Obituary: Kurt Masur 1927-2015

The German conductor led the New York Philharmonic for 11 years.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Kurt Masur at the helm of the New York Philharmonic.
Photo by Chris Lee © 2015 The New York Philharmonic.

Kurt Masur, who led the New York Philharmonic as music director from 1991 to 2002 died earlier today in Greenwich CT. The cause of death was reported in the New York Times as "complications from Parkinson's disease."  The maestro was 88. Performances in later life were affected by a notable tremor in his hands. His passing follows a hospitalization after he fell off a podium while conducting the Orchestre National de France.

Concert Review: The Lion's Return

Kurt Masur conducts Brahms.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

The conductor Kurt Masur.

On Saturday night, Avery Fisher Hall was packed to the rafters to hear the New York Philharmonic kick off the third concert in its season-long celebration of Brahms. More importantly, this concert marked the New York return of former Music Director Kurt Masur, still tall and aristocratic but now visibly frail beneath his trademark Chinese silk conductor's jacket.

After years of visible hand tremors (that somehow never interfered with his conducting) a fall last season in Paris and several cancellations, Mr. Masur finally admitted to having Parkinson's Disease this year. It has now accelerated. The conductor now prefers a specially designed podium, equipped with metal rails he can grip, to control the tremors while he conducts.

In his walk to the podium, Mr. Masur stumbled forward. The audience drew a sharp, collective breath. However, the conductor was all right--he recovered his balance and took his place in front of the orchestra. Adjusting himself for a line of sight with the soloists (violinist Glenn Dicterow and cellist Alicia Weilerstein) and concertmaster Sheryl Staples, he gave the first downbeat of the Double Concerto, Brahms' last orchestral work.

Concert Review: Full Silken Jacket

No tuxedos for Kurt Masur, just Schubert and Shostakovich.

Busted: Kurt Masur, 2009.
Sculpture by Bertrand Friesleben.
Photo from Wikimedia Commons.

Former New York Philharmonic Music Director Kurt Masur returned to  the podium of Avery Fisher Hall this week. Mr. Masur is now 84. And he still doesn't use a baton. But he remains a thinking man's conductor, a compelling music maker of the old school who does not let his age or medical conditions affect the beauty of his performance.

On Friday night, the maestro looked pale, frail-looking, and his left hand trembled uncontrollably. However, he delivered a compelling performance of a compelling program, music that sounded comfortable as the tangzhuang jacket he wore instead of white tie.

The concert opened with a thoroughly Romantic reading of Schubert's 8th, the most famous torso in the orchestral repertory. These two movements were played at a broad pace, giving the orchestra's players room to luxuriate in Schubert's phrases. But the horns had trouble early, creating unattractive tones in the first movement's signature theme. The cellos, integral to the rhythmic makeup of this symphony, played superbly. 

Mr. Masur's second piece was Dmitri Shostakovich's Thirteenth Symphony, a choral symphony also known as Babi Yar. The orchestra was joined by baritone Sergei Leiferkus and the New York Choral Artists, the same team that recorded this symphony in 1994. The most political of Shostakovich's fifteen symphonies, Babi Yar is a setting five uncompromising poems from the acid pen of  Yevgeny Yevtushenko.

The poems and their symphony are products of the "cultural thaw" that took place in Russia under Khrushchev. But even the "thaw" froze on the Thirteenth, which was banned in Russia in 1963 after only a handful of performances. The music is tough and uncompromising with snarling brass, complex percussion and slamming chords dominating the titular first poem, a reflection on the Nazi massacre of over 33,771 Jews outside Kiev on Sept. 29-30 1941.

The poems were sung by Sergei Lefeirkus, a Russian baritone with a long history of playing villains onstage. He was grim and dark of tone in the opening movement, singing with passion, pleading the case that as the "true Russian" is he who attacks and condemns the anti-Semite. With its frightening descriptions of pogroms and figures like Anne Frank, this movement is hard going. Mr. Masur brought out the stark, black-and-white quality in Shostakovich's writing, helped by superb brass and percussion work from his old orchestra.

Mr. Lefeirkus did his best to inject a light note into the jaunty second poem Humor, with its brassy, Mahlerian march figure. The setting also recalls the nose-thumbing of Strauss' Till Eulenspiegel, although the Russian phrase "юмор показывал кукиш!" translates to something other than what appeared in the super-titles. Mr. Leiferkus returned to seriousness for the slow In the Store, accompanied movingly by Mr. Masur.

Fears is the toughest movement of this symphony, opening with a long 11-note tuba solo that recalls Wagner's dragon from Siegfried. Alan Baer played that difficult solo with superb breath control, laying groundwork for the dark movement that followed. Mr. Masur cast a familiar spell over his old orchestra, weaving his fingers in complex patterns, lifting an elbow, shifting a shoulder and drawing out Shostakovich's complex tonalities and instrumental textures.

Mr. Lefeirkus lightened up for the final A Career, a sarcastic meditation on the wisdom of speaking out against visionaries like Galileo, Newton and Tolstoy. His interaction at that point with the men of the New York Choral Artists ("Lev?" "Lev!") was a high point. As the symphony came to an end, Shostakovich brought back the "Humor" theme (as a chilly solo for bass clarinet) and the final "Babi Yar" motive, played very softly, with chamber-like textures by the principal strings and wind.

Concert Review: Two Paths, Two Rivals, Two Conductors

Kurt Masur Conducts the New York Philharmonic

Kurt Masur. Photo by Chris Lee © 2009 New York Philharmonic

When Kurt Masur comes back to the New York Philharmonic, it's always a big deal. The German conductor steered the orchestra through eleven acclaimed seasons from 1991 to 2002, expanding the repertory, breaking new musical ground, and honing the orchestra's sound in a successful term as music director.

This week's program featured two composers that are at the heart of Mr. Masur's repertory: Johannes Brahms and Franz Liszt. In 19th century Europe, Brahms and Liszt occupied seperate musical "camps". Brahms was pigeon-holed as the arch-conservative, steeped in the tradition of Beethoven. Liszt: the wild Romantic who created new musical forms and gave barn-storming, piano-breaking performances that caused extreme behavior in his doting fans.

Mr. Masur chose to bridge this gap with Two Paths, a double concerto for violas and orchestra by Sofia Gubudalaina, which was originally comimssioned by the conductor's wife, Tomoko Masur. Philharmonic principal violists Cynthia Phelps and Rebecca Young (the soloists at the work's 1999 premiere) were scheduled to play. But an eye infection has made Mr. Masur unable to read sheet music this week. Assistant conductor Daniel Boico stepped in.

Two Paths, inspired by the New Testament figures of Mary and Martha, is a set of seven variations. Mr. Boico juxtaposed jarring brass chords and unusual percussion with otherworldly orchestral textures. Ms. Phelps and Ms. Young played their slow dance of entwining violas, one soaring up the scale to represent the faith of Mary, the other spiralling downward as the more pragmatic Martha.

For the Liszt and Brahms works, Mr. Masur relied on a prodigious memory and six decades of podium experience. The concert opened with an elegaic performance of Les Preludes, the third, (and most frequently played) of Liszt's tone poems. Its pretentious subject matter (don't ask) stands in contrast to its compelling orchestral writing and elemental tone-painting. Mr. Masur skipped the program and focused on pure music, panning gold from Liszt's rushing rivers of sound.

Kurt Masur presented Brahms' First Symphony as the work of a secret progressive, demonstrating how Brahms used the conventional four-movement framework of the instrumental symphony to explore new textures and fresh ideas of rhythm and phrasing. From the steady rhythm of the introduction to  the finale (which quotes Beethoven's Ode to Joy), Mr. Masur led the symphony as a cohesive whole, giving cohesion to Brahms' big orchestral gestures.

The last two movements were played without a break, creating a momentum that drove the whole work home in true Romantic style. The connection between conductor and band may have been stormy, but this performance showed that, a decade later, it is still as strong as ever.

The New York Philharmonic 2011-2012 Season Preview

Alan Gilbert is starting his third season at the helm of the New York Philharmonic.
Photo by Chris Lee, © 2010 The New York Philharmonic

The oldest professional orchestra in the United States (founded in 1842) returns for the 2011-2012 their, third under the baton of music director Alan Gilbert. Mr. Gilbert's leadership has seen the orchestra break new, exciting ground in the last two seasons. While the planned schedule lacks the operatic flair of Le Grand Macabre or this year's Hungarian Echoes festival, this should still be an exciting season at Avery Fisher Hall.

Here are, as well as we can determine it, the themes of the season:

Mahler Milestones
The Philharmonic continues celebrating the 150th birthday and 100th anniversary of the death of Gustav Mahler, the composer, symphonist and conductor. Mahler served as the Philharmonic's music director from 1909-1911, and the Philharmonic has been at the forefront of internatonal orchestras celebrating his work. Performances of the 1st, 2nd, 9th and 10th are scheduled for next year, with conductors including Mr. Gilbert, Daniel Harding and Jaap van Zweden.

The Return of the Three M's
Zubin Mehta, Kurt Masur, and Lorin Maazel, (who happen to be the three music directors who preceded Mr. Gilbert at the Philharmonic) are all conducting at Avery Fisher Hall next season. Mr. Mehta will conduct Bruckner's Eighth Symphony in January. Mr. Masur will lead a program featuring Shostakovich's "Babi Yar" symphony. And Mr. Maazel is offering Mozart and Debussy, one week, followed by the Strauss showpiece Ein Alpensinfonie the next. The latter piece required 150 musicians, including a full complement of horn players offstage.

Conductor David Zinman leads a program of Beethoven paired with modern music.
© DavidZinman.Org

The Modern Beethoven
David Zinman offers the start of a Beethoven cycle (well, six symphonies, anyway) in this three-week festival. Here's the catch: Each pair of Beethoven symphonies is programmed alongside 20th century music by Stravinsky, Samuel Barber, and Karl Amadeus Hartmann. Sadly, there's no Ninth planned for this year. Bernard Haitink makes an appearance leading the Sixth. And in June, Alan Gilbert offers Beethoven overtures in June, alongside works by Korngold and Carl Nielsen.

New Season, New Music
Alan Gilbert continues his initiative of offering New Yorkers the very best in contemporary music alongside traditional servings of Tchaikovsky, Brahms and Dvorak. This year, the Philharmonic offers the New York premieres of new music by John Corigliano and composer-in-residence Magnus Lindberg. The season ends with a "spatial" performance of Karlheinz Stockhausen's Gruppen, a difficult work which requires three separate orchestras, playing simultaneously in different parts of the hall.

Kurt Masur Suffers Eye Infection: Will Still Conduct

Kurt Masur. Photo by Chris Lee  2009 The New York Philharmonic.

The return of Kurt Masur to the podium of Avery Fisher Hall is always something to look forward to each season at the New York Philharmonic. But this week, the onset of an eye infection has caused a slight change in the conducting arrangements for this week's concert.


In a press release, the New York Philharmonic explained that, due to his condition, the 83-year old German conductor cannot, at present, sight-read the score of Ms Gubudilina's composition. Philharmonic assistant conductor Daniel Boico will step in and conduct the work at this week's concerts.

Premiered in 1999, Two Paths is a work for two solo violas and orchestra. It was originally commissioned by the composer's wife, Tomoko Masur. The piece features Philharmonic principal violists Cynthia Phelps and Rebecca Young.

Despite this setback, Mr. Masur will be able to conduct the remainder of the program, which includes the Franz Liszt tone poem Les Préludes and the First Symphony by Johannes Brahms. Mr. Masur has those pieces committed to memory, and will not need the sheet music.

The concerts are scheduled for Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday at Avery Fisher Hall. An additional concert is planned for Friday night at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center's Prudential Hall, in Newark, New Jersey.

Ten Super Conductors

The Top Ten Maestros I've Seen

Claudio Abbado at work.

Hi folks. I finally got to hear Gustavo Dudamel conduct this weekend. So I thought I'd take this opportunity to put up my top ten list of great conductors that I've seen lead an orchestra or an opera.

I'll try to add what I've seen them conduct, as I can best remember it. In a few cases, there are just too many performances, so I've picked a notable one. Oh and the order is completely arbitrary as I thought of them for the list.


1) Claudio Abbado: Berlin Philharmonic, Mahler Symphony No. 3; Bruckner Symphony No. 9

2) Giuseppe Sinopoli: Dresden Staatskapelle. Tone poems and opera excerpts by Richard Strauss. Sinopoli is one of my favorite, underrated composers. He died in 2001, collapsing in the pit while conducting Act III of Aida in Berlin.

3) Daniel Barenboim: Metropolitan Opera Orchestra. Tristan und Isolde; Mahler 5 and 7 with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.

4) Pierre Boulez: Ravel's L'enfant et les Sortileges with the Cleveland Orchestra and Suzanne Mentzer.

5) Riccardo Chailly: Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra: Mahler Symphony No. 7

6) James Levine: Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, Boston Symphony Orchestra. More performances that I can count at the Met, but all of the Wagner operas, especially Parsifal and Lohengrin.

7) Bernard Haitink: Mahler Symphony No. 9 with the Boston Symphony Orchestra. At Symphony Hall when I lived in Boston, probably in 1996.

8) Sir Colin Davis: Program of English music with the New York Philharmonic featuring works by Vaughan Williams (the Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis) Michael Tippett and Edward Elgar.

9) Kurt Masur: Many performances with the New York Philharmonic. Pressed to pick one: The St. Matthew Passion or Debussy's La Mer. And he led a superb Bruckner Seventh last season.

10) Riccardo Muti:"The Pines of Rome" with the New York Philharmonic. Simply devastating.

The Next Ten: Alan Gilbert, Christian Thielemann, William Christie, Zdenek Macal, Valery Gergiev. Seiji Ozawa, John Eliot Gardiner, Christoph von Dohnanyi, Gustavo Dudamel and Sir Simon Rattle.

Concert Review: Kurt Masur and the Philharmonic Look Back

Kurt Masur

Kurt Masur returned to the New York Philharmonic this week. His return was marked with a boisterous performance of Beethoven's First Symphony, paired with an expansive reading of the mighty Seventh by Anton Bruckner, the symphony which began his 11-year tenure as Music Director in 1989. Despite a visible tremor in his hands, the maestro (who turns 83 this July) showed that his rapport with the orchestra is still strong and his touch on the podium as skilful as ever.

The concert opened with Beethoven's First Symphony. Mr. Masur's performance disputes the notion that this is a "light" Beethoven work. Yes, it's shorter than the Eroica or the heaven-storming Ninth, but the First shows the light of what is to come from Beethoven's pen. The slow movement demonstrates Beethoven's mastery of the fugue, with the theme tossed back and forth between the four string sections to thrilling effect. Under Mr. Masur's baton, the Mozartean finale resonated with warmth and good humor.



Mr. Masur led a tour of the magnificent architecture of Bruckner's Seventh Symphony, guided by the heroic playing of the Philharmonic's brass section. He made sense of the structure of these mammoth movements, building huge arches out of the blocks of sound, taking the first movement all the way to its thrilling coda, a cascading chorale of brass and strings. Given the acoustic limitations of Avery Fisher Hall, and the difficulties of balancing a gigantic brass section (including four Wagner tubas) with the strings and winds, Mr. Masur's achievement is all the more remarkable.

The highlight of this hour-long symphony was the second movement. Written as a eulogy for Bruckner's friend and inspiration Richard Wagner, this is an Adagio that soars even as it mourns. The final passages, where the Wagner tubas come to the fore, was played with stirring force. Conducting without a score, Mr. Masur made the dance movement stomp and roar like a chained giant. The finale, with its noble theme and a return of the "cascading" brass from the first movement, brought the work to a thunderous, harmonious close.