Last night at Carnegie Hall, the American Symphony Orchestra presented “Opus Posthumous,” a concert devoted to works that were not first performed until after the deaths of their composers. These included an opera overture by Franz Schubert to an opera never published or performed in his lifetime, Anton Bruckner’s Symphony No. 00 (a study symphony he composed but did not consider suitable for performance), and Antonin Dvorak’s Symphony No. 1, which was composed for entry
Antonin Dvorak
NY Philharmonic Debuts: Arabella Steinbacher & Joshua Weilerstein
The NY Philharmonic’s most recent subscription program presented debuts for the soloist and the conductor. Violinist Arabella Steinbacher, already an established recording artist in Europe, performed the Violin Concerto in E Minor by Felix Mendelssohn, and Joshua Weilerstein, an assistant conductor of the orchestra, made his subscription concert debut. (Presumably he has already led the orchestra several times in non-subscription events, such as the Young Peoples’ Concerts.) I attended the last performance of this program, … <Read More>
Orchestral Weekend: NYP/Nelsons and ASO/Botstein
Two concerts attended this weekend: On Saturday night, the New York Philharmonic with guest conductor Andris Nelsons and violin soloist Christian Tetzlaff. On Sunday afternoon, the American Symphony Orchestra with conductor Leon Bostein. My experience was a combination of the memorable and the forgettable.
First, the memorable. For the second half of the NY Philharmonic concert, Nelsons led the orchestra in Bela Bartok’s Concerto for Orchestra. I thought this was probably the best performance that … <Read More>
American Symphony Explores Works of the 1880s at Carnegie Hall
Leon Botstein, the music director and conductor of the American Symphony Orchestra for the past twenty years, has emphasized thematic programming in constructing the orchestra’s concert schedule. There is always a thematic link of some sort between the pieces presented in a multi-piece program, and most of the orchestra’s annual Vanguard Series in New York City consists of such programs. Last night at Carnegie Hall, the theme was “What Makes a Masterpiece.” Botstein offered performances … <Read More>