06-02 Gilbert:Layout 1 5/19/11 1:58 PM Page 23

JUNE 2 –4, 2011

Thursday , June 2, 2011, 7:3 0 p.m. 15,200 th Concert Open rehearsal at 9:45 a.m.

Friday, June 3 , 2011, 2:00 p.m. 15, 201st Concert

Saturday, June 4 , 2011, 8:0 0 p.m. Global Sponsor 15, 202nd Concert

Alan Gilbert, Music Director, holds The Yoko Nagae Ceschina Chair .

Anne-Sophie Mutter is The Mary and James G. Wallach Artist-in-Residence .

Alan Gilbert , Conductor This concert is made possible, in Anne-Sophie Mutter , Violin part, by a grant from The National Endowment for the Arts .

Major support provided by the Francis Goelet Fund .

Classical 105.9 FM WQXR is the Radio Station of the .

Programs are supported, in part, by public funds from the Department of Cultural Affairs , New York State Council on the Arts , and the National Endowment for the Arts .

Instruments made possible, in part, by This concert will last approximately two The Richard S. and Karen LeFrak hours, which includes one intermission . Endowment Fund . New York Philharmonic Senior Teaching Artist David Wallace will give a talk one Steinway is the Official Piano of the New York hour prior to the performance. Philharmonic and Avery Fisher Hall.

Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center Home of the New York Philharmonic Exclusive Timepiece of the New York Philharmonic

June 2011 23 06-02 Gilbert:Layout 1 5/19/11 1:58 PM Page 24

New York Philharmonic

Alan Gilbert, Conductor Anne-Sophie Mutter, Violin

BEETHOVEN Romance in F major for Violin and , (1770–1827) Op. 50 (ca. 1798)

Sebastian CURRIER Time Machines (2007; World Premiere) (b. 1959) fragmented time delay time compressed time overlapping time entropic time backwards time harmonic time

Intermission

BRUCKNER Symphony No. 2 in C minor (1871–72, rev. 1877; (1824–96) ed. W. Carragan, 2007) Moderato Andante Scherzo (Moderately Fast) — Trio Finale (Faster)

The New York Philharmonic’s recording series, The New York Philharmonic This Week, nationally Alan Gilbert and the New York Philharmonic: syndicated on the WFMT Radio Network, is 2010 –11 Season, is available through iTunes broadcast 52 weeks per year. Radio schedule via an iTunes Pass. For more information, visit subject to change; for updated information visit nyphil.org/itunes. nyphil.org.

Other New York Philharmonic recordings are In consideration of both the artists and the audi - available on all major online music stores as ence, please be sure that your cell phones and well as on major labels and the New York paging devices have been set to remain silent. Philharmonic’s own series. The photography, sound recording, or videotaping of these performances is prohibited.

24 New York Philharmonic 06-02 Gilbert:Layout 1 5/19/11 1:58 PM Page 25

Alan Gilbert on This Program

I am thrilled that Anne-Sophie Mutter is our Mary and James G. Wallach Artist-in- Residence this season. I am very happy to be able to present a kind of portrait of a particu - lar musician so that, over the course of several programs and in different contexts, our audience can benefit from their talents, and get to know them as an artist. Anne-Sophie’s in - terests range from the traditional (such as the Beethoven Romance on this program) to the new and provocative (as is the case of the premiere) — as you know, I also like creating programs that allow the pieces to shed new light on each other. This juxtaposi - tion is tremendously exciting and, I think, informative. I respect Anne-Sophie not only for her talents and artistic passions, but because she uses her capacity, ability, and reputation to further the repertoire and to bring the audience along. When someone as admired and respected as she is plays a new piece, the audience is drawn in simply because they know her and they trust her. I also have a personal reason for being very pleased that Anne-Sophie is here, as this week is the first time that she and I are performing together! She is one of the violinists whom I’ve most admired over many, many years. I remember once I was listening to her play - ing the Bartók Second Violin on the radio, and I couldn’t believe how perfect and thrilling it sounded. I was even more stunned when I heard that the recording was of a live broadcast. It was just amazing.

June 2011 25 06-02 Gilbert:Layout 1 5/19/11 1:58 PM Page 26

Notes on the Program By James M. Keller, Program Annotator

Romance in F major for Violin certed music for violin long before he essayed and Orchestra, Op. 50 his famous concerto, in 1806. In the early 1790s he had started a Violin Concerto in C Ludwig van Beethoven major (WoO 5), which he left incomplete. Then, probably around the turn of the century, he Ludwig van Beethoven’s D-major Violin Con - penned two charming, single-movement certo (Op. 61) is the earliest of the monu - Romances for violin and orchestra. mental in the repertoire of most The work played here was apparently the virtuoso violinists — much larger in scale than earlier of the two. It almost certainly origi - the earlier violin concertos we hear today by, nated in the second half of the 1790s , and say, Bach, Vivaldi, and Mozart. The transition musicologists usually date it to around 1798. from earlier violin concertos to Beethoven’s Ignaz Schuppanzigh, who championed Beet- was actually less sudden than one might hoven’s violin music more than anyone else think, but to appreciate that fact one would did, is known to have given a concert in have to gain a working acquaintance with vi - Vienna in November 1798 in which he played olin con certos by a number of relatively ob - an “Adagio von Beethoven” — very possibly scure composers whose style helped point this Romance. That is the closest we can the way : Giovanni Battista Viotti, Pierre Rode, get to the early performance history of this Pierre Baillot, Joseph Boulogne Chevalier de work , and, admittedly, it’s vague. Nor do we Saint-Georges, Louis Spohr, and Rudolphe know why Beethoven wrote this piece and Kreutzer (immortalized by Beethoven’s for whom, or whether it was in response to Kreutzer ), to name a few . a commission. Beethoven had stud - ied violin as a young man In Short in Bonn and had spent time as an orchestral vi - Born: probably December 16, 1770 (he was baptized on the 17th), in Bonn, Germany olist there before moving to Vienna in late 1792 to Died : March 26, 1827, in Vienna, Austria seek his fortune as a Work composed: about 1798, in Vienna pianist and composer. World premiere: probably shortly after it was completed; there is no information He was aware of what on the early performance history of this work was happening on the violin-concerto scene; New York Philharmonic premiere: March 2, 1901, by the New York Symphony he knew quite a few of (which would merge with the New York Philharmonic in 1928 to form today’s Phil - harmonic), Frank Damrosch, conductor, David Mannes, soloist these leading violinist- composers personally, Most recent New York Philharmonic performance: June 1, 2002, , and had already tried his conductor, Anne-Sophie Mutter, soloist hand at writing con - Estimated duration: ca. 9 minutes

26 New York Philharmonic 06-02 Gilbert:Layout 1 5/19/11 1:58 PM Page 27

The work’s manuscript, which resides in the convincing if we had only one Romance rather Library of Congress, offers further clues, though than two. If one was to be the slow movement not many. The physical characteristics of its of the Concerto, what was the other one’s role paper and the details of the handwriting match in life? It may strike us as odd that Beethoven those of the principal autograph manuscript of should write unattached slow movements as Beethoven’s B-flat major Piano Concerto concert pieces. Would such compositions be (Op. 19), which unquestionably dates from marketable? Could he have expected them 1798. However, Beethoven worked out most of to be programmed often? Perhaps. the music he was composing at that time in an It is rarely mentioned that there exists a important sketchbook known to scholars as third single-movement Romance (Beethoven Grasnick 1 — and nothing in Grasnick 1 has called that one a “Romanze cantabile”), a any connection to the F-major Romance. fragmentary work in E minor for the unusual Beethoven did go on to write another Ro - com bination of piano, flute, , and or - mance for Violin and Orchestra, this time in G chestra (catalogued as Hess 13), which he major, a work that seems not to have been composed ca. 1786 while still living in Bonn. composed until 1800 at the earliest, but even Musicologists suggest, however, that this was that is open to debate. It has been posited that probably not intended to be a stand-alone the Romances may have been written consid - work, but instead was to be the middle move - erably earlier, and that one or the other may ment of a concerto or concertante have been intended as the slow movement for that Beethoven never completed. the fragmentary C-major Violin Concerto. A slow movement in either key — F major or G Instrumentation: flute, two , two major — would work in the context of a con - , two horns, and strings, in addition certo in C major, but the the ory would be more to the violin.

By the Numbers

The first firm date attached to Beethoven’s Romances for Violin and Orchestra is October 1802; that’s when his brother Carl, who served as his business manager, wrote to the publishing firm of Breitkopf & Härtel to offer them “2 Adagios for Violin with a Full Instrumental Accompaniment.” Apparently Breitkopf & Härtel took a pass, and the two Romances ended up going to separate firms. The G-major made it to market first, appearing in late 1803 as Beethoven’s Op. 40 on the imprint of the Hoffmeister firm in Leipzig. The F-major wasn’t published until 1805, when it was brought out by the Viennese company Bureau des Arts et d’In - dustrie as Beethoven’s Op. 50. This provides a good example of how the opus numbers in Beethoven’s catalogue can be deceptive. It would be a mistake to try to make the F-major Romance jibe with such groundbreaking Portrait of Beethoven, ca. 1801 works in the Op. 50s as the Waldstein (Op. 53) or the Eroica Symphony (Op. 55). If we accept the composition date of ca. 1798, the F-major Romance is instead a peer to Beethoven’s B-flat-major Piano Concerto (commonly referred to as the Second), the three Op. 9 String Trios, the three Op. 10 Piano , the Op. 11 Trio, and the three Op. 12 Violin Sonatas, notwithstanding its higher opus number.

June 2011 27 06-02 Gilbert:Layout 1 5/19/11 1:58 PM Page 28

Time Machines National Endowment for the Arts, and Tanglewood Music Festival. Sebastian Currier Sebastian Currier’s music is philosophi - cally engaging and confounds listeners’ ex - Sebastian Currier was born into a musical pectations. He often devises formulas and family: his mother and brother are both com - explores ideas that we don’t typically asso - posers, his father a violinist. He studied violin ciate with concert music. His most notable under his father’s tutelage and later switched works can be described as “conceptual” in to guitar and became involved in playing rock the sense that they resemble what we may music. When he was growing up in Rhode Is - expect more from contemporary visual arts land, music was a constant, both through live or literature than from music. His Vocalis - music-making and recordings. As Currier told simus (1991), for soprano and chamber en - Ann McCutchan in an interview published in semble, sets a single brief poem by Wallace her book The Muse That Sings: Composers Stevens no fewer than 18 times, each time Speak about the Creative Process (1999): looking at the text from the viewpoint of a strikingly different temperament or mind- I remember how, still engrossed in rock frame: a recluse, an optimist, a pessimist, a music, I started to listen to this other music: miser, a satirist, and so on. Theo’s Sketch - Beethoven , Bach’s Goldberg book (1992), for solo piano, is purveyed as Variations, Bartók’s Music for Strings, Per - an anthology of the works of a fictional com - cussion, and Celesta. A whole universe poser, ranging from well-intentioned juvenilia opened up in front of me. As much as I loved to the autumnal utterances of his old age (in - rock music, it was entirely pale by compari - cluding a lullaby for a granddaughter). His son. The range of expression [in classical Quartetset (1995), for , at - music] was so vast, the way one idea fol - tempts to reconcile the composer’s conflict - lowed another was so intricate and com - ing responses to classic monuments and pelling. There seemed to be nothing one contemporary experiments in could not express. by juxtaposing the styles of, for example, Bach, Beethoven, and Schubert with those Currier pursued his advanced education at of Cage, Carter, and Boulez. the Manhattan School of Music and received In 2007 Currier won the prestigious a doctorate in composition from The Juilliard for his chamber piece School. He taught at Juilliard from 1992 Static . Characteristically, its six movements to 1998 and at Columbia University from 1999 In Short to 2007. Among his hon - Born: March 16, 1959, in Huntingdon, Pennsylvania ors are awards from the American Academy of Arts Resides : in New York City and Letters, the Berlin Work composed: in 2007 (completed on October 22 that year in New York City ), Prize, Rome Prize, a on commission from Anne-Sophie Mutter Fried heim Award, and World premiere: fellowships from the these performances Guggenheim Foundation, Estimated duration: ca. 28 minutes

28 New York Philharmonic 06-02 Gilbert:Layout 1 5/19/11 1:58 PM Page 29

reveal six perspectives on the idea of stasis. metal object, and a series of sound waves Similarly, Traces, his harp concerto commis - take that information to our ears, the inten - sioned by the (which in - sity of those waves affecting the relative troduced it in 2009), provides a framework amplitude. It has always been fascinating to in which “ruined fragments of past me that an art form that is so penetrating, make ephemeral appearances.” Both of that seems to be able to inhabit a place in - these reveal an interest in time, and in how side one, is made of such ephemeral stuff. things exist and are perceived within it. That is very much an engine of Time Ma - His Time Machines accordingly serves as a chines, the second piece Currier has written detailed study of various ramifications of for Anne-Sophie Mutter; it follows his After - time, and of how a large-scale, seven- song for violin and piano, which she pre - movement violin concerto can grow out of miered at the 1994 Schleswig-Holstein “such ephemeral stuff.” Music Festival. “It’s only a little bit of an ex - aggeration to say that music is made of Instrumentation: two flutes, two oboes, nothing but time,” Currier observes in con - two , two bassoons, four horns, two nection with this composition: , two , , sus - pended cymbals, triangle, tambourine, or - Clearly the form of a piece is how it unfolds chestra bells, two brake drums, hi-hat, in time…. The rest is air. A musician bows cowbell, whip, and strings, in addition to the a string, blows air in a cylinder, strikes a solo violin.

The Work at a Glance

Sebastian Currier offers these observations about Time Machines:

In the first movement, fragmented time, the solo violin holds to - gether diverse short, abrupt, and incongruous fragments drawn from later movements. In this way the movement is also about fu - ture time, as it allows for brief glimpses of material heard in the rest of the piece. In delay time, the second movement, with the ex - ception of three held chords, the entire fabric of orchestral textures is nothing but a reverberation, a resonance, of the violin’s lyrical line: not a note sounds that wasn’t first formulated in the violin be - fore its “delayed” representation is reflected in the orchestra. The violin seems to propel everything forward at a frenzied, fast pace in the third movement, compressed time, which ends as abruptly as it begins. In the fourth movement, overlapping time, passages of contrasting character, and rhythmic and metric structure constantly cross paths, so that as one passage gradu - ally fades into nothingness another is heard gradually coming into the foreground. Entropy, the principle that or - dered systems move toward greater disorder, and which defines the forward moving aspect of time, is the basis for the musical rhetoric in the fifth movement, entropic time. This movement begins with a sharply chiseled mo - tive presented in an orchestral unison. From this point on, this ordered presentation gives way to more chaotic elements, as the theme itself is gradually dissembled. In backwards time, the sixth movement, the flow of time is momentarily reversed. Both the musical rhetoric and aspects of instrumental acoustics run “backwards” while brief flashes of previous movements mysteriously float by. In this way, it forms a relation to the first move - ment: where at the beginning there are glimpses of future time, here there are now glimpses of time past. In har- monic time, the final movement, the violin presents a long cantabile line amidst a varied harmonic landscape.

June 2011 29 06-02 Gilbert:Layout 1 5/19/11 1:58 PM Page 30

Symphony No. 2 in C minor where he was representing Austria among a group of leading European organists, invited to perform on the newly constructed instru - ment at the Royal Albert Hall. His success in Anton Bruckner spent his first 44 years in the those concerts led to an immediate booking Austrian environs of Linz. Not until 1868 did for five organ concerts at London’s Crystal he move to the musical capital of Vienna, be - Palace and plans (never realized) for an ex - coming professor of harmony and counter - tended English tour the following year. point at the Vienna Conservatory (where he At first Bruckner labeled the C-minor Sym - also took on organ pupils), and finally flower - phony the Third; only after he withdrew “No. 0” ing into a dedicated composer of symphonies. did this work take its canonical place in the He had completed a “Study Sym phony” in F lineup. The composition occupied him for ex - minor and his Symphony No. 1 in C minor actly 11 months, after which the premiere while still living in Linz, but the artistic stimula - was tentatively scheduled in Vienna. At a tion of Vienna appears to have released the reading rehearsal in which Otto Dessoff con - vigorous flow of ensuing works: a D-minor ducted the , the piece Symphony that he later withdrew — it is occa - was judged to be too long, and the premiere sionally revived under the curious rubric was pushed back a year. Bruckner made nu - “Symphony No. 0” — in 1869 (and another merous changes and the rescheduled pre - Symphony, in B-flat major, that was similarly miere took place in October 1873 at a retracted later that year); Symphony No. 2 in concert of Vienna’s Gesellschaft der Musik - C minor in 1871 –72; Symphony No. 3 in D freunde, an event that was the closing con - minor in 1873; Symphony No. 4 in E-flat cert of the Vienna World Exhibition. These major in 1874; and Symphony No. 5 in B-flat were the first in a series of alterations that the major in 1875 –76. Apart from the “Study composer effected, a process that continued Symphony” and the “No. 0,” each of these when he returned to the piece in 1876 and would be considerably re - vised, with work on various In Short pieces often occupying

the composer at the same Born: September 4, 1824, in Ansfelden, Upper Austria time. The chron ology of Bruckner symphonies is Died: October 11, 1896, in Vienna accordingly hard to pin Work composed: October 11, 1871 –September 11, 1872; revised in 1873, down, but at least the first 1876, and 1877, with final emendations made in 1892, prior to publication versions of his Sympho - nies Nos. 2, 3, 4, and 5 World premiere: in its original version, on October 26, 1873, in Vienna, the composer the Vienna Philharmonic were produced during

an intense five-year period New York Philharmonic premiere: December 17, 1925, , of creativity. conductor Bruckner made his Most recent New York Philharmonic performance: November 1, 1971, first sketches for the , conductor Second Symphony in 1871 while in London, Estimated duration: ca. 57 minutes

30 New York Philharmonic 06-02 Gilbert:Layout 1 5/19/11 1:58 PM Page 31

again in 1877, after which he made still fur - In the Music Director’s Words ther emendations just before the symphony There are few composers whose music I could conduct was published in 1892. The difference be - every day for the rest of my life and be satisfied as a tween the 1872 original and the 1877 revi - musician, and Bruckner is one of them. He is a tradi - sion is momentous. The Finale of the 1872 tional symphonist, but what he does with the symphonic form is truly personal. There’s a kind of suspension of version, for example, runs 806 measures; in time in which all the elements that you expect from a 1877 Bruckner abridged it to 613, and it symphony are there, but they unfold at a pace that he makes a strikingly different impression. controls very exquisitely, and very deliberately. There is no question that he felt “pres - Bruckner’s music has no program: there’s some - thing utterly pure about it. It’s really not about any - sured” into some of these changes by well- thing: it’s hard to say what it is that he’s expressing. meaning colleagues, in this case principally It’s just music, but still it somehow goes straight to by the conductor Johann Herbeck. This has the heart. led to divergent opinions about which musi - — Alan Gilbert cal text best reflects the composer’s desires and intentions. It’s not a clear-cut issue — Bruckner may have adopted some changes The Edition: The study-score edition pre - happily, others less so . This performance em - pared by William Carragan and published in ploys the most up-to-date edition, which re - 2007 by the Austrian National Library in Vi - flects information in some sources that had enna in conjunction with the Musicological not been previously available. Publications of the International Bruckner Society, Vienna, represents a refinement of Instrumentation: two flutes, two oboes, two the previous Bruckner Society edition by clarinets, two bassoons, four horns, two trum - Leopold Novak (1965), and is effectively pets, three trombones, , and strings. based on Bruckner’s revision of 1877.

Views and Reviews

Bruckner’s symphonies did not normally score much success at their premieres, and in Vienna they usually re - ceived rough treatment indeed from Eduard Hanslick, the much-feared critic of the Neue Freie Presse . Hanslick was a champion of the music of Brahms (which is to say, what was considered the “classicized” strand of the symphony) and an opponent of the music of Wagner (by which Bruckner was considerably influenced). When the Second Symphony was premiered, however, the audience responded warmly and Hanslick uncharacter - istically decided not to rain on Bruckner’s parade — or at least to limit the precipitation to a drizzle. Two days after the premiere, he wrote in the Neue Freie Presse:

[It is] a composition laid out on the largest scale, which is no less to be denied a very serious, pathetic character as countless beautiful and im - portant details. Although the total impression is diminished by an insa - tiable rhetoric and a mosaic-like form that was far too broad and sometimes weakly fell apart, it still made a favorable impression on the public and its reception was really enthusiastic. For today we will make do with reporting this splendid outward success that should not be be - grudged the modest energetic composer.

Bruckner, ca. 1885

June 2011 31 06-02 Gilbert:Layout 1 5/19/11 1:58 PM Page 32

New York Philharmonic

2010 –2011 SEASON ALAN GILBERT, Music Director, The Yoko Nagae Ceschina Chair Daniel Boico, Assistant Conductor , Laureate Conductor, 1943–1990 Kurt Masur, Music Director Emeritus

VIOLINS Marilyn Dubow OBOES Glenn Dicterow The Sue and Eugene The Shirley and Jon Liang Wang Concertmaster Mercy, Jr. Chair Brodsky Foundation Chair Principal The Charles E. Culpeper Martin Eshelman Evangeline Benedetti The Alice Tully Chair Chair Quan Ge Sherry Sylar* Sheryl Staples The Gary W. Parr Chair Eric Bartlett Robert Botti Principal Associate Judith Ginsberg The Mr. and Mrs. James E. The Lizabeth and Frank Concertmaster Stephanie Jeong Buckman Chair Newman Chair The Elizabeth G. Beinecke Elizabeth Dyson Chair Hanna Lachert Maria Kitsopoulos ENGLISH HORN Michelle Kim Hyunju Lee Assistant Concertmaster Joo Young Oh Sumire Kudo Qiang Tu The Joan and Joel Smilow The William Petschek Daniel Reed Chair Family Chair Mark Schmoockler Ru-Pei Yeh Enrico Di Cecco The Credit Suisse Chair Na Sun in honor of Paul Calello CLARINETS Carol Webb Vladimir Tsypin Mark Nuccio Yoko Takebe Wei Yu Wilhelmina Smith++ Acting Principal Minyoung Chang+ VIOLAS The Edna and W. Van Alan Cynthia Phelps Clark Chair Hae-Young Ham BASSES Pascual Martinez The Mr. and Mrs. Timothy Principal Eugene Levinson M. George Chair The Mr. and Mrs. Frederick Forteza P. Rose Chair Principal Acting Associate Principal Lisa GiHae Kim The Redfield D. Beckwith Rebecca Young* The Honey M. Kurtz Family Kuan-Cheng Lu Chair Chair Irene Breslaw** Orin O’Brien Newton Mansfield The Norma and Lloyd Alucia Scalzo++ The Edward and Priscilla Acting Associate Principal Chazen Chair Pilcher Chair The Herbert M. Citrin Chair Amy Zoloto++ Kerry McDermott+ Dorian Rence William Blossom E-F LAT CLARINET Anna Rabinova Katherine Greene The Ludmila S. and Carl B. Pascual Martinez Charles Rex The Mr. and Mrs. William J. Hess Chair The Shirley Bacot Shamel McDonough Chair Randall Butler Forteza Chair Dawn Hannay David J. Grossman Fiona Simon Vivek Kamath Satoshi Okamoto Sharon Yamada Peter Kenote Amy Zoloto++ Elizabeth Zeltser Kenneth Mirkin FLUTES The William and Elfriede Judith Nelson BASSOONS Ulrich Chair Robert Langevin Robert Rinehart Principal Judith LeClair Yulia Ziskel The Mr. and Mrs. G. Chris The Lila Acheson Wallace Principal Andersen Chair Chair The Pels Family Chair Marc Ginsberg Kim Laskowski* Principal Sandra Church* Lisa Kim* Mindy Kaufman Roger Nye In Memory of Laura Mitchell Carter Brey Arlen Fast Soohyun Kwon Principal PICCOLO The Joan and Joel I. Picket The Fan Fox and Leslie R. Mindy Kaufman Chair Samuels Chair Arlen Fast Duoming Ba Eileen Moon* The Paul and Diane Guenther Chair

32 New York Philharmonic 06-02 Gilbert:Layout 1 5/19/11 1:58 PM Page 33

HORNS PERCUSSION STAGE REPRESENTATIVE Philip Myers Christopher S. Lamb Louis J. Patalano Principal Principal The Ruth F. and Alan J. Broder Chair The Constance R. Hoguet Friends of AUDIO DIRECTOR Stewart Rose++* the Philharmonic Chair Lawrence Rock Acting Associate Principal Daniel Druckman* Cara Kizer Aneff** The Mr. and Mrs. Ronald J. Ulrich * Associate Principal R. Allen Spanjer Chair ** Assistant Principal Erik Ralske+ Kyle Zerna + On Leave Howard Wall ++ Replacement/Extra David Smith++ HARP Nancy Allen Principal TRUMPETS The New York Philharmonic uses The Mr. and Mrs. William T. Knight III the revolving seating method for Philip Smith Chair Principal section string players who are The Paula Levin Chair listed alpha betically in the roster. KEYBOARD Matthew Muckey* In Memory of Ethan Bensdorf HONORARY MEMBERS OF THE Thomas V. Smith HARPSICHORD SOCIETY Lionel Party Emanuel Ax TROMBONES Joseph Alessi PIANO Stanley Drucker Principal The Karen and Richard S. LeFrak The Gurnee F. and Marjorie L. Hart Chair Chair Harriet Wingreen Amanda Davidson* Carlos Moseley Jonathan Feldman David Finlayson The Donna and Benjamin M. Rosen Chair ORGAN Kent Tritle BASS James Markey LIBRARIANS The Daria L. and William C. Foster Lawrence Tarlow Chair Principal Sandra Pearson** Sara Griffin** Alan Baer Principal ORCHESTRA PERSONNEL MANAGER TIMPANI Carl R. Schiebler Markus Rhoten Principal The Carlos Moseley Chair Kyle Zerna **

June 2011 33 06-02 Gilbert:Layout 1 5/19/11 1:58 PM Page 34

The Artists

EUROPE / WINTER 2010 tour in February 2010. Also in the 2009–10 season he con - ducted world, U.S., and New York premieres, as well as an acclaimed staged presentation of Ligeti’s opera, Le Grand Macabre . In January 2011 Alan Gilbert was named Director of Conducting and Orchestral Studies at The , a position that will begin in fall 2011. This adds to his responsibilities as the first holder of Juilliard’s Chair in Musical Studies, establishing Mr. Gilbert as the principal teacher for all conducting majors at the school. He is also conductor laureate of the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Music Director Alan Gilbert , The Yoko Nagae Orchestra and principal guest conductor of Ceschina Chair, began his tenure at the New Hamburg’s NDR Symphony Orchestra . He has York Philharmonic in September 2009. The conducted other leading in the U.S. first native New Yorker to hold the post , he and abroad, including the Boston, Chicago, ushered in what called and San Francisco symphony orchestras; Los “an adventurous new era” at the Philharmonic. Angeles Philharmonic; Cleveland and Philadel - In his inaugural season he introduced a num - phia Orchestras; and the Berlin Philharmonic, ber of new initiatives: the positions of The Munich’s Bavarian Radio Symphony Orches - Marie-Josée Kravis Composer-in-Residence, tra, and Amsterdam’s Royal Concertgebouw held by ; The Mary and Orchestra . From 2003 to 2006 he served as James G. Wallach Artist-in-Residence , held in the first music director of the . 2010–11 by violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter; an Alan Gilbert studied at , annual three-week festival , which in 2010–11 The Curtis Institute of Music, and The Juilliard is titled Hungarian Echoes, led by Esa-Pekka School. From 1995 to 1997 he was the as - Salonen; and CONTACT! , the New York Phil - sistant conductor of The . harmonic’s new-music series . In the 2010–11 In November 2008 he made his Metropolitan season Mr. Gilbert is leading the Orchestra on Opera debut con ducting ’s Doctor two tours of European music capitals; two Atomic. His recording of Prokofiev’s Scythian performances at , including the Suite with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra venue’s 120th Anniversary Concert; and a was nominated for a 2008 Grammy Award, and staged presentation of Jan áˇcek’s The Cunning his recording of Mahler’s Symphony No. 9 re - Little Vixen . Highlights of his inaug ural sea - ceived top honors from the Chicago Tribune son included a major tour of Asia in October and Gramophone magazine. On May 15, 2010, 2009, with debuts in Hanoi and Abu Dhabi, Mr. Gilbert received an Honorary Doctor of and performances in nine cities on the Music degree from The Curtis Institute of Music.

34 New York Philharmonic 06-02 Gilbert:Layout 1 5/19/11 1:58 PM Page 35

and performed Dutilleux’s Sur le même ac - cord and Gubaidulina’s In tempus praesens with the Montreal Symphony Orchestra and Kent Nagano. A North American tour with vi - olist and cellist Lynn Harrell performing the Beethoven trios in San Fran - cisco, Vancouver, Costa Mesa, and Mexico City was followed by a solo recital of Brahms’s violin sonatas with her longtime recital partner, pianist Lambert Orkis, at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. Internationally, Ms. Mutter’s appearances this season include with the Kirov Orchestra Violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter joined the and , London Symphony Or - New York Philharmonic in the 2010–11 sea - chestra and Sir , and London Phil - son as The Mary and James G. Wallach harmonic and Kurt Masur. She toured Artist-in-Residence. In this role she performs Germany with Sir and the three concerts with the Orchestra; two cham - Berlin Philharmonic, and is slated for an ex - ber concerts; and a recital. These programs tensive recital tour throughout Asia. In Octo - reflect a mix of eras, offering established violin ber 2010 her recording of the complete repertoire alongside new works. Brahms violin sonatas with Lambert Orkis Since her international debut at the Lucerne was released in the United States on the Festival in 1976 at the age of 13, Ms. Mutter label, adding to her has appeared in all the major concert halls of discography of more than 60 recordings. Europe, North and South America, and Asia. In 2010 Ms. Mutter was awarded the Doc - She has had new works composed for her tor Honoris Causa from the Norwegian Uni - by Sebastian Currier, , Sofia versity of Science and Technology in Trond heim. Gubaidulina, Witold Lutosławski, Norbert In 2009 she was granted the European St. Moret, , , Ulrich’s Prize and the Cristobal Gabaroon and . She also devotes her time Award; in 2008 she received the International to numerous charity projects and supports Ernst von Siemens Music Prize as well as the the development of young, exceptionally Leipzig Men delssohn Prize. She is a bearer talented musicians. of the Grand Order of Merit of the German In addition to her year-long residency with Federal Republic, French Order of the Legion the New York Philharmonic, in the 2010–11 of Honor, Bavarian Order of Merit, and Great season Ms. Mutter joined the Chicago Sym - Austrian Order of Merit. Anne-Sophie Mutter phony Orchestra for its inaugural Symphony has been named Musical America ’s 2011 Ball playing Beethoven’s Violin Concerto, Musician of the Year.

June 2011 35 06-02 Gilbert:Layout 1 5/19/11 1:58 PM Page 36

New York Philharmonic

The New York Philharmonic , founded in 1842 Tennstedt, (Music Advisor, 1969–70), by a group of local musicians led by American-born and . , is by far the oldest symphony Long a leader in American musical life, the Philhar - orchestra in the United States, and one of the monic has become renowned around the globe, and oldest in the world. It currently plays some 180 has appeared in 430 cities in 63 countries on five con - concerts a year, and on May 5, 2010, gave its tinents. In February 2008 the Orchestra, led by then- 15,000th concert — a milestone unmatched by any Music Director Lorin Maazel, gave a historic per formance other symphony orchestra in the world. in Pyongyang, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea — Music Director Alan Gilbert, The Yoko Nagae the first visit there by an American orchestra. In Octo - Ceschina Chair, began his tenure in September 2009, ber 2009 the Orchestra, conducted by Music Director the latest in a distinguished line of 20th-century Alan Gilbert, made its debut in Hanoi, Vietnam. The musical giants that has included Lorin Maazel Philharmonic subsequently received the 2008 Com - (2002–09); Kurt Masur (Music Director from 1991 mon Ground Award for Cultural Diplomacy for its his - to the summer of 2002; named Music Director toric performance in Pyongyang, and on November Emeritus in 2002); Zubin Mehta (1978–91); Pierre 16, 2010, received the Asia Society’s Cultural Am - Boulez (1971–77); and Leonard Bernstein, who was bassador Award for its concerts in Pyongyang and appointed Music Director in 1958 and given the Hanoi. Other historic tours have included the 1930 lifetime title of Laureate Conductor in 1969. Tour to Europe, with Toscanini; the first South Ameri - Since its inception the Orchestra has champi - can Tour, in 1951; the first Tour to the U.S.S.R., in 1959; oned the new music of its time, commissioning or the 1984 Asia Tour, including the first tour of India; the premiering many important works, such as Dv oˇrák’s 1998 Asia Tour with Kurt Masur, with the first per - Symphony No. 9, From the New World; Rachmani - formances in mainland China; and the 75th Anniver - noff’s Piano Concerto No. 3; Gershwin’s Piano sary European Tour, in 2005, with Lorin Maazel. Concerto in F; and Copland’s . The A media pioneer, the Philharmonic began radio Philharmonic has also given the U.S. premieres of such broadcasts in 1922 , and is currently represented by The works as Beethoven’s Symphonies Nos. 8 and 9 and New York Philharmonic This Week — syndicated na - Brahms’s Symphony No. 4. This pioneering tradition tionally 52 weeks per year, and available on nyphil.org. has continued to the present day, with works of major On television, in the 1950s and 1960s, the Philhar - contemporary composers regularly scheduled each monic inspired a generation through Bernstein’s Young season, including John Adams’s Pulitzer Prize– and People’s Concerts on CBS. Its television presence has Grammy Award–winning On the Transmigration of continued with annual appear ances on Live From Lin - Souls; Stephen Hartke’s Symphony No. 3; Augusta coln Center on PBS, and in 2003 it made history as the Read Thomas’s Gathering Paradise, Emily Dickinson first Orchestra ever to perform live on the Grammy Settings for Soprano and Orchestra; Esa-Pekka Awards, one of the most-watched television events Salonen’s Piano Concerto; Magnus Lindberg’s worldwide. In 2004 the Philharmonic became the first and Al Largo; and Christopher Rouse’s Odna Zhizn . major American orchestra to offer downloadable con - The roster of composers and conductors who certs, recorded live. The most recent initiative is Alan have led the Philharmonic includes such historic Gilbert and the New York Philharmonic: 2010–11 — figures as Theodore Thomas, Antonín Dv oˇrák, Gustav downloadable concerts, recorded live, available either Mahler (Music Director, 1909–11), , as a subscription or as 12 individual releases. Since , Willem Mengelberg (Music Director, 1917 the Philharmonic has made nearly 2,000 record - 1922–30), Wilhelm Furtwängler, ings, with more than 500 currently available. (Music Director, 1928–36), , Aaron On June 4, 2007, the New York Philharmonic Copland, (Music Advisor, 1947–49), proudly announced a new partnership with Credit (Music Director, 1949–58), Klaus Suisse, its first-ever and exclusive Global Sponsor.

36 New York Philharmonic 06-02 Gilbert:Layout 1 5/19/11 1:58 PM Page 37

Q & A: Peter Kenote, Viola

What made you decide to become a pro - fessional musician? I intended to pursue a teaching career, but joining the Philharmonic turned my head around 180 degrees. I was accepted on my first audition.

What is the best thing about being a musician? Having the honor and privilege of interpreting great works of art and working with the greatest conductors, composers, and performers.

Most memorable moments with the Orchestra: Playing Mahler with Bernstein, and working with Kubelík, Tennstedt, Milstein, and so many others E E L How do you keep your music-making S I

R fresh?

H When you subordinate yourself to the C wishes of the composer and find a way to per - The Facts: Born in Seattle, Washington. At - sonalize the music, it never goes stale. “The tended University of Washington; master’s and artist must be in his work like God in his Cre - doctorate degrees in music performance from ation, invisible and all-powerful, so that he is felt The Juilliard School. At the Philharmonic: everywhere but not seen” — Gustave Flaubert. Joined in 1983. What kinds of music do you listen to? Earliest musical memory: Listening to Lots of Bach, opera, and jazz recordings of The Cleveland Orchestra, and Are there other musicians in your hearing my grandmother play the organ in family? church. I began playing the violin at nine and My two younger daughters: soprano started the viola in college. I intended to be a Rebekah, and mezzo-soprano Ruth science/math major and tried the viola as a Are you working on any projects outside lark. I love the viola — the sound, the mellow - of the Philharmonic? I love ness. Switching was a difficult choice but I with composers. Last season I premiered a ended up loving it. viola concerto by Neal Harnly, commissioned Most inspiring composer: Bach. As Mahler by the South Dakota Symphony, conducted by Moto Per - said, “In Bach, all the seeds of music are Delta David Gier. I also premiered petuo, found, as the world is contained in God.” a work for viola and percussion quartet by Braxton Blake, at the University of Michigan Who were your most important musical in Ann Arbor. But my favorite projects are per - influences? My teachers Emanuel Zetlin for forming with my daughters. Recently, Rebekah violin, and Lillian Fuchs at Juilliard. Also, my sang Bach’s Cantata 51 on a Philharmonic longtime friend, mentor, and accompanist, Paul Ensembles Concert. I perform several programs Liljestrand a year with them.

June 2011 37 06-02 Gilbert:Layout 1 5/19/11 1:58 PM Page 38

Q & A: Alan Baer, Principal Tuba

How many do you have? Five. I use three at Avery Fisher Hall — small, medium, and large — and two at home for practice. I’m a con sultant to the Meinl Weston Corporation in Germany; I work with them in developing new tubas. I’m also a brass repairman, with a full shop in my house.

What is the most interesting aspect of the tuba? The tuba is the largest of the brass instruments, and has one of the largest usable ranges. It can wear many different hats in the orchestra, sometimes playing with the brass section, or adding to the string bass section for extra depth. I sometimes act as the fourth trom - bone, or even a fifth . The tuba is E

E very powerful and the conductor can use it like L

S

I a bulldozer to push or pull the orchestra in the R H

C direction he may want to go.

The Facts: Born in Erie, Pennsylvania. Studied Most memorable moments with the at Indiana University of Pennsylvania with Dr. Orchestra: The concerts we did on tour in Gary Bird. Completed bachelor of music degree Asia with Maazel and the excitement of those with Ronald Bishop at the Cleveland Institute of audiences; also, performing with the Philhar - Music, and did graduate work at the University monic Principal Brass of Southern California and Cleveland Institute. Most inspiring composer: Prokofiev. He Prior to the Philharmonic: Principal tuba, Mil - was one of the first composers, if not the first, waukee Symphony, Long Beach Symphony, and to use the tuba as a true “contrabass” instru - Louisiana Philharmonic orchestras. At the Phil - ment. His writing is so lyrical, and works won - harmonic: Joined June 2004. Teaches privately, derfully for the tuba. and at The Juilliard School, Manhattan School of Music, Rutgers University, and Bard College. What’s in your MP3 player right now? I like all styles of music and usually have my Earliest musical memory: As a kid I en - iPod set on shuffle. This gives me the opportu - joyed listening to Hansel and Gretel . I started nity to check it all out. guitar lessons and also tried the violin. In fifth grade I got to choose an instrument. I was Are there other musicians in your fam - always a big guy, and the tuba seemed more ily? My wife, Noreen, is a trombonist, and fitting than the violin. our daughter, Julia, is an aspiring violinist.

Who were your most important musical What do you like doing outside of work? influences? Tommy Johnson and Roger Bobo I like physical activity and working with my hands. for sound concept, Ron Bishop and Gary Bird I’m an avid motorcyclist and now a Jeep en - for musical ideas within the orchestral and solo thu siast. Our Vail residency gives me a chance literature to challenge the equipment on- and off-road.

38 New York Philharmonic