Concert Review: The Keys to the Cipher

The New York Philharmonic plays Brahms and Prokofiev.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Working the keys: Yuja Wang (left) and Jaap van Zweden play Brahms.
Photo by Chris Lee © 2018 The New York Philharmonic.

The New York Philharmonic just went on tour. However, before he orchestra caught a Saturday flight to Japan last week, they played four evening concerts under its new music director Jaap van Zweden. The program, heard Friday night, eschewed the usual tripartite musical evening for a pairing of heavyweight favorites: the D minor Piano Concerto by Johannes Brahms, and the Fifth Symphony of Serge Prokofiev.

Concert Review: Everything is Awesome!

The St. Petersburg Philharmonic plays Shostakovich.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Yuri Temirkanov has led the St. Petersburg Symphony Orchestra since 1988.
Photo courtesy Medici.tv.

In 1988, Yuri Temirkanov became music director of what was then the Leningrad Philharmonic Orchestra. Russia was then the Soviet Union, under the leadership of Andrei Gromyko. Perestroika and Glasnost were just around the corner. On Saturday night, Mr. Temirkanov and his orchestra returned to Carnegie Hall, offering a devoted audience a meat and potatoes program of Brahms and Shostakovich, with the latter's Fifth Symphony among his most popular and politically motivated creations.

Concert Review: Diamonds on Velvet

Rudolf Buchbinder joins the Vienna Philharmonic.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Rudolf Buchbinder played Brahms' Piano Concerto No. 1 at Carnegie Hall on Friday night.
Photo by Marco Borggreve.

In The Holcroft Covenant, a thoroughly mediocre 1980s film version of a Robert Ludlum novel, there is an apt description of everyday concert programming. In this Michael Caine vehicle, the main characters attend a rehearsal at the Philharmonie, the home building of the Berlin Philharmonic. They are invited to the concert that evening by the conductor:

Concert Review: Between East and West Lies the North

Susanna Mälkki debuts with the New York Philharmonic. 
by Paul J. Pelkonen

The Finnish conductor Susanna Mälkki made her Philharmonic debut this week.
Photography by Markku Niskanen © 2009 Ensemble Intercontemperain

As the New York Philharmonic prepares to end its 2014-15 season, America's oldest orchestra is sailing through uncertain waters. The orchestra is planning to vacate its premises for two years later this decade for necessary and total renovations to Avery Fisher Hall. They have finally elected a concertmaster to replace Glen Dicterow. Things became turbulent earlier this year when music director Alan Gilbert announced that he would step down.