical passage of flowing triplets he titled ‘the murmuring of the brook,’ which appears to be the very earliest snippet of his pastoral symphony. While he collected additional ideas over the next few years, the bulk of the Symphony No. 6 was written in 1808, at roughly the same time as the Symphony No. 5 . Both symphonies were performed for the first time at a benefit concert in Vienna in December 1808. The landmark concert also included excerpts from his Mass in C and the aria “Ah, perfido!” plus the premieres of two works featuring Beethoven at the piano: his Piano Concerto No. 4 and the hastily composed Choral Fantasy .

Despite their pairing, the fifth and sixth symphonies are astonishingly different works. While later writers worked hard to hear a program (a “story line” or other extra-musical idea) in the fifth, it was probably conceived as an expression of purely musical ideas: particularly the intense, almost relentless development of musical themes. The sixth is clearly programmatic, however. Beethoven suggested in his own writings that this work should bring up associations of country life in the minds of its audience. Although Beethoven provided the title “Pastoral,” he noted that the work expressed subtle feelings rather than the sensational pictorial music then popular in France and Austria. Beethoven famously disdained mere “tone-painting”—making it even more ironic that just five years later he penned the crowd-pleasing spectacle of Wellington’s Victory . It was this programmatic aspect of the sixth that most excited musicians of the 19th century: it was clearly the inspiration for Berlioz’s Symphonie fantastique and Schumann’s “Spring” Symphony to give just two early examples. It was successful in Beethoven’s own time as well: one review of the premiere called the “Thunderstorm” movement “unsurpassedly beautiful.” Another reviewer of an early performance remarked that: “The whole work is sure to meet with great approval everywhere, so long as one enters cheerfully and with good will into the spirit of the author’s intentions, without a preconceived opinion.”

The author’s intentions in the sixth seem to be summed up best in an annotation to one of Beethoven’s sketches: “Pastoral Symphony—whoever also treasures country life can discover for himself what the author intends.” Beethoven’s love of the country is well-known: he enjoyed long walks in the countryside, and much of the sixth was written in a country house in the small town of Heiligenstadt outside of Vienna.

What You’ll Hear

The sixth is formally innovative, abandoning the traditional four-movement plan in favor of five movements in which the last three form a single dramatic unit. The opening movement ( Allegro non troppo ) unfolds in a generously proportioned sonata form. Unlike most of Beethoven’s first movements, its development trades furious intensity for a remarkable gentleness of tone. In a violin part, Beethoven made brief notes at the beginning of each of the five movements that suggest specific associations, in this case, “Pleasant, cheerful feelings aroused on approaching the countryside.” Both main themes are quiet and happy: first a country dance tune above an unchanging bagpipe drone, then a more active second theme. Passing hints of the minor pepper the long development, but the recapitulation arrives with little drama, yielding instead the quiet satisfaction of a great tune returned to the full orchestra. The understated coda simply rounds out the main idea amid witty clarinet lines.

This placid mood continues in the second movement ( Andante molto mosso – “Scene by the brook”). Here again he uses sonata form with none of the usual fire and fury. If he did indeed intend this as musical picture of a brook, the constantly undulating string accompaniment is the aquatic background to a series of lovely woodwind themes. Near the end there is a birdlike group cadenza for solo woodwinds. As if anyone could miss his intention, Beethoven labeled these passages in the score: “nightingale,” “quail,” and “cuckoo.”

The final three movements are played without a pause. The third movement ( Allegro – “Happy gathering of villagers”) is set as a scherzo, but the tempo is relaxed, as Beethoven launches into a set of rustic dances. Two triple-meter themes begin this set, a jolly bagpipe-style tune and a more delicate idea passed among the flute, clarinet, and horn. The contrasting trio section is a rustic duple-meter dance for the full orchestra. All these ideas are restated, but just as he seems ready to conclude the movement, a quiet rumble heralds an abrupt shift in texture ( Allegro ) as wandering string lines gather intensity above bass tremolos. The ‘Thunderstorm’ doesn’t take long to break, bringing a crashing fortissimo chord and a series of lightning strikes. Beethoven used a series of shockingly dissonant chords and surprising orchestral effects to paint his storm. The storm passes quickly, leaving a calm, pastoral duet of clarinet and horn to introduce the finale ( Allegretto – “Shepherd’s song. Grateful thanks to the Almighty after the storm”). The main idea is serene and hymnlike: Beethoven wrote the words Herr, wir danken dir (Lord, we thank you) in his score at this point. This melody appears in both varied and original forms throughout the movement. Once more, the mood is tranquil throughout, as the movement weaves its unhurried way to a quiet conclusion.

_____

Program notes ©2026 by J. Michael Allsen

Sameer Patel

Named Musical America ‘s April 2023 New Artist of the Month and internationally recognized for his “profound artistry” ( The San Diego Union Tribune ), Sameer Patel is one of America’s most exciting conductors. Equally at home conducting world premieres and traditional classical works, Patel’s infectious enthusiasm for music is felt by musicians, audiences, and students alike.

Patel is in his third season as Music Director and Orchestra Conductor of the La Jolla Symphony and Chorus and also serves as the Artistic Director of the San Diego Youth Symphony, a transformational organization that reaches more than 3,000 students through its thirteen ensembles, El Sistema-inspired community programs, and early childhood music classes. Formerly, he served for six seasons as Associate Conductor of the Sun Valley Music Festival and held an acclaimed tenure as Associate Conductor of the San Diego Symphony, where he reinvigorated the orchestra’s programming and connection with its community. He has also held conducting positions with the Chicago Sinfonietta and the Fort Wayne Philharmonic.

Recent performances include Puccini’s Tosca with Houston’s Opera in the Heights, as well as concerts with the orchestras of Chicago, Toronto, St. Louis, Detroit, New Jersey, Baltimore, Princeton, Sarasota, Florida, Phoenix, Grand Rapids, Sacramento, Toledo, New Hampshire, Bozeman, Savannah, Fresno, Knoxville, Alabama, Naples, Reading, and Jacksonville. He has also appeared with the National Symphony Orchestra, Pacific Symphony, North Carolina Symphony, Louisiana Philharmonic, Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, and the Wintergreen Festival Orchestra. Abroad, Patel has conducted performances with the Orchestra Sinfonica di Sanremo, the Orchestra Giovanile Italiana, and the Leipziger Sinfonieorchester. Deeply committed to nurturing the next generation of musicians, Patel has taught at the New England Conservatory and the Cleveland Institute of Music, and has led performances with All-State and Honor orchestras throughout the country.

With an enthusiasm for the music of our time, Patel is a champion of music by living composers. In his programs with the La Jolla Symphony and as a guest conductor, Sameer has championed living composers—including Anna Clyne, Andrea Casarrubios, Gala Flagello, Anthony Davis, Juan Pablo Contreras, Gabriella Smith, Nina Shekhar, Gabriela Ortiz, and Vivian Fung—and has led world premieres by Adam Schoenberg, Mason Bates, Osvaldo Golijov, Andrés Martín, Lei Liang, Reena Esmail, and William Harvey.

Patel’s impressive work has led to recognition from the Solti Foundation U.S., which granted him three consecutive Career Assistance Awards along with an Elizabeth Buccheri Opera Residency with North Carolina Opera. He was recognized by Daniele Gatti as a top conductor at the Accademia Musicale Chigiana in Siena, Italy, which led to his acclaimed debut with the Orchestra Sinfonica di Sanremo. Additionally, Kurt Masur, the late Music Director of the New York Philharmonic, recognized Patel’s talents with a prize from the Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy Foundation, which allowed him to study with and assist Maestro Masur in his appearances with the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra and the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra. That same year, Patel was one of only six conductors selected by the League of American Orchestras for the Bruno Walter National Conductor Preview with the Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra, which led to subsequent, multiple engagements with that orchestra.

Patel studied at the University of Michigan and furthered his training across Europe with some of the greatest conductors of our time, including Gianandrea Noseda, Daniele Gatti, David Zinman, Paavo Järvi, and the late conductors Kurt Masur and Bernard Haitink. Additionally, Patel has assisted and learned from leading conductors Gustavo Dudamel, Charles Dutoit, Edo de Waart, Robert Spano, Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla, Stéphane Denève, Jaap van Zweden, Thomas Wilkins, Larry Rachleff, and Mei-Ann Chen, among many others.

Proudly born and raised in Michigan, Patel makes his home in San Diego with his wife, Shannon, and two children, Devan and Veda. In his spare time, Patel pursues his passions for literature, languages, jazz, traveling, fishing, history, and tennis.

Yvette Kraft

Yvette Kraft joins the first violin section of the San Francisco Symphony, holding the Isaac Stern Chair, in the 2025–26 season. She was the winner of both the 2024 Aspen Music Festival Violin Concerto Competition and the 2024 DeLay Fellowship Award. Internationally, she placed second at the 2020 Grumiaux International Violin Competition in Brussels, was a semifinalist in the 2019 Louis Spohr International Violin Competition in Weimar, and was a 2023 Frances Walton Competition solo winner. She is an NPR From the Top Fellow and has collaborated with artists such as Augustin Hadelich, Gil Shaham, Arnaud Sussman, Jon Kimura Parker, and Jeremy Denk. Kraft was the concertmaster of the 2024 New York String Orchestra Seminar at Carnegie Hall. She has soloed with numerous orchestras including the Seattle Symphony, San Francisco Ballet Orchestra, and Spokane Symphony. After studying with Simon James, she completed her studies as a student of Robert Lipsett at the Colburn Conservatory of Music, winning the 2025 Frances Rosen Prize upon graduation.

SPR Classical Concert of the Week

Whether you couldn’t attend a Masterworks concert or loved what you heard and want to listen again, Spokane Symphony Masterworks concerts are featured on SPR Classical’s “Concert of the Week,” the Saturday after each performance on KSFC 91.9 FM at 12pm on spokanepublicradio.org.

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