Juilliard Orchestra Perform Work of Unsuk Chin at Lincoln Center

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Published on Friday, 06 March 2026 21:46

Written by Jack Angstreich

Photo by Claudio Papapietro, courtesy of Juilliard

At Lincoln Center’s superb Alice Tully Hall, on the night of Monday, February 10th, 2025, I was privileged to attend a sterling Juilliard Orchestra concert that was admirably led by the exciting young conductor Ruth Reinhardt.

The event started very promisingly with an accomplished realization of South Korean composer Unsuk Chin’s compelling subito con forza from 2020, a reworking of motifs from Ludwig van Beethoven written, according to annotator Carys Sutherland, “for the 250th anniversary of his birth,” although this piece recalls the music of Béla Bartók and the early Igor Stravinsky. Chin, who was a student of György Ligeti, has said about Beethoven’s work that “what particularly appeals to me are the enormous contrasts: from volcanic eruptions to extreme serenity.”

An impressive and precocious soloist, Gaeun Kim—she wore a beautiful turquoise gown—then entered the stage for a remarkable performance of Bohuslav Martinů’s underrated and seldom played Cello Concerto No. 1, H. 196, from 1955. The initial, Allegro moderato movement opens ebulliently with dance-like rhythms, although more reflective as well as lyrical interludes ensue; it ends unexpectedly and affirmatively. The slow movement that follows, marked Andante con poco, which contains some of the most exquisite music in the piece, has an elegiac quality but with moments of urgency; it closes quietly. The energetic, Allegro finale has song-like, plaintive passages and concludes spiritedly.

The second half of the evening was likely even more memorable: an enthralling account of Johannes Brahms’s magnificent Symphony No. 1 in C Minor, Op. 68, from 1876. The Un poco sostentutointroduction to the first movement is solemn, even portentous, preceding its dynamic, Allegro main body that finishes softly. The succeeding Andante sostenuto is passionate and melodious, with episodes of an almost celestial quality; it ends gently. The enchanting, even effervescent, scherzo, marked Un poco allegretto e grazioso, at times has an almost pastoral character, while its close is subdued. The finale has a grave, Adagio introduction to the joyous, tuneful main body of the movement, with a tempo of Allegro non troppo, ma con brio; it builds to a triumphant conclusion.

The artists were deservedly, enthusiastically applauded.

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