Concert Review: The Old, Old Story

Joshua Gersen steps in at the New York Philharmonic.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Tchaikovsky on his deathbed, 1893. Image from Wikimedia Commons.

The New York Philharmonic's three-week Tchaikovsky festival Beloved Friend hit an iceberg on Thursday, when a stomach flu felled curator and conductor Semyon Bychkov, whose idiosyncratic interpretations of this well-worn composer have breathed new life into the current season. His replacement was Joshua Gersen, the orchestra's assistant conductor, in his subscription debut.