New York Philharmonic's 1st Concert of the New Sub Season

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Parent Category: Film and the Arts

Category: Reviews

Published on Thursday, 30 September 2010 19:21

Written by Jack Angstreich

New York Philharmonic
conducted by Alan Gilbert
Don Juan
coomposed by Richard Strauss
E-minor Violin Concerto
composed by Felix Mendelssohn
Métaboles
composed by Henri Dutilleux
Symphonic Metamorphosis of Themes of Carl Maria von Weber
composed by Paul Hindemith

The New York Philharmonic's first subscription concert of the new season began thrillingly, under Alan Gilbert's direction, with a superb rendition of Richard Strauss's Wagnerian tone poem, Don Juan. This performance was notable for its bravura control of dynamics replete with riveting fortissimos.

Beloved violinist, Itzhak Perlman, took the stage to play Felix Mendelssohn's E-minor Violin Concerto which he did with warmth and abundant confidence -- it is impressive that such an often-played work could sound so fresh. Perlman received an enthusiastic, standing ovation.

After intermission, the orchestra returned to perform the challenging high-modernist Métaboles by Henri Dutilleux which it played with a crystalline transparency.

The concert closed triumphantly with Paul Hindemith's exciting Symphonic Metamorphosis of Themes of Carl Maria von Weber, surely one of the composer's best scores. Here both the composer and the conductor successfully exploited the full resources of a modern symphony orchestra, again with powerful dynamics.

This program repeats on September 24th, 25th, and 28th.

New York Philharmonic
Avery Fisher Hall
Lincoln Center
September 23rd, 2010

 

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