New York Phil’s 21st-century Tour

By Sedgwick Clark

Repertoire for international orchestra tours is usually so ho-hum that Alan Gilbert’s tour with the New York Philharmonic, which began on April 16 in Dublin, came as a jolt to me. If you’ve been going to his concerts the past few weeks, you’ll have heard the music—and noted, I should add, the top-notch level of performances.

The majority of the works are early 20th century—Stravinsky, Ravel, Debussy, Bartók, and Richard Strauss—but work their way up to Shostakovich’s Tenth (1953) and then to downright contemporary fare: Esa-Pekka Salonen’s Nyx, the world premiere of Peter Eötvös’s Senza sangue, and five composers on one of Gilbert’s new-music CONTACT! concerts of whom only Salonen is well known.

Being of critical mien, I might have had my druthers to strut the Phil’s stuff to the world, beginning with a couple of Carl Nielsen’s works that Gilbert led so magnificently earlier this season—the Fifth or Sixth symphonies or the Clarinet Concerto with the orchestra’s superb new principal clarinet, Anthony McGill. But perhaps the maestro has chosen the great Dane’s effervescent Maskarade Overture as an encore.

I suppose the programs of largely familiar fare below will daunt a few concertgoers in some backward bergs, but only the Cologne concert on May 1might be chancy for New York subscribers. The distinguished German, Viennese, French, and Russian orchestras bring their music here (although rarely do the British ones, which should change with the onset of Simon Rattle at the LSO). So now Alan Gilbert and the New York Philharmonic are giving them a taste of their own music the way we do it over here.

 

 

New York Philharmonic/Alan Gilbert: EUROPE / SPRING 2015 tour (April 16–May 1)

 

April 16

Dublin, Ireland

National Concert Hall

Esa-Pekka Salonen: Nyx

Ravel: Shéhérazade (with Joyce DiDonato, mezzo-soprano)

Ravel: Valses nobles et sentimentales

R. Strauss: Der Rosenkavalier Suite

 

April 17

London, England

Barbican Centre

Esa-Pekka Salonen: Nyx

Ravel: Shéhérazade (with Joyce DiDonato, mezzo-soprano)

Ravel: Valses nobles et sentimentales

R. Strauss: Der Rosenkavalier Suite

 

April 18

London, England

Milton Court Concert Hall

CONTACT! 

Daníel Bjarnason: Five Possibilities

Timo Andres: Early to Rise

Missy Mazzoli: Dissolve, O My Heart

Esa-Pekka Salonen: Homunculus for string quartet

Shulamit Ran: Mirage for five players

 

April 19

London, England

Barbican Centre

Young People’s Concert

Stravinsky: Petrushka (staged)

Doug Fitch, director/designer

Edouard Gétaz, producer

A Production by Giants Are Small

Tom Lee, puppetry director

 

April 19

London, England

Barbican Centre

Bartók: The Miraculous Mandarin Suite

Debussy: Jeux

Stravinsky: Petrushka (staged)

Doug Fitch, director/designer

Edouard Gétaz, producer

A Production by Giants Are Small

Tom Lee, puppetry director

 

April 21

Amsterdam, Netherlands

Royal Concertgebouw

Esa-Pekka Salonen: Nyx

Ravel: Shéhérazade (with Joyce DiDonato, mezzo-soprano)

Ravel: Valses nobles et sentimentales

R. Strauss: Der Rosenkavalier Suite

 

April 22

Amsterdam, Netherlands

Royal Concertgebouw

Stravinsky: Petrushka (original 1911 version)

Shostakovich: Symphony No. 10

 

April 23

Luxembourg

Philharmonie Luxembourg

Ravel: Valses nobles et sentimentales

Ravel: Shéhérazade (with Joyce DiDonato, mezzo-soprano)

Shostakovich: Symphony No. 10

 

April 25

Paris, France

Philharmonie de Paris

Esa-Pekka Salonen: Nyx

Ravel: Shéhérazade (with Joyce DiDonato, mezzo-soprano)

Ravel: Valses nobles et sentimentales

R. Strauss: Der Rosenkavalier Suite

 

April 26

Paris, France

Philharmonie de Paris

Stravinsky: Petrushka (original 1911 version)

Debussy: Jeux

Bartók: The Miraculous Mandarin Suite

 

April 28

Frankfurt, Germany

Alte Oper Frankfurt

Stravinsky: Petrushka (original 1911 version)

Ravel: Valses nobles et sentimentales

R. Strauss: Der Rosenkavalier Suite

 

April 30

Cologne, Germany

Kölner Philharmonie

Stravinsky: Petrushka (original 1911 version)

Ravel: Valses nobles et sentimentales

R. Strauss: Der Rosenkavalier Suite

 

May 1

Cologne, Germany

Kölner Philharmonie

Esa-Pekka Salonen: Nyx

Bartók: The Miraculous Mandarin Suite

Peter Eötvös: Senza sangue (world premiere of New York Philharmonic co-commission,

with Anne Sofie von Otter, mezzo-soprano & Russell Braun, baritone)

 

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