Concert Review: Fifty Shades of Tonality

Spectral music comes to the New York Philharmonic.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Conductor of many colors: David Robertson.
Original image © Michael Tammaro, color alterations by the author.

The pursuit of the new by modern composers is invariably met with excitement from music people and dread from the ordinary concert-goer, who may prefer the traditional harmonies of Mozart and Beethoven to the experiments of Olivier Messiaen and (his pupil) Tristan Murail. The New York Philharmonic split the difference this week, as David Robertson conducted a performance of Mr. Murail's new piano concerto, (titled Le Désenchantement du monde) framed in the works of the other three, more familiar composers.