by Paul J. Pelkonen
Fade out..fade in. With Lorin Maazel (left) ill, Fabio Luisi (right) will step in to
conduct major Strauss tone poems with the Munich Philharmonic at Carnegie Hall.
Photo of Mr. Maazel from his website. Photo of Mr. Luisi © 2014 Opernhaus Zurich.
On Monday evening, Carnegie Hall announced that Mr. Maazel has cancelled both of his planned appearances with the Munich Philharmonic Orchesta due to illness. The conductor has served as that ensemble's Chief Conductor since 2010.
Saturday's concert will be conducted by Fabio Luisi, current Principal Conductor at the Metropolitan Opera. The program is unchanged. It consists of the Suite from Strauss' opera Der Rosenkavalier, Ein Heldenleben and the Four Last Songs with Finnish soprano Karita Mattila as soloist.
Friday's concert is also unchanged. It features Emanuel Ax playing Strauss' rarely heard Burleske for piano and orchestra, flanked by two familiar tone poems: Also Sprach Zarathustra and Till Eulenspiegels Lustige Streich. The conductor for this program "will be announced very shortly" the press release said.
The double shot of Strauss is intended as part of ongoing celebrations of the composer's sesquicentennial year. Strauss was born in Munich in 1864. His 150th birthday falls on June 11.
Mr. Maazel, now 84 is a familiar figure to New York music lovers, having most recently conducted Don Carlos at the Metropolitan Opera. He served from 2001 to 2009 as the Music Director of the New York Philharmonic, where he conducted a notable concert version of Strauss' Elektra. Mr. Luisi is also a qualified Straussian, having conducted the Met production of that opera, along with Die Ägyptische Helene and Ariadne auf Naxos.
