Stay in the Loop
BSR publishes on a weekly schedule, with an email newsletter every Wednesday and Thursday morning. There’s no paywall, and subscribing is always free.
The blessings of austerity: A month of (mostly) new faces
Philadelphia Orchestra's new season
Tom Purdom
The Philadelphia Orchestra may still be struggling with budget problems, but its schedule for the first month of its new season should dispel any fears that it's on its last legs.
Two-thirds of the programs evoke the sort of anticipation I felt as a new subscriber 50 years ago, when my first season tickets arrived in the mail.
The first subscription concert will kick off the season with the ultimate musical celebration, Beethoven's Ninth. But it will precede the Beethoven with a promising premiere: a new orchestral version of Nico Muhly's 2005 Bright Mass with Canon.
The Orchestra's press release describes Muhly as a "young, hip American composer," but don't let that frighten you away. Muhly's entry is a genuine mass, originally composed for the choir and organ of St. Thomas Church in Manhattan.
Cause for cheer
Muhly's hipness even includes a thoroughly contemporary fondness for early music and period instruments. On his website, he discusses a viol and voice concert with words that should cheer any devotee of period instruments:
"I had forgotten.... how much I love the combination of viols and voices... You end up with a delicious and natural sense of phrasing that takes much longer to achieve with modern instruments."
Obviously, this is not a composer who feels compelled to assault the Classical music tradition with an axe.
One big name
I can even detect some evidence that the Orchestra's management is taking a creative approach to the need to tighten budgets. Consider, for example, its roster of soloists.
The first six programs feature only one established star: the pianist Yefim Bronfman. The other soloists are Orchestra first chairs or guest musicians making their Orchestra debuts— presumably less expensive than name acts like Bronfman.
Yet there's no reason to think any of the soloists will deliver an inferior product. The first-time guests include two young performers who've racked up kudos with other major orchestras: the 25-year-old French pianist Lise de la Salle and the 29-year-old violinist Augustin Hadelich.
Three world premieres
The parade of Orchestra soloists will begin with one of the world's leading oboists, Richard Woodhams, playing the Strauss Oboe Concerto on a program that includes another heavyweight symphony conducted by Yannick Nézet-Séguin: the Mahler Fourth.
The other Orchestra soloists will be the stars of a major new-music event: the world premieres of three pieces commissioned by the Orchestra from composers who've demonstrated the ability to win the hearts and minds of contemporary audiences.
Bassoonist Daniel Matsukawa will premiere David Ludwig's Pictures from the Floating World. The Orchestra's principal flute, Jeffrey Khaner, will introduce a new flute concerto by the Persian composer Behzad Ranjbaran. Elizabeth Hainen will perform the harp part in a Tan Dun multi-media happening entitled Nu Shu: The Secret Songs of Women, a symphony for micro-films, harp, and orchestra.
Stalin's shadow
The other musician making his Philadelphia Orchestra debut is a bit older than La Salle and Hadelich: Conductor Semyon Bychkov, was born in the Soviet Union 60 years ago, emigrated to the U.S. in 1974 and became conductor of the Grand Rapids and Buffalo orchestras. When his career blossomed (and the Iron Curtain fell) in 1989, he returned to Europe, where he has held posts in France, Germany, and Russia.
Bychkov will conduct the third major symphony on the opening schedule, the Shostakovich 11th, subtitled The Year 1905. That title ostensibly refers to the failed Russian uprising that preceded the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution, but actually it refers to the 1956 anti-Soviet revolt in Hungary. From our perspective, it can be heard as a forecast of the revolt that toppled the Soviet regime.
Soviet trade-offs
Bychkov's website contains the best commentary on Shostakovich I've encountered. As he notes in his "Composer Insights," Bychkov was born later than Shostakovich and never experienced the "years of mass terror."
Nevertheless, he adds, "I understand the way of life he experienced.... I can understand how someone so ill, so frightened, so unhappy, so alone, could say, "'You want me to join the party? I'll sign, just leave me alone. You want me to sign the letter against Solzhenitsyn? I'll sign it'."
Bychkov's own father joined the Communist party, for the same reasons Shostakovich did. Had Shostakovich engaged in a saintly rejection of the party's demands, Bychkov argues, his career would probably have ended with his Fourth Symphony. Bychkov prefers the Shostakovich who was "both a saint and a sinner" so that followers like Bychkov could "receive everything that he was able to give us."
By my count, the first month of the Orchestra's new season contains four major events: Beethoven's Ninth and Mahler's Fourth, both conducted by Yannick; Shostakovich's 11th, led by a seasoned, insightful conductor in Bychkov; and the premieres of the Philadelphia Commissions. The old lion may have lost some fat, but it can still produce a galvanizing roar.♦
To read a response, click here.
Two-thirds of the programs evoke the sort of anticipation I felt as a new subscriber 50 years ago, when my first season tickets arrived in the mail.
The first subscription concert will kick off the season with the ultimate musical celebration, Beethoven's Ninth. But it will precede the Beethoven with a promising premiere: a new orchestral version of Nico Muhly's 2005 Bright Mass with Canon.
The Orchestra's press release describes Muhly as a "young, hip American composer," but don't let that frighten you away. Muhly's entry is a genuine mass, originally composed for the choir and organ of St. Thomas Church in Manhattan.
Cause for cheer
Muhly's hipness even includes a thoroughly contemporary fondness for early music and period instruments. On his website, he discusses a viol and voice concert with words that should cheer any devotee of period instruments:
"I had forgotten.... how much I love the combination of viols and voices... You end up with a delicious and natural sense of phrasing that takes much longer to achieve with modern instruments."
Obviously, this is not a composer who feels compelled to assault the Classical music tradition with an axe.
One big name
I can even detect some evidence that the Orchestra's management is taking a creative approach to the need to tighten budgets. Consider, for example, its roster of soloists.
The first six programs feature only one established star: the pianist Yefim Bronfman. The other soloists are Orchestra first chairs or guest musicians making their Orchestra debuts— presumably less expensive than name acts like Bronfman.
Yet there's no reason to think any of the soloists will deliver an inferior product. The first-time guests include two young performers who've racked up kudos with other major orchestras: the 25-year-old French pianist Lise de la Salle and the 29-year-old violinist Augustin Hadelich.
Three world premieres
The parade of Orchestra soloists will begin with one of the world's leading oboists, Richard Woodhams, playing the Strauss Oboe Concerto on a program that includes another heavyweight symphony conducted by Yannick Nézet-Séguin: the Mahler Fourth.
The other Orchestra soloists will be the stars of a major new-music event: the world premieres of three pieces commissioned by the Orchestra from composers who've demonstrated the ability to win the hearts and minds of contemporary audiences.
Bassoonist Daniel Matsukawa will premiere David Ludwig's Pictures from the Floating World. The Orchestra's principal flute, Jeffrey Khaner, will introduce a new flute concerto by the Persian composer Behzad Ranjbaran. Elizabeth Hainen will perform the harp part in a Tan Dun multi-media happening entitled Nu Shu: The Secret Songs of Women, a symphony for micro-films, harp, and orchestra.
Stalin's shadow
The other musician making his Philadelphia Orchestra debut is a bit older than La Salle and Hadelich: Conductor Semyon Bychkov, was born in the Soviet Union 60 years ago, emigrated to the U.S. in 1974 and became conductor of the Grand Rapids and Buffalo orchestras. When his career blossomed (and the Iron Curtain fell) in 1989, he returned to Europe, where he has held posts in France, Germany, and Russia.
Bychkov will conduct the third major symphony on the opening schedule, the Shostakovich 11th, subtitled The Year 1905. That title ostensibly refers to the failed Russian uprising that preceded the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution, but actually it refers to the 1956 anti-Soviet revolt in Hungary. From our perspective, it can be heard as a forecast of the revolt that toppled the Soviet regime.
Soviet trade-offs
Bychkov's website contains the best commentary on Shostakovich I've encountered. As he notes in his "Composer Insights," Bychkov was born later than Shostakovich and never experienced the "years of mass terror."
Nevertheless, he adds, "I understand the way of life he experienced.... I can understand how someone so ill, so frightened, so unhappy, so alone, could say, "'You want me to join the party? I'll sign, just leave me alone. You want me to sign the letter against Solzhenitsyn? I'll sign it'."
Bychkov's own father joined the Communist party, for the same reasons Shostakovich did. Had Shostakovich engaged in a saintly rejection of the party's demands, Bychkov argues, his career would probably have ended with his Fourth Symphony. Bychkov prefers the Shostakovich who was "both a saint and a sinner" so that followers like Bychkov could "receive everything that he was able to give us."
By my count, the first month of the Orchestra's new season contains four major events: Beethoven's Ninth and Mahler's Fourth, both conducted by Yannick; Shostakovich's 11th, led by a seasoned, insightful conductor in Bychkov; and the premieres of the Philadelphia Commissions. The old lion may have lost some fat, but it can still produce a galvanizing roar.♦
To read a response, click here.
What, When, Where
Philadelphia Orchestra. At Verizon Hall, Kimmel Center, Broad and Spruce Sts. (215) 893-1999 or www.philorch.org.
Sign up for our newsletter
All of the week's new articles, all in one place. Sign up for the free weekly BSR newsletters, and don't miss a conversation.
