Concert Review: Music of (Easy) Conscience

The New York Philharmonic opens a three-week festival to end its season.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Conductor Jaap van Zweden leading the New York Philharmonic.
Photo by Chris Lee © 2019 The New York Philharmonic.

The New York Philharmonic is in the endgame of its spring 2019 season, the orchestra's first with Jaap van Zweden as its music director. That endgame is a three week festival dedicated to "music of conscience". This loose aggregation covers symphonies and a new opera by David Lang in the coming weeks, with the connection between works being the creation of music at times of great social and political storm and stress. On Tuesday night, Mr. van Zweden led the last concert of the first program of the festival pairing pieces by Beethoven and Shostakovich. Though these two men lived in very different times and political climates, each work had the benefit of being readily familiar to even the most conservative members of the audience.

Concert Review: A Very Unexpected Journey

Simone Young leads the New York Philharmonic in the Mahler Sixth.

by Paul J. Pelkonen

The Big Bang: Daniel Druckman swings the hammer at the climax of the Mahler Sixth.
Photo by Caitlin Ochs © 2019 The New York Philharmonic.

Nobody expected that this would be the week that Simone Young would make her long-awaited return to the New York Philharmonic. The Australian conductor, acclaimed for her work with the Hamburg Philharmonic, had not taken the podium at David Geffen Hall in twenty-one years. (However. she is on the schedule for next season, leading Elgar and Strauss.)  Ms. Young is no stranger to New York audiences, but most of her conducting engagements in this city have been at the Metropolitan Opera, and this is her first appearance with the orchestra since her debut in 1998.

The Heavy Hammer of Fate

At the New York Philharmonic, Jaap van Zweden is on the disabled list.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Members of the New York Philharmonic brace for impact as Daniel Druckman
(with hammer) delivers the death blow during the Mahler Sixth. Photo by Chris Lee.

With the force of a gigantic hammer, a serious blow hit landed on the New York Philharmonic this week. The orchestra is playing Mahler's Symphony No. 6 in three concerts this week. The Sixth is Mahler's most pessimistic symphony, climaxing in its fourth movement with a series of enormous blows delivered by a wooden hammer. However, this week Philharmonic music director Jaap van Zweden was the one to get the bad news.

Concert Review: The Weight on His Shoulders

Jaap van Zweden leads Brahms, Adams and Ives at the New York Philharmonic.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Man at work: Jaap van Zweden rallies the New York Philharmonic at David Geffen Hall.
Photo by Chris Lee © 2018 The New York Philharmonic

It's not easy to be music director of the New York Philharmonic.

America's longest-serving orchestra has a proud history of conductors and composers at its helm, legendary figures too numerous to list here. On Saturday night, Jaap van Zweden, who is in the homestretch of his first season at the helm of the Philharmonic, led the second of three programs that were firmly in the expectations that this city has of its music director. The concert was evenly split between twentieth century American music and the 19th century German repertory that is so beloved by the Philharmonic's more conservative subscribers. It was the sort of program that a Bernstein or Boulez might assemble, an adroit and canny mix of old and new sensibilities.

Concert Review: Don't Damn Me

Jaap van Zweden leads Brahms' Ein Deutsches Requiem.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Matthias Goerne (left) emotes as Jaap van Zweden (on podium) leads the New York Philharmonic.
Photo by Chris Lee © 2019 The New York Philharmonic.

For the last year and a half, New York classical music lovers have cautiously watched as Jaap van Zweden settles into the hotseat at the helm of the New York Philharmonic.  This week, Mr. van Zweden delved into choral music with an enthusiasm that reminds one of the Kurt Masur years. His choice: Brahms' Ein Deutsches Requiem, a masterpiece that is a stern test for any conductor no matter their age or experience.

Brahms wrote this work in the wake of personal tragedy, having lost his mother and later his mentor Robert Schumann. The work ignores the standard text of the Roman Catholic death mass in favor of a German text, assembled by the composer from the Lutheran Bible. Using a similar technique to Handel's Messiah, Brahms chose a contemplative approach that focuses more on the grief of the bereaved than the wrath of God and the begging of forgiveness.

From the first rising bars of the opening movement, Mr. van Zweden chose a steady, measured approach that paid increasing dividends as the work progresses. The steady pace showed his great control over both orchestra and choristers, and the sturdy, inevitable march toward the first serious choral forte recalled past choral glories at this hall. The Concert Chorale of New York responded with similar focus and discipline, allowing the conductor to sculpt smoothly rising arcs of sound in the air.

Musically, this work balances Brahms' chief influence Beethoven with a look back towards the choral tradition established in the age of Bach. The two musical styles were fused by Brahms into something new that he could call his own, thick, shifting pillars of orchestrating supporting arches of sound. This balance acquires weight and momentum with the slow crescendo of "Denn alles fleisch," the chorus that anchors the second movement. The chorus falls silent for a determined slow march that may have anticipated the third act of Wagner's Parsifal. Then the tempo increased and the brass burst forth in an explosion of sound, culminating in a triumphant climax.

The first solo is "Herr, lehre doch mich," sung by baritone Matthias Goerne. With his expressive voice and the control of a master of German art song, Mr. Goerne brought drama and mystery to Brahms' text. His involvement with the music being played was total, and he could even be seen mouthing words along with the chorus in moments where he is not required to sing.  He brought the same commitment to his two interpolations in the sixth movement, spinning lyric lines before giving way to the answering roar of the chorus and orchestra.

The fifth movement is the most controversial of this work, as it was added by Brahms to expand and embellish his original musical vision. Here, the soprano solo was sung by Ying Fang, the fast-rising Juilliard product who is having a spring of guaranteed career advancement. (She will sing Servilia in the Met's upcoming revival of La clemenza di Tito.) Ms. Fang offered up a soaring vocal line, carrying the text up to the heavens with a voice that has thickened, strengthened and matured.

Burnished brass and a soaring vocal line opened the optimistic finale, with Mr. van Zweden layering in sweet strings. The line was take up by the basses and tenors as the conductor was careful to preserve the antiphonal arrangement of the sections. The course of this movement worked upward, with the choristers following the orchestra on a steep climb toward the heavens. Descending string and woodwinds moved underneath the waves of choral sound, with the choristers delivering each line with the utmost clarity and intent. The work ended with one last great surge of singing, a prayer uplifted and that final, exquisite woodwind chorale.

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2019-20 Season Preview: Suffragette City

The New York Philharmonic celebrates the 19th Amendment with its new schedule.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

This season, conductor Jaap van Sweden and the New York Philharmonic board the Hogwarts Express.
Original images © Warner Brothers Entertainment and Philharmonic photographer Chris Lee. 

"The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex. Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation."

Last night the New York Philharmonic, in the person of President Deborah Borda and Music Director Jaap van Zweden unveiled its 2019-20 season, the second year to be forged from this new artistic partnership at Lincoln Center. The announcement was made (as with last year) in the sparkling Stanley H. Kaplan penthouse, in a relaxed, loungey atmosphere with strolling hors d'ouevres and a signature cocktail created for the occasion, the "Negentiende" ("Nineteenth" in Dutch, Mr. van Zweden's native tongue.

Concert Review: The Boss is Back

Jaap van Zweden returns to the New York Philharmonic.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

A storm of swords: Jaap van Zweden rallies the troops at the New York Philharmonic.
Photo by Chris Lee © 2019 The New York Philharmonic.

We are at the halfway point of the New York Philharmonic's first year with music director Jaap van Zweden on the podium. Friday's morning concert could be taken as a microcosm of what that year has been so far: a marriage of sophisticated players to a conductor steeped in the European podium tradition: solid craftsmanship and a conservative-leaning musical mentality that (the orchestra hopes) will keep the seats filled at David Geffen Hall.

Recording Review: The Complications of a Family Business

Jaap van Zweden leads Siegfried in Hong Kong.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

SImon O'Neill, shown here as Siegmund in Die Walküre, sings the title role of Siegfried in Jaap van Zweden's new Hong Kong recording of the opera. Photo © The Metropolitan Opera.

Richard Wagner intended Siegfriedto be a romp. Certainly, there is a fairy-tale quality to this recording, the third installment of Jaap van Zweden's Ring, recorded in Hong Kong in 2016 with that city's Philharmonic Orchestra and an international cast. But does it do enough to help the reputation of this, the least known and least-loved of the four operas that make up this massive mythological cycle?

Concert Review: A Journey Into Mystery

Matthias Goerne at the New York Philharmonic.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Baritone Matthias Goerne joined the New York Philharmonic for a set of Schubert and Strauss lieder.
Photo by Caroline de Bon.

For their last program before the annual dive into holiday season concerts (carols, brass concerts, Messiah, Renée Fleming)  Jaap van Zweden and the New York Philharmonic gave their audience something unique: a song cycle created from the work of two composers and featuring the voice of Matthais Goerne, the German lieder specialist who sings Wotan on Mr. van Zweden's new recording of Wagner's Ring.

Concert Review: Waking Up From History

Jaap van Zweden leads the Leningrad Symphony.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

City fire marshal Dmitri Shostakovich, Leningrad 1942.
Photographed by a Russian news agency during the siege.

The extraordinary history of the Second World War casts a long shadow on any art music written in Europe in the 1930s and '40s. This week, the New York Philharmonic paired two of these works in a program of extraordinary intensity under music director Jaap van Zweden: a program that seemed to ask the following. Can art music, created under the shadow of extraordinary political and human event, somehow manage to transcend its origins and remain relevant to the audiences of today?

Recordings Review: Everything Louder Than Everything Else

Jaap van Zweden releases the hounds (and more) with Die Walküre.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Stuart Skelton (left) and Heidi Melton, seen here in an English National Opera
production of Tristan und Isolde are the incestuous twins Siegmund and Sieglinde in the
new Hong Kong Philharmonic recording of Die Walküre. Photo by Catherine Ashmore © 2016 English National Opera.

The first thing you notice on the Hong Kong Philharmonic's recording of Die Walküre, released in 2016 as part of conductor Jaap van Zweden's recently completed cycle of Wagner's Ring operas, is the sheer volume. The orchestra is loud, mixed bright and forward in the crisp, clear concert acoustic. They thunder through the opening prelude with gusto, with the Wagner tubas (those hybrids between French horn and euphonium suggested, if not actually designed by the composer himself) leading the charge.

Recordings Review: A Castle in the Air

The Naxos Ring starts with Das Rheingold.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Ring leader: Jaap van Zweden at the helm of his Hong Kong forces.
Photo © 2018 Naxos Records/Hong Kong Philharmonic

There are, by this writer's count, at least thirty commercial versions of Wagner's epic Ring Cycle available to the consumer today. So what's the need for one more?

This new Ring, which was produced by Naxos Records in a series of live concerts by the Hong Kong Philharmonic marks the arrival of Jaap van Zweden as a major Wagnerian voice. The Dutch conductor is doing double duty in Hong Kong and New York as music director of both cities' respective Philharmonics, but is still building his international reputation. A complete Ring such as this (Götterdämmerung was released this month) is a major step toward music stardom and this recording of Das Rheingold, in glowing stereo sound with a bright and fresh dynamic range is a good start to the cycle.

Concert Review: Every Tuba Tells a Story

Jaap van Zweden conducts the Bruckner Eighth.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Conductor Jaap van Zweden shows off the latest in controversial baton grips.
Photo by Chris Lee © 2017 for the New York Philharmonic.

When a new music director takes the helm of a major symphony orchestra, there are certain works that will be tests of his mettle and ability. These works provide the scribes that scribble accounts of their performances some clues as to how the multi-year multi-million dollar relationship between maestro and ensemble will play out. New York's critics got some useful information on that front this week, as Jaap van Zweden led the New York Philharmonic in Anton Bruckner's Symphony No. 8 in C minor. This is a big one: a ninety-minute work that stands as that Austrian composer's final completed composition.

Concert Review: A New Hope

The Jaap van Zweden era begins at the New York Philharmonic.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Jaap van Zweden emerges, Orpheus-like.
Photo by Roger Neve © 2018 The New York Philharmonic.

Opening night at the New York Philharmonic is a yearly tradition an occasion for fat cat donors to dine on the Promenade of Lincoln Center's David Geffen Hall, and for ordinary critics (like your humble scribe) to put on suits and hobnob with each other before the performance. This year's ceremonies, held Thursday night, were also notable as it marked the long-awaited official debut of Jaap van Zweden, the orchestra's new music director.

2018-19 Season Preview: There Will Be (New) Blood

Jaap van Zweden and Deborah Borda take the reins at the Philharmonic.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Welcome to the jungle: Jaap van Zweden takes over at the Philharmonic.
Photo by Chris Lee © 2018 The New York Philharmonic.

The New York Philharmonic's upcoming season features a diverse slate that sees americas oldest orchestra dispensing with a few less popular initiatives while opening a few that will hopefully fill seats, and accelerating the orchestra’s transition from the Alan Gilbert era to the stewardship of its new music director, Jaap van Zweden.

The Bernstein Legacy IV: Mahler's Symphony No. 4

Superconductor probes Mahler's dark meditation on childhood.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Boy treble Helmut Wittek, the cover art for Mahler's Fourth by Erte
and a German copperplate portrait of "Freund Hein." Triptych assembled by the author.

The Symphony No. 4 is at once, one of the most popular and most misunderstood of Mahler's  works. Janus-like, it stands at the end of his Wunderhorn period while looking forward to the trilogy of instrumental symphonies that follow it. This symphony sprang to life from its fourth movement, a song-setting originally conceived as the seventh movement of the already massive Third. Mahler wrote that movement first and then created the three that precede it. On this recording, made by Leonard Bernstein with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra in 1987, the symphony's subject matter is squarely to the fore: an attempt to reconcile the innocence of childhood with the inevitability of death.

Recordings Review: When the White Gloves Come Off

Jaap van Zweden and the New York Philharmonic play Beethoven.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

You like me: Jaap van Zweden and the New York Philharmonic.
Photo by Chris Lee © 2017 The New York Philharmonic.

The relationship between a conductor and an orchestra, particularly one where said conductor is signing a contract to become that ensemble's music director is a difficult thing to track. Public relations departments become surrounded by walls of silence. Questions from the media are deflected or restricted to carefully managed press conferences. With all that secrecy, one must rely on live performances and recorded documentation to assess such a relationship.

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: Oceans of Love and Time

Jaap van Zweden pairs Dark Waves with Wagner.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Jaap van Zweden in orchestral ecstasy.
Photo by Chris Lee © 2018 The New York Philharmonic.

When Jaap van Zweden was announced as the new music director of the Philharmonic, he was seen by pundits and punters alike as a firm, conservative voice designed to return America's oldest orchestra to its role as guardian of the standard European repertory of the 19th and 20th centuries. This week, he confirms that hope with a performance of Act I of Wagner's Die Walküre. However, the program opens with the New York premiere of Dark Waves, a masterful 2007 composition from Pulitzer Prize-winning composer John Luther Adams.

An Anthem of the Mind

Reflections on the National Anthem and the Trump presidency.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Three Flags by Jasper Johns from 1958.
Collection of the Whitney Museum of American Art.

In the last 24 hours of the never-ending cycle of news, tweets and sloganeering that has come to characterize American politics since the elevation of one Donald John Trump to the highest office in the land, another firestorm has erupted. The subject: Mr. Trump's decision last night to attack currently unemployed NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick for his protest gesture of taking a knee during the playing of the National Anthem at NFL games.