by Paul J. Pelkonen
Original gangsters: Olive oil importer Vito Corleone (second from left)and his three sons Michael (l.) Santino (c.) and Fredo (r.)
pose with adopted consigliere Alan Gilbert. The New York Philharmonic will play the
score of The Godfather next September. Original film image © Paramount Pictures.
Photo of Alan Gilbert by Chris Lee © 2015 The New York Philharmonic.
Photo alteration by the author.
The event was subdued this year, minus the live multimedia guests of years past and lacking in the warmth and intimacy generated at the TriBeCa venue. However, the exciting slate of performances more than compensated for the stark locale, with Mr. Gilbert and Mr. VanBesien holding forth and then answering questions from the assembled press. The season itself promises both continuity and radical change for New York's oldest orchestra.
First among those changes: the appointment of composer Esa-Pekka Salonen as the orchestra's third Composer-in-Residence. Mr. Salonen has made his reputation as a fearless conductor of romantic and modern repertory and as an equally fearless creator of music that remains eminently listenable while pushing forward in bold new directions. In addition to a conducting commitment, the Finnish composer will premiere new works under the aegis of the New York Philharmonic.
This is Mr. Salonen's first appointment with an orchestra in a composing capacity, following the career path he chose since leaving the Los Angeles Philharmonic. "It's a new departure for me," he said in a pre-taped film shown on the Atrium wall. "I can ask (the Philharmonic) for almost impossible things and they deliver."
In addition to the New York premieres of his L.A. Variations and Karawane, Mr. Salonen will also compose a new work for the second NY Phil Biennial, scheduled to start in May of 2016. "I'm a little superstitious about talking about new pieces before they're written," he said. The full Biennial schedule remains unannounced, but the festival will include the world premiere of The Importance of Being Earnest, a new opera by Gerald Barry the first fruit of a new collaboration with Lincoln Center.
Mr. Salonen's 2016 conducting commitments include Olivier Messiaen's Turangalila-symphonie, a massive work that incorporates solo piano and ondes Martinot. This is the featured concert of Messiaen Week, dedicated to the music of the 20th century French mystic. The schedule also features Messiaen's epic Quartet for the End of Time, performed at the Temple of Dendur with an all-star cast including Mr. Gilbert on the violin and pianist Inon Barnatan, the orchestra's current Artist in Association.
This year, the orchestra bucked the usual trend of hiring a violinist or pianist as the orchestra's Artist in Residence. Next year, it will be a singer: the American bass-baritone Eric Owens. Acclaimed for his interpretation of Alberich in Wagner's Ring, Mr. Owens will sing the role of Wotan in a January 2016 concert featuring the final scene of that composer's Die Walküre. "I don't know of any other opera that has this kind of cult following," Mr. Owens said. "It's like Star Trek.
Some other schedule highlights:
- Mr. Gilbert will lead two major Mahler works (the Symphony No. 5 and Das Lied von der Erde and explore the music of Sibelius in honor of the latter composer's 150th birthday.
- The orchestra schedule features the Mahler Sixth (with Semyon Bychkov) and Ninth under Bernard Haitink in April of 2016.
- A three week festival focusing on the piano concertos of Rachmaninoff with Russian pianist Danil Trifonov completing a concerto cycle started earlier this season.
- In a new holiday offering Eric Owens will perform the title role in How the Grinch Stole Christmas.
- Finally, the season opens with a double bill of film scores, performed live with the movies in question. On the slate, late music director Leonard Bernstein's score for On the Waterfront and Nino Rota's score for The Godfather. Truly this is a concert you can't refuse.
