Concert Review: Sssh, They'll Hear You

Composer Matthias Pintscher conducts the New York Philharmonic

by Paul J. Pelkonen

The composer Matthias Pinscher did podium duty this week at the New York Philharmonic.
Photo from MatthiasPintscher.com

In the new era of administration at the New York Philharmonic, it is as yet unclear what priority is really being placed on the performance of new and contemporary classical music. However, modernity was a priority at last week's concerts, which saw the orchestra welcome composer Matthias Pintscher to the podium of David Geffen Hall. Mr. Pintscher has conducted these forces a few times in the past decade, leading concerts in the grand 360˚ experiment of 2012,  the first NY Phil Biennial and a memorable Das Lied von der Erde in the hectic week following Hurricane Sandy. However, these performances were his first regular subscription concerts.

The Superconductor Interview: Matthias Pintscher

We sit down with the composer to discuss the NY PHIL BIENNIAL.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Composer Matthias Pintscher.
Photo by Jean Radel © 2011 matthiaspintscher.com

The Austrian composer-conductor Matthias Pintscher is one of the most important voices in the contemporary music scene. And thanks to his close association with the New York Philharmonic and his working relationship with music director Alan Gilbert, he has been a driving force behind the NY PHIL BIENNIAL, the 11-day new music event that has swept through Manhattan this month in a tidal wave of sonic innovation.

Concert Review: Playing at Statues

The New York Philharmonic makes CONTACT! at MoMA.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

The Mario Merz sculpture Ziffer im Wald inspired a work on this week's CONTACT! 
program at the 2014 NY PHIL BIENNIAL. Photo from salzburg.gv.at.

In the Alan Gilbert era at the New York Philharmonic, the CONTACT! series has provided a playground for musicians and enthusiasts of modern music alike to hear avant-garde compositions n a more intimate venue than the vast cavern of Avery Fisher Hall. On Thursday night, composer/conductor Matthias Pintscher led members of the orchestra in Beyond Recall, a late-night new music marathon at the Museum of Modern Art. This was the first of three CONTACT! concerts in the orchestra's ongoing NY PHIL BIENNIAL.

Concert Review: The High Ground

Emanuel Ax and Mahler at the White Light Festival.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Emanuel Ax played at this year's White Light Festival.

On Sunday afternoon, as their city staggered along its path to recovery from Hurricane Sandy, New Yorkers gathered at Lincoln Center's Rose Theater to hear an unusual hybrid of solo recital and concert featuring New York Philharmonic Artist-in-Residence Emanuel Ax and members of that same orchestra in a program billed as Song of the Earth.

The concert (part of this year's White Light Festival)  featured that penultimate work by Gustav Mahler was present , in its currently en vogue chamber arrangement by Schoenberg. This concert was really about establishing connections by placing music in proximity: the Mahler piece was preceded by piano works by Schoenberg and before that, Johann Sebastian Bach.

The Bach work was the E♭ minor Prelude and Fugue (No. 8) from Book I of the Well-Tempered Clavier. Mr. Ax has only started playing Bach in public this year, and still uses the sheet music. Nevertheless, the slow, ascending steps of the Prelude led to a climax, followed by the descending, spiraling figures of this complex, fascinating fugue. As always with this artist, there was a beauty of tone and clarity of expression which held the attention rapt in the darkened theater.