Haydn
Schubert
Ravel
Alan Gilbert and the
New York Philharmonic
2011–12 Season
Alan Gilbert and the New York Philharmonic
2011–12 Season
Alan Gilbert and the New York Philharmonic:
2011–12 Season — twelve live recordings
of performances conducted by the Music
Director, two of which feature guest conductors — reflects the passion and curiosity
that marks the Orchestra today. Alan Gilbert’s third season with the New York Philharmonic continues a voyage of exploration
of the new and unfamiliar while reveling in
the greatness of the past, in works that the
Music Director has combined to form telling
and intriguing programs.
Every performance reveals the chemistry
that has developed between Alan Gilbert
and the musicians, whom he has praised
for having “a unique ethic, a spirit of wanting to play at the highest level no matter
what the music is, and that trans­lates into
an ability to treat an incredible variety
of styles brilliantly.” He feels that audiences are aware of this, adding, “I have
noticed that at the end of performances
the ovations are often the loud­est when
the Philharmonic musicians stand for their
bow: this is both an acknowledgment of
the power and beauty with which they perform, and of their dedication and commitment — and their inspiration — throughout
the season.”
These high-quality recordings of almost
30 works, available internationally, reflect
Alan Gilbert’s approach to programming
which combines works as diverse as One
Sweet Morning — a song cycle by American master composer John Corigliano
exploring the nature of war on the tenth
anniversary of the events of 9/11 — with
cornerstones of the repertoire, such as
Dvořák’s lyrical yet brooding Seventh
Symphony. The bonus content includes
audio recordings of Alan Gilbert’s onstage
commentaries, program notes published in
each concert’s Playbill, and encores given
by today’s leading soloists.
For more information about the series,
visit nyphil.org/recordings.
New York Philharmonic
Alan Gilbert, Conductor
Anne Sophie von Otter, Mezzo-Soprano
Recorded live December 28–30, 2011
Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts
HAYDN (1732–1809)
Symphony No. 88 in G major (Hob. I:88) (1787)
19:47
Adagio — Allegro
6:34
Largo5:22
Menuetto (Allegretto) — Trio
4:17
Finale (Allegro con spirito)
3:34
SCHUBERT (1797–1828)
Six Orchestrated Songs 22:25
Die Forelle (The Trout), D.550 (1817; orch. Britten, date unknown)
Gretchen am Spinnrade (Gretchen at the Spinning Wheel), D.118 (1814; orch. Reger, 1915)
Im Abendrot (In Evening’s Glow), D.799 (1824–25; orch. Reger, ca.1914)
Gesang “An Silvia” (Song “To Sylvia”), D.891 (1826; orch. unknown)
Nacht und Träume (Night and Dreams), D.827 (1825?; orch. Reger, ca. 1914–15)
Erlkönig (Erl King), D.328 (1815; orch. Reger, date unknown)
2:27
4:08
4:11
2:53
4:34
4:12
(continued)
2
3
New York Philharmonic
Alan Gilbert on This Program
RAVEL (1875–1937)
Ma Mère l’oye (Mother Goose), Complete Ballet (1908–10; orch. 1911)
Prelude
Dance of the Spinning Wheel and Scene
Pavane of Sleeping Beauty; Interlude
Conversations of Beauty and the Beast; Interlude
Tom Thumb; Interlude
Laideronnette, Empress of the Pagodas; Interlude
Apotheosis. The Enchanted Garden
RAVEL
La Valse (1919–20)
27:44
7:11
2:20
4:51
4:56
8:26
12:48
4
This concert opens with Haydn’s Symphony No. 88, one of the most charming and
delightful works by one of my favorite composers. We continue with a set of Schubert
songs, which are arguably the greatest group in that genre of music for voice and piano,
so it is no surprise that people have wanted to find ways to bring that music to the orchestral concert world. The different approaches reflected in the orchestrations we are
performing remain true to Schubert, although each has a slightly different twist. The set
as a whole might fall into the category of how great art can retain its integrity despite a
variety of interpretations and rethinking.
The second half of the concert is all Ravel, and while people do love his music I think
there is a lack of appreciation for him. His brilliance as an orchestrator is understood,
and for good reason: the range of colors that he created by using the normal, standard
instruments in the orchestra is really staggering. The Mother Goose ballet is an absolutely
gorgeous piece written for a relatively small orchestra, and the way he brings these little
vignettes to life musically is uncanny, and often makes the audience feel that there must
be 200 musicians onstage, even if there might only be 40. In La Valse he creates a swirl
of sounds that really tells a story about the end of an era, with the image of a ballroom
that starts out as a dream but becomes more bizarre and unhealthy, until it literally falls
apart at the end — it echoes what the world was experiencing at the end of that gilded
age. But I have heard people say that Ravel is merely a craftsman and his music lacks
soul, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. There is deep feeling — sometimes an
overwhelming sense of loss, of searching. It is truly great music.
5
New York Philharmonic
6
7
Notes on the Program
By James M. Keller, Program Annotator
The Leni and Peter May Chair
Symphony No. 88 in G
major (Hob. I:88)
Joseph Haydn
In Short
Born: almost certainly March 31, 1732, since he was
baptized April 1, in Rohrau, Lower Austria
Died: May 31, 1809, in Vienna
Work composed: 1787
When Joseph Haydn was approached in
1784 with a commission to write a group
of symphonies for a concert series in Paris
for the Concerts de la Loge Olympique
(which held its performances in the guardroom of the Tuileries palace in Paris), he
was frankly astonished. It seems the
composer had not really noticed that, while
working diligently for a quarter of a century as a court musical director for the Esterházy princes in Austria and Hungary, he
had gradually grown famous in the world
outside. He could only marvel at the sum
the Parisian group proposed to him: 25
louis d’or for each of six symphonies, plus
another five for the right to publish them.
That was five times what they normally
paid for a symphony; in today’s currency,
25 louis d’or would translate to something
around $60,000. That a major concert
presenter in the heady cultural center of
Paris should approach Haydn on such
terms served as a reminder to him that
he had come up quite a bit in the world in
the 52 years since he had been born in
an Austrian village to a father who was a
wheelwright and a mother who worked as
a cook for the local count until she started
giving birth to her 12 children.
The income would have been welcome, of course, but surely Haydn was
additionally thrilled at the prospect of
writing symphonies for a large cosmopolitan orchestra. At the Esterházy court
World premiere: probably in 1787 at Esterháza,
Hungary, Haydn conducting
New York Philharmonic premiere: January 6, 1872,
Carl Bergmann, conductor
he could count on an orchestra of about
24 instrumentalists — the exact count
fluctuated a bit over the years — which
was a good-sized orchestra at that time.
Still, the Orchestre de la Loge Olympique
was enormous in comparison, boasting a
string section with fully 40 violins on top
and 10 double basses on the bottom, not
to mention two players for each of the
usual wind instruments (though normally
only one flute, but nonetheless a luxury for
a composer accustomed to doling out his
parts with consideration to which players could double on which instruments).
Haydn could only imagine these expanded
sounds as he composed his six symphonies in 1785–86, in Eisenstadt, Austria,
and Esterháza, Hungary. He never got to
hear the Orchestre de la Loge Olympique
play his symphonies in their 1787 season,
but they made a great impression.
The opulent sound of these “Paris” Symphonies (Nos. 82–87) must have still been
in Haydn’s mind when he went on to his
next two symphonies, Nos. 88 and 89, in
1787. (No. 88 may have been begun the
preceding year.) Just then Haydn’s colleague, Johann Tost, the principal second
8
Listen for ... the Trumpets and
Timpani
violinist of the Esterházy Orchestra, left his
position to develop a business venture as a
music agent in, of all places, Paris. Haydn’s
stock was riding very high there thanks to
the premieres being given by the Orchestre de la Loge Olympique, and Tost had no
trouble selling the French publishing rights
for Haydn’s next two symphonies to JeanGeorges Sieber, a German who had opened
a publishing firm in Paris. Tost brokered
four Haydn symphonies (including No. 88)
to Sieber, plus some piano sonatas and six
string quartets (Opp. 54 and 55) — and while
he was at it, he sold him another completed
“Haydn symphony” that wasn’t by Haydn
at all. Tost turned out to be a bad egg, and
as his commercial aspirations increased he
became more and more mercenary: at one
point he proposed a business venture at the
Esterházy court that would enable him to
purvey black market copies of unpublished
works by Haydn, a scheme he tried to engineer completely behind the composer’s back.
Haydn’s Symphony No. 88 is a work of
characteristic verve and charm, and early
on it gained affection, particularly among
English and American audiences. It is easy
to understand why one would embrace
this piece. Its opening movement is one of
Haydn’s most brilliantly worked out, its Largo is spectacularly beautiful, the Menuetto
displays real peasant vigor (with a trio that
is truly folklike with its musette-like drones),
and the Finale is a sparkling combination of
intellect and wit.
Trumpets and timpani made occasional
visits in Haydn’s middle-period symphonies, but they were not yet standard members of his orchestras. When he did use
them it was normally to forceful effect, to
launch and punctuate his fast movements
with special brilliance; they were almost
always banished from slow movements,
where they were considered too strident
for an inherently gentle expanse.
We can always count on Haydn for a
surprise: in his Symphony No. 88, these
instruments don’t figure in the opening
movement at all. Haydn withholds them
precisely until the slow movement (Largo),
where their outbursts lend a splendid
sense of drama while a complicated set of
variations unfolds. He continues to employ
them in the rest of the piece, even spotlighting the timpani with a few soloistic
moments in the Menuetto.
The Largo, where the trumpets and
timpani make their first appearance,
is unusually inventive even by Haydn’s
standards, as the solo oboe and cello
at its opening suggest the spirit of a
sinfonia concertante. It was of this slow
movement, very evolved in its approach
to variation form, that Johannes Brahms
would later say, “I want my Ninth Symphony to sound like that.”
Instrumentation: flute, two oboes, two
bassoons, two horns, two trumpets, timpani,
and strings.
9
Notes on the Program
By James M. Keller, Program Annotator
The Leni and Peter May Chair
Six Orchestrated Songs
Franz Schubert
In Short
Born: January 31, 1797, in Liechtenthal, then a
suburb of Vienna, Austria
Died: November 19, 1828, in Vienna
In the refined, jewel-like genre of the Lied,
or German art song, the name of Franz
Schubert stands indisputably at the top of
the list. He wrote his songs for voice and
piano, and he approached the piano part
with a great sense of democracy vis-à-vis
the vocal line, certainly when compared to
his predecessors. In a song by Schubert
we assume that the piano will not provide
a mere accompaniment that fills out the
implicit harmonies; instead, we expect it to
interact with the singer in an elegant balance of musical partnership. This attitude
toward balance would set the standard
against which future art songs would be
measured. To a large degree, the ensuing mainstream of the Lied — the songs
of Schumann, Mendelssohn, Brahms,
Wolf, Mahler, and the rest (and one could
extend the influence to non-Germanic
composers, too) — can be viewed as
elaborations of the principles of songwriting that Schubert defined.
As the genre of the song accompanied by orchestra rose to prominence in
the mid-19th century, it was natural that
transcribers should set their sights on this
fountainhead of the song repertoire. In
fact, orchestral translations of Schubert
Lieder go back a long way. In 1830 Ferdinand Schubert, the composer’s brother,
arranged Erlkönig for solo voice, mixed
chorus, and orchestra. For the budgetconscious, he offered a strictly instrumental
alternative that cast a flute as narrator, a
Works composed and premiered: Die Forelle:
composed in 1817, orchestrated by Benjamin Britten
(1913–76), date unknown; Gretchen am Spinnrade:
composed in 1814, orchestrated by Max Reger
(1873–1916) in 1915; Im Abendrot: composed in
late 1824 or as late as February 1825, orchestrated
by Reger, whose setting was published in 1914;
Gesang “An Silvia”: composed in 1826, and heard
here in an unattributed orchestration (date unknown);
Nacht und Träume: probably composed in 1825 (it
was published that year) and orchestrated by Reger,
whose setting was published in 1914; Erlkönig was
composed in 1815, and orchestrated by Reger,
probably around 1914–15.
We rarely know precisely when Schubert’s songs were
premiered, but the composer typically unveiled them at
private gatherings of his friends in Vienna, at which he
played the piano accompaniments. We do know that
Erlkönig was first performed in concert on December 1,
1820, at a private gathering at the Vienna home of the
Imperial Councillor Dr. Ignaz Edler von Sonnleithner,
and that it received its public premiere on March 7,
1821, at Vienna’s Kärntnertor Theater, in a concert
sponsored by the Society of Ladies of the Nobility for
the Promotion of the Good and Useful.
New York Philharmonic premieres: The only
previous Philharmonic performance of Die Forelle
and Im Abendrot took place on October 3, 1985,
Zubin Mehta, conductor, Hermann Prey, soloist; the
only previous performance of Gesang “An Silvia”
was February 5, 1897, Anton Seidl, conductor, David S.
Bispham, soloist; these performances mark the New York
Philharmonic premieres of the Reger orchestrations
of Gretchen am Spinnrade, Erlkönig, and Nacht und
Träume.
10
Schubert’s Songs
clarinet as the child, a French horn as the title
character (the Erl King), and a bass trombone as the father. Within a few decades it
became almost commonplace for composers, conductors, and editors to arrange the
piano parts of Schubert’s songs for the more
colorful possibilities of the orchestra.
The result was an ongoing enrichment
of the orchestral song literature linking
Schubert to such gifted composer-arrangers
as Hector Berlioz, Jacques Offenbach,
Franz Liszt, Johannes Brahms, Max Reger,
Hans Pfitzner, Anton Webern, Benjamin
Britten, and Michael Tippett, among many
others. The set of songs we hear in this
concert does not intend to epitomize the
chamber-musical intimacy of Schubert’s
voice and piano settings. Instead, it affords
a glimpse of how later generations of gifted
composers paid tribute to Schubert by
adapting his songs to the evolving orchestral aesthetic of their own times.
The circumstances surrounding Benjamin
Britten’s orchestration of Die Forelle are
unknown. The score, which is in manuscript,
bears the date 1979 — three years after
Britten died. It employs an unattributed
English translation of Christian Schubart’s
poem: “There was a sparkling brooklet
where once a playful trout / as swift as any
arrow went lurking in and out”; the original
German text can easily be retrofitted. Britten eliminates Schubert’s piano introduction
and leaps into the heart of the song, where
bubbling clarinets portray the agile fish. There
is less to be said about the setting we hear
of Gesang “An Silvia,” which is anonymous,
undated, and entirely honorable.
Max Reger — who made orchestral tran-
Franz Schubert was not the first composer of Lieder. The genre was already alive
and well in the half-century preceding his
first efforts, and fine specimens are found
by such masters as Carl Philipp Emanuel
Bach, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and
Ludwig van Beethoven. But Schubert was
the first important composer to dedicate
himself deeply to the composition of Lieder, and between his first effort, in 1811,
and his last, perhaps a month before his
death 17 years later, he produced approximately 600 songs, dozens of which
have remained essential repertoire for
nearly two centuries. They range from
miniatures hardly more than a minute
long to vast, half-hour ballads. Some are
cast in relatively simple strophic forms,
while others display more complicated,
carefully en- gineered structures. Some
are grouped into large-scale, semi-narrative cycles, but most were conceived as
stand-alone works, depicting a complete
atmosphere in the course of only three or
four minutes.
scriptions of Lieder by Schumann, Brahms,
Grieg, and Wolf as well — apparently made
his Schubert transcriptions late in his career.
The first set of eight were published in Leipzig in 1914, and a second set, comprising
seven songs, followed posthumously in
1926. His orchestrations capture the mood
of Schubert’s songs admirably. Gretchen am
Spinnrade is flavored with deft touches of
woodwinds and ominous use of the timpani,
and Im Abendrot, a hymnlike Lied that
suspends the transience of the surrounding
world (just as does the sunset it depicts),
has a small complement of winds respond
11
Notes on the Program
Texts and Translations
(continued)
antiphonally to the singer’s declamations.
Schubert’s friend Franz von Hartmann, a
law student at Vienna University, wrote in
his diary about hearing Im Abendrot: he
described it as “an especially beautiful”
song, and noted that it was sung twice
through by the tenor Michael Vogl at a
Schubertiade gathering in January 1827.
Nacht und Träume conveys an atmosphere of hovering quietude, and Erlkönig
gallops on relentlessly (if less unbridled
than Hector Berlioz’s famous orchestration of the same song). “Schubert would
be satisfied with his editor,” wrote Franz
Dubitzky in the journal Die Musik, reviewing the 1914 publication of Reger’s
transcriptions.
Instrumentation: in addition to the solo
singer, Die Forelle calls for two clarinets
and strings; Gretchen am Spinnrade, for
flute, oboe, two clarinets, bassoon, horn,
timpani, and strings; Im Abendrot for flute,
oboe, two clarinets, two bassoons, two
horns, timpani, and strings; Gesang “An
Silvia” for oboe, bassoon, and strings;
Nacht und Träume for flute, clarinet, three
horns, timpani, and strings; and Erlkönig
for flute, oboe, two clarinets, bassoon, two
horns, timpani, and strings.
An earlier version of this note appeared in
the programs of the San Francisco Symphony and is used with permission.
© James M. Keller
Erlkönig
Six Orchestrated Songs by Franz Schubert
This set of song transcriptions concludes with
one of Schubert’s most famous Lieder, Erlkönig.
On November 16, 1815, the composer’s friend
Josef von Spaun wrote: “We found Schubert all
aglow reading the Erlkönig aloud from a book.
He walked to and fro several times with the
book in his hand; suddenly he sat down, and
in no time at all the wonderful ballad was on
paper.” Goethe’s poem had already been used
as a song-text by several composers, but none
of their settings comes near to rivaling that of
the 18-year-old Schubert in evoking the distinct
personalities of the characters — the father, his
ailing child, and the bewitching Erl King — and
of the terror that attends this night ride to its
fatal end. Goethe was indifferent to Schubert’s
setting and failed to respond when the composer sent him a copy. To add insult to injury,
Schubert submitted the piece to the Leipzig publisher Breitkopf, who, not knowing a Schubert
in Vienna, returned the manuscript instead to a
violinist in Dresden who they happened to know,
also named Franz Schubert. That Franz Schubert
wrote back to the publishers: “I wish to inform
you that this cantata was never composed by
me. I shall retain the same in my possession, so
that I might learn who has sent you such rubbish
in such an impolite manner, and also to discover
the scoundrel who has so misused my name.”
Erlkönig is notorious for straining the technical
possibilities of the piano to the limit; many a fine
pianist has dropped a few notes in the course
of the piece’s four minutes of punishing octave
repetitions. In performance, that very difficulty
can suggest the reckless abandon of galloping
through the stormy night. In Reger’s orchestral
setting we feel more secure that the strings will
not run amok, but the trade-off has its benefits,
too, with the colorful employment of obbligato
instrumental voices adding a layer of musical
commentary that Schubert’s original leaves
unstated. Such is the art of transcription: it does
not efface memories of the original, but it can
provide a fresh look at a familiar masterpiece.
Die Forelle
In einem Bächlein helle,
Da schoß in froher Eil
Die launische Forelle
Vorüber wie ein Pfeil.
Ich stand an dem Gestade
Und sah in süßer Ruh’,
Des muntern Fischleins Bade
Im klaren Bächlein zu.
The Trout
A brooklet soft and gentle,
rushing on with glee
A trout like arrow darting
so playfully and free.
And standing by the brook-side
I gazed in pure delight.
At happy fishlet playing
In lucid brooklet bright.
Ein Fischer mit der Rute
Wohl an dem Ufer stand,
Und sah’s mit kaltem Blute,
Wie sich das Fischlein wand.
So lang dem Wasser Helle,
So dacht ich, nicht gebricht,
So fängt er die Forelle
Mit seiner Angel nicht.
A fisherman with rod stood
watching from nearby,
He followed fishlet’s movements
With cold and scheming eye.
“So long stays clear that brooklet”
I thought, with comfort sure,
“He cannot trap my fishlet
Or catch it with his lure.”
Doch endlich ward dem Diebe
Die Zeit zu lang. Er macht
Das Bächlein tückisch trübe,
Und eh ich es gedacht,
So zuckte seine Rute,
Das Fischlein zappelt dran,
Und ich mit regem Blute
Sah die Betrogene an.
But soon with crude impatience
He broke the calm
He stirred and muddied all that water,
And just as I had feared,
He tugged upon his rod
And dangled my fishlet on his hook.
Oh, how my heart was burning
Betrayed were fish and brook!
— Christian Schubart (1739–91)
(continued)
12
13
Texts and Translations
(continued)
Gretchen am Spinnrade
Meine Ruh’ ist hin,
Mein Herz ist schwer,
Ich finde sie nimmer
Und nimmermehr.
Gretchen at the Spinning Wheel
My peace is gone,
My heart is heavy,
I will find it never
and never more.
Wo ich ihn nicht hab
Ist mir das Grab,
Die ganze Welt
Ist mir vergällt.
Where I do not have him,
That is the grave,
The whole world
Is bitter to me.
Mein armer Kopf
Ist mir verrückt,
Mein armer Sinn
Ist mir zerstückt.
My poor head
Is crazy to me,
My poor mind
Is torn apart.
Meine Ruh’ ist hin,
Mein Herz ist schwer,
Ich finde sie nimmer
Und nimmermehr.
My peace is gone,
My heart is heavy,
I will find it never
and never more.
Nach ihm nur schau ich
Zum Fenster hinaus,
Nach ihm nur geh ich
Aus dem Haus.
For him only, I look
Out the window
Only for him do I go
Out of the house.
Sein hoher Gang,
Sein’ edle Gestalt,
Seine Mundes Lächeln,
Seiner Augen Gewalt,
His tall walk,
His noble figure,
His mouth’s smile,
His eyes’ power,
Und seiner Rede
Zauberfluss,
Sein Händedruck,
Und ach, sein Kuss!
And his mouth’s
Magic flow,
His handclasp,
and ah, his kiss!
Meine Ruh’ ist hin,
Mein Herz ist schwer,
Ich finde sie nimmer
Und nimmermehr.
My peace is gone,
My heart is heavy,
I will find it never
and never more.
Mein Busen drängt sich
Nach ihm hin.
Ach dürft ich fassen
Und halten ihn,
My bosom urges itself
toward him.
Ah, might I grasp
And hold him!
Und küssen ihn,
So wie ich wollt,
An seinen Küssen
Vergehen sollt!
And kiss him,
As I would wish,
At his kisses
I should die!
— from Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s Faust
(Part One)
Im Abendrot
O wie schön ist deine Welt,
Vater, wenn sie golden strahlet!
Wenn dein Glanz herniederfällt
Und den Staub mit Schimmer malet,
Wenn das Rot, das in der Wolke blinkt,
In mein stilles Fenster sinkt!
In Evening’s Glow
O how beautiful is your world,
Father, when it shines with golden beams!
When your gaze descends
And paints the dust with a shimmering glowing,
When the red, which flashes in the clouds,
Sinks into my quiet window!
Könnt ich klagen, könnt ich zagen?
Irre sein an dir und mir?
How could I complain, how could I be afraid?
How could anything ever be amiss between
you and me?
No, I will carry in my breast
Your Heaven for all times.
And this heart, before it breaks down,
Shall drink in the glow and the light.
Nein, ich will im Busen tragen
Deinen Himmel schon allhier.
Und dies Herz, eh’ es zusammenbricht,
Trinkt noch Glut und schlürft noch Licht.
— Carl Lappe
An Silvia
Was ist Silvia, saget an,
Daß sie die weite Flur preist?
Schön und zart seh ich sie nahn,
Auf Himmelsgunst und Spur weist,
Daß ihr alles untertan.
Song “To Sylvia”
Who is Sylvia? What is she,
That all our swains commend her?
Holy, fair, and wise is she;
The heavens such grace did lend her,
That she might admirèd be.
Ist sie schön und gut dazu?
Reiz labt wie milde Kindheit;
Ihrem Aug’ eilt Amor zu,
Dort heilt er seine Blindheit
Und verweilt in süsser Ruh’.
Is she kind as she is fair?
For beauty lives with kindness.
Love doth to her eyes repair,
To help him of his blindness,
And being helped, inhabits there.
Darum Silvia, tön, o Sang,
Der holden Silvia Ehren;
Jeden Reiz besiegt sie lang,
Den Erde kann gewähren:
Kränze ihr und Saitenklang!
Then to Sylvia let us sing,
That Sylvia is excelling;
She excels each mortal thing
Upon the dull earth dwelling;
To her let us garlands bring.
— Eduard von Bauernfeld after William
Shakespeare’s Two Gentlemen of Verona
(continued)
14
15
Texts and Translations
(continued)
Nacht und Träume
Heil’ge Nacht, du sinkest nieder;
Nieder wallen auch die Träume
Wie dein Licht durch die Räume,
Lieblich durch der Menschen Brust.
Die belauschen sie mit Lust;
Rufen, wenn der Tag erwacht:
Kehre wieder, heil’ge Nacht!
Holde Träume, kehret wieder!
Night and Dreams
Holy night, you sink down;
Dreams, too, drift down
Like your moonlight through space,
Through the quiet hearts of men;
They listen with delight
Calling out when day awakens:
Return, holy night!
Fair dreams, return!
Erlkönig
Wer reitet so spät durch Nacht und Wind?
Es ist der Vater mit seinem Kind;
Er hat den Knaben wohl in dem Arm,
Er fasst ihn sicher, er hält ihn warm.
Erl King
Who’s riding so late through night, so wild?
It is the father who’s holding his child;
He’s tucked the boy secure in his arm,
He holds him tight and keeps him warm.
“Mein Sohn, was birgst du so bang dein Gesicht?”
“Siehst, Vater, du den Erlkönig nicht?
Den Erlenkönig mit Kron’ und Schweif?”
“Mein Sohn, es ist ein Nebelstreif.”
“My son, why hide you your face in fear?”
“See you not, Father, the Erl King near?
The Erl King in his crown and train?”
“My son, ‘tis but a foggy strain.”
“Du liebes Kind, komm, geh mit mir!
Gar schöne Spiele spiel ich mit dir;
Manch bunte Blumen sind an dem Strand,
Meine Mutter hat manch gülden Gewand.”
“Sweet lovely child, come, go with me!
What wonderful games I’ll play with thee;
Flowers, most colorful, yours to behold.
My mother for you has garments of gold.”
“Mein Vater, mein Vater, und hörest du nicht,
Was Erlenkönig mir leise verspricht?”
“Sei ruhig, bleibe ruhig, mein Kind:
In dürren Blättern säuselt der Wind.”
“My Father, my Father, and can you not hear
What Erl King is promising into my ear?”
“Be calm, stay calm, o child of mine;
The wind through dried leaves is rustling so fine.”
“Willst, feiner Knabe, du mit mir gehn?
Meine Töchter sollen dich warten schön;
Meine Töchter führen den nächtlichen Reihn
Und wiegen und tanzen und singen dich ein.”
“Wouldst thou, fine lad, go forth with me?
My daughters should royally wait upon thee;
My daughters conduct each night their songfest
To swing and to dance and to sing thee to rest.”
“Mein Vater, mein Vater, und siehst du nicht dort
Erlkönigs Töchter am düstern Ort?”
“Mein Sohn, mein Sohn, ich seh es genau:
Es scheinen die alten Weiden so grau.”
“My Father, my Father, and can you not see
Erl King’s daughters, there by the tree?”
“My son, my son, I see it clear;
The ancient willows so grey do appear.”
“Ich liebe dich, mich reizt deine schöne Gestalt;
Und bist du nicht willig, so brauch ich Gewalt.”
“Mein Vater, mein Vater, jetzt faßt er mich an!
Erlkönig hat mir ein Leids getan!” Dem Vater grauset’s, er reitet geschwind,
Er hält in Armen das ächzende Kind,
Erreicht den Hof mit Müh’ und Not:
In seinen Armen das Kind war tot.
“I love thee, I’m aroused by thy beautiful form;
And be thou not willing, I’ll take thee by storm.”
“My Father, my Father, he’s clutching my arm!
Erl King has done me a painful harm!”
The father shudders and onward presses;
The gasping child in his arms he caresses;
He reaches the courtyard, and barely inside,
He holds in his arms the child who has died.
— Matthäus von Collin
— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
16
17
Notes on the Program
(continued)
Ma Mère l’oye (Mother
Goose), Complete Ballet
La Valse
Maurice Ravel
In Short
Born: March 7, 1875, in Ciboure, near St-Jean-de-Luz,
Basses-Pyrénées, France
Died: December 28, 1937, in Paris
Works composed: Ma Mère l’oye: between 1908
and April 1910 as a suite of Five Children’s Pieces
for Piano Four Hands; orchestral transcription created
in 1911 (also expanded that year into a larger ballet
score)
Maurice Ravel always related well to
children, who seem to have appreciated
at first glance that his diminutive stature
made him more approachable than most
grown-ups. In 1939 Mimie Godebska
Blacque-Belair wrote:
La Valse: 1919–20, drawing on sketches made as
early as 1906
World premieres: Ma Mère l’oye: in its original form
on April 20, 1910, at the Salle Gaveau in Paris, by the
child pianists Jeanne Leleu and Geneviève Durony, at
the first concert of the Société Musicale Indépendente;
the complete orchestral ballet premiered January 21
(some sources say January 28), 1912, at the Théâtre
des Arts in Paris, under the direction of Gabriel Grovlez
There are few of my childhood memories
in which Ravel does not find a place. Of
all my parents’ friends I had a predilection
for Ravel because he used to tell me
stories that I loved. I used to climb on his
La Valse: October 23, 1920, at the Kleiner
Konzert-haussaal in Vienna, played in its two-piano
version by Ravel and Alfredo Casella at a concert of
Arnold Schoenberg’s Society for Private Musical
Performances; the orchestral version premiered
December 12, 1920, Camille Chevillard conducting
the Lamoureux Orchestra in Paris
knee and indefatigably he would begin,
“Once upon a time ...” And it would be
Laideronnette or “Beauty and the Beast” ....
Mimie Godebski (as Mme. Blacque-Belair
was known as a child) and her brother,
Jean — the children of Xavier Cyprien
(“Cipa”) and Ida Godebski — qualified as
Ravel’s closest friends from 1904 on.
“There was a childish side to Ravel,”
Mimie continued,
New York Philharmonic premieres: Ma Mère l’oye:
the complete ballet on March 29, 1990, Charles Dutoit,
conductor
La Valse: premiered February 9, 1922, Willem
Mengelberg, conductor; most recently performed
April 29, 2008, Charles Dutoit, conductor
and a warmth of feeling which remained
As might be expected, the Godebski
children were subjected to music lessons,
and though both were far from virtuoso
pianists, in 1908 Ravel had the idea of
composing a piece that would be within
their limited technical grasp. He drew
inspiration from 17th- and 18th-century
almost invisible beneath his primness. It
was in curious contrast to his face, which
was energetic, even unyielding, and to his
music, in which logic and wit did not always
succeed in disguising the promptings of
his heart. He loved tiny things.
18
French children’s story collections, especially Charles Perrault’s Contes de ma Mère
l’oye (Mother Goose Tales, published in
1697). Again, we have Mimie’s account:
go on to win a Grand Prix de Rome as a
composer and eventually taught sightreading on the faculty of the Paris Conservatoire. The day after the premiere,
Ravel wrote her a note that she must
have treasured until she died in 1979:
Between 1906 and 1908 we used
to have long holidays at my parents’
house in the country, La Grangette at
Valvins. It was there that Ravel finished,
or at least brought us, Ma Mère l’oye.
But neither my brother nor I was of an
age to appreciate such a dedication
and we regarded it as something
entailing hard work. Ravel wanted us
to give the first public performance
but the idea filled me with a cold
terror. My brother, being less timid and
more gifted on the piano, coped quite
well. But despite lessons from Ravel I
used to freeze to such an extent that
the idea had to be abandoned.
Mademoiselle, When you are a great
virtuoso and I an old fogey, covered
with honors or else completely
forgotten, you will perhaps have
pleasant memories of having given
an artist the rare satisfaction of
hearing a work of his, of a rather
unusual nature, interpreted exactly as
it should be. Thank you a thousand
times for your child-like and sensitive
performance of Ma Mère l’oye.
Your devoted, etc.
Maurice Ravel
Perfect though these little keyboard
pieces were, Ravel’s publisher Jacques
Durand and the impresario Jacques
Rouché saw bigger possibilities in them.
Durand persuaded the composer to
orchestrate the set into a symphonic suite,
and Rouché went a step further, convincing him to expand it into a full balletdivertissement, which Rouché himself
would direct in a staged production, unveiled at the beginning of 1912.
Doubtless she grew up to rue the day
when she forfeited the opportunity to
premiere a composition by Ravel — not
to mention one that took place at such a
historically notable event as the inaugural
concert of the Société Musicale Indépendente, a concert association formed by
disciples of Gabriel Fauré. But business
is business and children are stubborn, so
Ravel had to accept that the dedicatees of
his suite for piano four-hands would not
be its first performers. Instead, the honors
went to two other youngsters, Jeanne
Leleu (aged six) and Geneviève Durony
(a year older). The former, a pupil of the
renowned pianist Marguerite Long, would
Ravel was occasionally given to commenting on earlier cultural achievements
through his own music, to the extent that
his “comments” may be said to prefigure
postmodern obsessions of the late 20th
19
Notes on the Program
(continued)
century. One such historical strand of music
that intrigued Ravel was the Viennese waltz,
which reached its apex in the hundreds of
examples by Johann Strauss II, and which
came to symbolize the carefree, if somewhat formalized, joyfulness of 19th-century
Austria. To many it also suggested the
assumed cultural superiority of a city
(and a populace) that could boast of
having supported some of the most
notable composers of all time, from the
age of Haydn and Mozart through the
period of Beethoven and Schubert to
the era of Brahms and Bruckner and
the modernist fin-de-siècle moment of
Mahler and Schoenberg.
In 1911 Ravel paid homage to the
Viennese waltz in his Valses nobles et
sentimentales, inspired most particularly by
Schubert’s waltzes. He clarified his interest
in the extramusical connotations of the
genre by inscribing an epigram at the top
of the first page: “le plaisir délicieux et
toujours nouveau d’une occupation inutile”
(“the delicious and ever-fresh pleasure of
a useless occupation”).
As early as 1906 Ravel started thinking about creating a musical tribute to
Johann Strauss II, but he didn’t get much
further with the composition than deciding
on its title: Wien (Vienna). Years passed,
and Ravel was continually distracted by
other projects. Then Europe collapsed
with the onset of World War I, during
which the composer served as a driver
in the motor transport corps, having
been turned down in several applications to enlist as an air force pilot.
When the war ended, Ravel retained
his admiration for the waltz as a musical
genre, but its sociological implications had
changed considerably. What had formerly
signified buoyant joie de vivre assumed
an ominous tone in retrospect; the selfsatisfied pleasure of 19th-century Vienna
had led to national hubris and international
catastrophe. By the time Ravel composed
La Valse, in 1919–20, the gaiety of the
Viennese ballroom could no longer be
presented without knowing comment.
Thus, Ravel’s tone poem reveals itself to
be a sort of danse macabre. The interval
of the tritone (the augmented fourth or
diminished fifth), historically understood
to convey some diabolical connotation,
is found throughout the melodies of La
Valse, yielding a bi-tonal sense, a feeling
of something being out of kilter. Listeners cannot help but feel that something
is oddly out of focus in the ballroom
the waltz depicts. Nonetheless, anyone
encountering La Valse for the first time
will find it easy to overlook the disturbing
undertones and the general wooziness:
the surface is undeniably festive, after all.
Not until the piece’s final minutes are we
forced to accept that the waltz has run irretrievably amok. Even understanding that,
we are likely to be shocked by the brutality
of the conclusion, which is nothing short of
violent, terrifying, and bitterly final.
“I conceived of this work as a sort of
apotheosis of the Viennese waltz,” Ravel
wrote, “mingled with, in my mind, the impression of a fantastic, fatal whirling.” In
fact, he intended the piece to serve as a
20
The Work at a Glance
Ravel penned this scenario for the staged production of Ma Mère l’oye:
PRELUDE
SCENE 1: Dance of the Spinning Wheel — An enchanted garden. An old woman is seated
at her spinning wheel. Princess Florine enters, jumping rope. She stumbles, falling against
the spinning wheel, and is pricked by its spindle. The old woman calls for help. The young
ladies- and gentlemen-in-waiting rush in. They try in vain to revive the Princess. Then they
recall the curse of the fairies. Two ladies-in-waiting prepare the Princess for her long sleep.
SCENE 2: Pavane of Sleeping Beauty — Florine falls asleep. The old woman now stands
erect, throws off her filthy cape and appears in the sumptuous clothing and charming
features of the Good Fairy.
Two little Negroes appear. The fairy entrusts them with guarding Florine and granting
her pleasant dreams.
SCENE 3: Conversations of Beauty and the Beast — Beauty enters. Taking her mirror,
she powders herself. The Beast enters. Beauty notices him and remains petrified. With
horror, she rejects the declarations of the Beast, who falls at her feet, sobbing. Reassured,
Beauty makes fun of him coquettishly. The Beast falls down faint with despair. Touched by
his great love, Beauty raises him up again and accords him her hand.
But before her is a prince more handsome than Eros, who thanks her for having ended
his enchantment.
SCENE 4: Tom Thumb — A forest, at nightfall. The woodcutter’s seven children enter.
Tom Thumb crumbles a piece of bread. He looks about but cannot find any houses. The
children cry. Tom Thumb reassures them by showing them the bread which he has strewn
along their path.
They lie down and fall asleep. Birds pass and eat all of the bread. Upon awakening, the
children no longer find any crumbs, and they depart sadly.
SCENE 5: Laideronnette, Empress of the Pagodas — A tent draped in Chinese style.
Male and female pagoda attendants enter. Dance. Laideronnette appears in the Chinese
style of Boucher. A green serpent crawls amorously at her side.
Pas de deux, then general dance.
SCENE 6: The Enchanted Garden — Dawn. Birds are singing.
Prince Charming enters, led by a cupid. He notices the sleeping Princess. She awakens
at the same time that day is breaking.
All of the performers in the ballet group themselves around the Prince and the Princess,
who are united by Cupid. The Good Fairy appears and blesses the couple.
APOTHEOSIS
21
Notes on the Program
(continued)
Encoded Emotions
ballet score for Serge Diaghilev’s Ballets
Russes, and he accordingly prefaced his
score with a vague scenario, signaling specifically two spots in the piece:
Through breaks in the swirling clouds,
waltzing couples may be glimpsed.
Little by little they disperse: one makes
out (A) an immense hall filled with a
whirling crowd. The stage is illuminated
gradually. The light of the chandeliers
peaks at the fortissimo (B). An Imperial
Court, about 1855.
Diaghilev, however, did not stage this
work. When Ravel and Marcelle Meyer,
Ravel’s pianist-colleague, played through
it in a two-piano arrangement for the
great ballet impresario, Diaghilev reportedly said: “Ravel, it’s a masterpiece, but
it’s not a ballet. ... It’s the portrait of a ballet, a painting of a ballet.”
Instrumentation: Ma Mère l’oye employs
two flutes (one doubling piccolo), two oboes
(one doubling English horn), two clarinets,
two bassoons and contrabassoon, two
horns, timpani, triangle, cymbals, bass drum,
tam-tam, xylophone, orchestra bells, bell
tree, harp, celesta, and strings. La Valse
employs three flutes (one doubling piccolo),
three oboes (one doubling English horn),
two clarinets and bass clarinet, two bassoons and contrabassoon, four horns, three
trumpets, three trombones, tuba, timpani,
triangle, tambourine, snare drum, cymbals,
bass drum, castanets, tam-tam, orchestra
bells, crotales, two harps, and strings.
22
Ravel’s La Valse made musicological
headlines in 2009 thanks to a startling
announcement by David Lamaze, a professor at the Conservatoire de Rennes.
Attentive listeners have long been aware
that the three-note figure E-B-A is so
common in Ravel’s music that it serves
almost as a musical fingerprint. As
Lamaze is French, he knew these notes
by their French names, mi-si-la, and he
came to imagine them as encoding the
name “Misia.” Misia Sert was one of
Ravel’s closest friends. She maintained
a salon frequented by a “Who’s Who” of
artists and musicians and her portrait
was painted by the likes of Renoir and
Toulouse-Lautrec. Her half-brother was
Cipa Godebski, for whose daughters
Ravel composed Ma Mère l’oye, and
she herself was the dedicatee of both
La Valse and the song “Le Cygne” (“The
Swan”) from Ravel’s song cycle Histoires
naturelles. “It has never been done
before,” stated Lamaze, “to take one
person and to place them at the center
of a life-long work.” His analysis of La
Valse revealed that the mi-si-la motif appears at crucial junctures of the musical
structure. What’s more, he found that at
the work’s beginning, before the waltz
grows desperate, Ravel has interlinked
those notes with an extra A and E; as
the only two vowels in the composer’s
surname, they may represent the name
“Ravel.” By linking the names Misia and
Ravel through these musical means,
Lamaze believes, the composer may have
revealed a romantic attraction that is far
from clearly documented through more
conventional means.
23
New York Philharmonic
ALAN GILBERT
Marilyn Dubow
Ru-Pei Yeh
Music Director
The Yoko Nagae Ceschina Chair
The Sue and Eugene Mercy, Jr. Chair
The Credit Suisse Chair
in honor of Paul Calello
Case Scaglione
Joshua Weilerstein
Assistant Conductors
Leonard Bernstein
Laureate Conductor, 1943–1990
Kurt Masur
Music Director Emeritus
violins
Glenn Dicterow
Concertmaster
The Charles E. Culpeper Chair
Sheryl Staples
Principal Associate Concertmaster
The Elizabeth G. Beinecke Chair
Michelle Kim
Martin Eshelman
Quan Ge
The Gary W. Parr Chair
Judith Ginsberg
Stephanie Jeong+
Hanna Lachert
Hyunju Lee
Joo Young Oh
Daniel Reed
Mark Schmoockler
Na Sun
Vladimir Tsypin
VIOLAS
Cynthia Phelps
Principal
The Mr. and Mrs. Frederick P. Rose
Chair
Alucia Scalzo++
Amy Zoloto++
Wei Yu
Wilhelmina Smith++
E-FLAT CLARINET
BASSES
BASS CLARINET
Timothy Cobb++
Acting Principal
The Redfield D. Beckwith Chair
Orin O’Brien*
Acting Associate Principal
The Herbert M. Citrin Chair
William Blossom
The Ludmila S. and Carl B. Hess
Chair
Randall Butler
David J. Grossman
Satoshi Okamoto
Pascual Martinez Forteza
Amy Zoloto++
BASSOONS
Judith LeClair
Principal
The Pels Family Chair
Kim Laskowski*
Roger Nye
Arlen Fast
CONTRABASSOON
Arlen Fast
Rebecca Young*
Irene Breslaw**
FLUTES
HORNS
Enrico Di Cecco
Carol Webb
Yoko Takebe
The Norma and Lloyd Chazen Chair
Robert Langevin
Principal
The Lila Acheson Wallace Chair
Philip Myers
Katherine Greene
Sandra Church*
Mindy Kaufman
Hae-Young Ham
The Mr. and Mrs. William J.
McDonough Chair
PICCOLO
Assistant Concertmaster
The William Petschek Family Chair
The Mr. and Mrs. Timothy M. George
Chair
Lisa GiHae Kim
Kuan Cheng Lu
Newton Mansfield
The Edward and Priscilla Pilcher
Chair
Dorian Rence
Dawn Hannay
Vivek Kamath
Peter Kenote
Kenneth Mirkin
Judith Nelson
Robert Rinehart
Mindy Kaufman
CELLOS
Fiona Simon
Sharon Yamada
Elizabeth Zeltser
Carter Brey
The William and Elfriede Ulrich Chair
Yulia Ziskel
Marc Ginsberg
Principal
The Fan Fox and Leslie R. Samuels Chair
Eileen Moon*
The Paul and Diane Guenther Chair
ENGLISH HORN
The Joan and Joel Smilow Chair
CLARINETS
Ricardo Morales
Eric Bartlett
Principal Designate
Principal
The Shirley and Jon Brodsky
Foundation Chair
Lisa Kim*
Maria Kitsopoulos
Acting Principal
The Edna and W. Van Alan Clark
Chair
In Memory of Laura Mitchell
Soohyun Kwon
The Joan and Joel I. Picket Chair
Duoming Ba
Elizabeth Dyson
The Mr. and Mrs. James E. Buckman Chair
Sumire Kudo
Qiang Tu
24
Mark Nuccio
AUDIO DIRECTOR
Lawrence Rock
TIMPANI
Markus Rhoten
Principal
The Carlos Moseley Chair
Kyle Zerna**
PERCUSSION
Christopher S. Lamb
Principal
The Constance R. Hoguet Friends of the Philharmonic Chair
Daniel Druckman*
The Mr. and Mrs. Ronald J. Ulrich Chair
Kyle Zerna
Principal
The Mr. and Mrs. William T. Knight III
Chair
Philip Smith
The Shirley Bacot Shamel Chair
Principal
Nancy Allen
TRUMPETS
Principal
The Paula Levin Chair
Matthew Muckey*
Ethan Bensdorf
Thomas V. Smith
TROMBONES
Joseph Alessi
Principal
The Gurnee F. and Marjorie L. Hart
Chair
Daniele Morandini++*
Acting Associate Principal
David Finlayson
The Donna and Benjamin M. Rosen
Chair
Carl R. Schiebler
Louis J. Patalano
Alan Baer
Acting Associate Principal
Cara Kizer Aneff
R. Allen Spanjer
Howard Wall
David Smith++
ORCHESTRA PERSONNEL
MANAGER
STAGE REPRESENTATIVE
TUBA
HARP
Principal
The Alice Tully Chair
The Lizabeth and Frank Newman Chair
The Daria L. and William C. Foster Chair
Stewart Rose++*
Liang Wang
Sherry Sylar*
Robert Botti
James Markey
Principal
The Ruth F. and Alan J. Broder Chair
OBOES
The Mr. and Mrs. G. Chris Andersen
Chair
Kerry McDermott
Anna Rabinova
Charles Rex
BASS TROMBONE
KEYBOARD
In Memory of Paul Jacobs
HARPSICHORD
Paolo Bordignon
PIANO
The Karen and Richard S. LeFrak
Chair
Jonathan Feldman
ORGAN
Kent Tritle
LIBRARIANS
Lawrence Tarlow
Principal
Sandra Pearson**
Sara Griffin**
Pascual Martinez Forteza*
Acting Associate Principal
The Honey M. Kurtz Family Chair
25
* Associate Principal
** Assistant Principal
+ On Leave
++Replacement/Extra
The New York Philharmonic uses
the revolving seating method for
section string players who are listed
alphabetically in the roster.
HONORARY MEMBERS
OF THE SOCIETY
Emanuel Ax
Pierre Boulez
Stanley Drucker
Lorin Maazel
Zubin Mehta
Carlos Moseley
The Music Director
New York Philharmonic Music Director
Alan Gilbert, The Yoko Nagae Ceschina
Chair, began his tenure in September
2009, creating what New York magazine
called “a fresh future for the Philharmonic.”
The first native New Yorker to hold the
post, he has sought to make the Orchestra
a point of civic pride for the city as well as
for the country.
Mr. Gilbert’s creative approach to programming combines works in fresh and innovative ways. He has also forged artistic
partnerships, introducing the positions
of The Marie-Josée Kravis Composer-inResidence and The Mary and James G.
Wallach Artist-in-Residence, an annual
three-week festival, and CONTACT!,
the new-music series. In 2011–12 he
conducts world premieres, three Mahler
symphonies, a residency at London’s
Barbican Centre, and tours to Europe
and California, with a season-concluding
musical exploration of space at the Park
Avenue Armory, featuring Stockhausen’s
theatrical immersion, Gruppen. He also
made his Philharmonic debut as a soloist
when he joined Frank Peter Zimmermann
in J.S. Bach’s Concerto for Two Violins in
October 2011. Last season’s highlights included two tours of European music capitals, Carnegie Hall’s 120th Anniversary
Concert, and the acclaimed performance
of Janáček’s The Cunning Little Vixen,
hailed by The Washington Post as “another
victory,” building on 2010’s wildly successful staging of Ligeti’s Le Grand Macabre,
which The New York Times called “an
instant Philharmonic milestone.”
26
In September 2011 Alan Gilbert became
Director of Conducting and Orchestral
Studies at The Juilliard School, where he is
also the first to hold the William Schuman
Chair in Musical Studies. Conductor Laureate of the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic
Orchestra and Principal Guest Conductor
of Hamburg’s NDR Symphony Orchestra,
he regularly conducts leading orchestras
nationally and internationally, such as the
Boston Symphony Orchestra, Amsterdam’s
Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, and the
Berlin Philharmonic.
Alan Gilbert made his acclaimed Metropolitan Opera debut in November 2008
leading John Adams’s Doctor Atomic,
the DVD of which was nominated for a
Grammy Award in the Best Opera Recording category. Other recordings have also
27
received Grammy Award nominations,
along with top honors from the Chicago
Tribune and Gramophone magazine.
Mr. Gilbert studied at Harvard University, The Curtis Institute of Music, and
The Juilliard School, and has served as
the assistant conductor of The Cleveland
Orchestra (1995–97). In May 2010 he
received an Honorary Doctor of Music
degree from The Curtis Institute of Music.
The Artist
Abbado, in a televised performance of
Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde on the
100th anniversary of the composer’s death.
This season she performs in concert with
the Los Angeles Philharmonic led by EsaPekka Salonen, Berlin Philharmonic with
Sir Simon Rattle, Munich Philharmonic and
Iván Fischer, and the Sydney and London
Symphony Orchestras with Michael Tilson
Thomas. This season she can be heard
as Geneviève in Debussy’s Pelléas et
Mélisande for Opéra National de Paris, as
Clytemnestra in Gluck’s Iphigenie en Aulide
for De Nederlandse Opera, and in Handel’s
Giulio Cesare at the Salzburg Festival.
Anne Sofie von Otter’s recordings with
Deutsche Grammophon include Mozart’s
The Marriage of Figaro conducted by
James Levine, Gluck’s Orphée et Eurydice
under John Eliot Gardiner, and R. Strauss’s
Ariadne auf Naxos led by Giuseppe Sinopoli. She has been named Recording Artist of the Year by the International Record
Critics Association, and received a Grammy
Award for best classical vocal performance
for Mahler’s Des Knaben Wunderhorn, and
a Diapason d’Or for a recording of Swedish
songs. She collaborated with pop legend
Elvis Costello on the disc For the Stars, and
in October 2010 released her first recording with the Naïve label, Love Songs.
Anne Sofie von Otter was born into a
Swedish family. She graduated from the
Stockholm College of Music and studied
further at the Guildhall School of Music
and Drama in London.
Acclaimed mezzo-soprano Anne Sofie
von Otter gained an international reputation as Octavian in R. Strauss’s Der Rosenkavalier, with performances at the Royal
Opera House, Covent Garden, Bavarian
Staatsoper, Opéra National de Paris, and
the Vienna Staatsoper; she also performed
the role as part of a series of engagements
with James Levine and The Metropolitan
Opera. Other recent highlights have included her title role debut in Charpentier’s
Médée for Oper Frankfurt; concert performances of Handel’s Tamerlano opposite
Plácido Domingo at Gran Teatre del Liceu;
and a return to Theater Basel for Offenbach’s La Grande-Duchesse de Gérolstein.
Ms. von Otter has appeared as Baba the
Turk in Stravinsky’s The Rake’s Progress,
conducted by Nikolaus Harnoncourt for
Theater an der Wien; Countess Geschwitz
in Berg’s Lulu at The Metropolitan Opera,
conducted by Fabio Luisi; and in May 2011
she appeared with tenor Jonas Kaufmann
and the Berlin Philharmonic, led by Claudio
28
29
New York Philharmonic
The New York Philharmonic, founded
in 1842 by a group of local musicians
led by American-born Ureli Corelli Hill,
is by far the oldest symphony orchestra
in the United States, and one of the
oldest in the world. It currently plays
some 180 concerts a year, and on May 5,
2010, gave its 15,000th concert — a
milestone unmatched by any other symphony orchestra in the world.
Music Director Alan Gilbert, The Yoko
Nagae Ceschina Chair, began his tenure
in September 2009, the latest in a distinguished line of 20th-century musical
giants that has included Lorin Maazel
(2002–09); Kurt Masur (Music Director
1991–2002, Music Director Emeritus
since 2002); Zubin Mehta (1978–91);
Pierre Boulez (1971–77); and Leonard
Bernstein (appointed Music Director in
1958; given the lifetime title of Laureate
Conductor in 1969).
Since its inception the Orchestra has
championed the new music of its time,
commissioning and/or premiering many
important works, such as Dvořák’s
Symphony No. 9, From the New World;
Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 3;
Gershwin’s Piano Concerto in F; and
Copland’s Connotations. The Philharmonic
has also given the U.S. premieres of such
works as Beethoven’s Symphonies Nos. 8
and 9 and Brahms’s Symphony No. 4. This
pioneering tradition has continued to the
present day, with works of major contemporary composers regularly scheduled
each season, including John Adams’s Pulitzer Prize– and Grammy Award–winning
On the Transmigration of Souls; Melinda
Wagner’s Trombone Concerto; Esa-Pekka
Salonen’s Piano Concerto; Magnus Lindberg’s EXPO and Al largo; Wynton Marsalis’s Swing Symphony (Symphony No. 3);
Christopher Rouse’s Odna Zhizn; and, by
the end of the 2010–11 season, 11 works
in CONTACT!, the new-music series.
The roster of composers and conductors
who have led the Philharmonic includes
such historic figures as Theodore Thomas,
Antonín Dvořák, Gustav Mahler (music director 1909–11), Otto Klemperer, Richard
Strauss, Willem Mengelberg (Music Director 1922–30), Wilhelm Furtwängler, Arturo
Toscanini (Music Director 1928–36), Igor
Stravinsky, Aaron Copland, Bruno Walter
(Music Advisor 1947–49), Dimitri Mitropoulos (Music Director 1949–58), Klaus
Tennstedt, George Szell (Music Advisor
1969–70), and Erich Leinsdorf.
Long a leader in American musical life,
the Philharmonic has become renowned
around the globe, appearing in 430 cities
in 63 countries on 5 continents. Under
Alan Gilbert’s leadership, the Orchestra
made its Vietnam debut at the Hanoi Opera House in October 2009. In February
2008 the Philharmonic, conducted by then
Music Director Lorin Maazel, gave a historic performance in Pyongyang, D.P.R.K.,
earning the 2008 Common Ground
Award for Cultural Diplomacy. In 2012 the
Philharmonic becomes an International
Associate of London’s Barbican Centre.
The Philharmonic has long been a media pioneer, having begun radio broadcasts
in 1922, and is currently represented by
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The New York Philharmonic This Week
— syndicated nationally and internationally 52 weeks per year, and available
at nyphil.org. It continues its television
presence on Live From Lincoln Center on
PBS, and in 2003 made history as the
first symphony orchestra ever to perform
live on the Grammy Awards. Since 1917
the Philharmonic has made nearly 2,000
recordings, and in 2004 became the
first major American orchestra to offer
downloadable concerts, recorded live.
Since June 2009 more than 50 concerts
have been released as downloads, and
the Philharmonic’s self-produced recordings will continue with Alan Gilbert and the
New York Philharmonic: 2011–12 Season,
comprising 12 releases. Famous for its
long-running Young People’s Concerts, the
Philharmonic has developed a wide range
of educational programs, among them the
School Partnership Program that enriches
music education in New York City, and
Learning Overtures, which fosters international exchange among educators.
Credit Suisse is the Global Sponsor of
the New York Philharmonic.
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New York Philharmonic
Executive Producer: Vince Ford
Producers: Lawrence Rock and Mark Travis
Recording and Mastering Engineer: Lawrence Rock
Assistant Producer: Nick Bremer
Photos of Alan Gilbert and the New York Philharmonic: Chris Lee
Franz Schubert's Die Forelle used with permission from Boosey & Hawkes
Gretchen am Spinnrade used with permission from Universal Edition and European American Music
Distributors, LLC
Im Abendrot used with permission from Breitkopf & Härtel and G. Schirmer, Inc.
Erlkönig used with permission from Universal Edition
Major funding for this recording is provided to the New York Philharmonic by
Rita E. and Gustave M. Hauser.
Alan Gilbert, Music Director, holds The Yoko Nagae Ceschina Chair.
Exclusive timepiece of the New York Philharmonic
Classical 105.9 FM WQXR is the Radio Home of the New York Philharmonic.
Instruments made possible, in part, by The Richard S. and Karen LeFrak Endowment Fund.
Programs are supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural
Affairs, New York State Council on the Arts, and the National Endowment for the Arts.
Steinway is the Official Piano of the New York Philharmonic and Avery Fisher Hall.
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New York Philharmonic
Performed, produced, and distributed
by the New York Philharmonic
© 2012 New York Philharmonic
NYP 20120103
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