MAGNUS LINDBERG (b. 1958)
EXPO (World Premiere: New York Philharmonic Commission) (2009)
"I knew that I wanted to write a piece that would be Alan Gilbert's 'expo' or introduction—a tribute to him and the Orchestra at a historic moment," says our Composer-in-Residence, Magnus Lindberg. The idea of "opening" and the "sense of occasion" were prominent in the composer's approach to his task—something he wanted even the title to signal. Certain allusions naturally suggested themselves, like the concept of "exhibition" (as in Pictures at an Exhibition ) or the term "exposition," used to describe the presentation of musical ideas. "But given the brevity of the piece, I thought a pithy word like 'EXPO' would make a fitting title; besides, I like the sound of the word." Magnus Lindberg also observed another of his composing rituals: he likes having the scores of other composers around him—like the already mentioned Mussorgsky showpiece, La mer, and Rite of Spring. "It doesn't matter to what page those magnificent compositions are open, they always inspire me." The other pieces on this program also were a consideration: "Berlioz’s Symphonie fantastique...so modern, so dramatic, so 'insane,' yet beautiful; and Messiaen's romantic Poèmes pour Mì. Although I didn't quote Messiaen," he explains, "I tried to evoke the 'flavor' and harmonic patterns of his music." And finally, "a work of any length," he says, "must have a trajectory—a sense of direction and logic." The most immediate attribute of EXPO is the big contrast between fast and slow tempos, which are the basic vocabulary of the new work. "As short as EXPO is," he says, "there are more than 10 tempo markings, resulting in a feeling of great tension and energy in the orchestra." And to Magnus Lindberg, nothing can compare to the modern orchestra. "It is amazing how 100 players, focused by their conductor, can convey such excitement to the audience. It’s fantastic!"

CHARLES IVES (1874-1954)
Symphony No. 2 (1897-1901)
Charles Ives’s first music teacher was his father George, a bandmaster, who no doubt planted the seed in young Charlie for musical fun and experimentation. According to his biographer, Jan Swafford, for example, while the young Ives sang “Swanee River” in one key, his father accompanied him in another; he played cornet across a pond so Charlie could gauge the effect of sound across space; and he set two bands marching around a park playing different tunes, to see what it sounded like when they approached and passed each other...” So it’s no surprise that Ives developed a “sense of wonder about music...” (Swafford) and felt free to combine notes, harmonies, and songs in merry profusion. Ives was an amateur composer who composed in his free time and made a successful living as an insurance executive. The traditional music establishment looked askance at his output, disapproving of such works as his Second Symphony. The piece wasn’t heard until half a century after its completion, when it found a champion in Leonard Bernstein, who premiered it with the New York Philharmonic in 1951. The five movements of this delightful crazy-quilt of a symphony are a kind of hybrid of European symphonic traditions (with references to Beethoven, Brahms, Wagner, and others) and pure Americana with a veritable “Name that Tune” of popular patriotic songs, marches, and hymns serving as the wellspring of its themes. (Bernstein called it “a sort of personal memoir of Ives’s own musical experience.) And, at the end, when the orchestra blasts “Columbia the Gem of the Ocean,” followed by a trumpet riff on “Reveille,” and an irreverent “Bronx cheer” to cap the whole event—nobody will blame you for laughing out loud.

CHARLES IVES
The Unanswered Question (1906; 1930-35)
Surely Charles Ives’s Unanswered Question is one of his boldest, most original compositions; it likely is also his most well-known and easily approachable. Clocking in at just about six minutes, A Contemplation of a Serious Matter, or The Unanswered Perennial Question (as Ives’s full title reads) manages to be a miniature philosophy lesson about the universe and man’s existence in it, with an elegance akin to that of Einstein’s E= mc2. Three groups of players are situated in various parts of the performance space, carry on their musical argument, each with its own tempo, key signature, texture, and sonority: first, the haunting, never-changing, chorale-like, maddeningly placid background created by a string orchestra off stage; it represents, according to Ives, “the silence of the Druids—who know, see and hear nothing”—the eternity of the universe. Second, a solo trumpet poses the “eternal question of existence” seven times. And third, a quartet of flutes represents mankind’s search for a reply. But as the piece progresses, and the futility of the quest becomes more and more obvious, the winds grow more and more agitated with frustration to the point of shrillness, remaining silent after the question has been posed for a last time. When has silence been this eloquent?

LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN (1770-1827)
Piano Concerto No. 4 (1806)
After a private 1807 premiere at the palace of his patron, Prince Josef Franz von Lobkowitz, Beethoven played the Fourth Piano Concerto publicly in 1808; but due to his increasing deafness it was to be his last such performance. The concert was an extraordinary, four-hour marathon that also included his Fifth and Sixth symphonies, the Choral Fantasy, sections of his Mass in C, and a concert aria. All this in an unheated hall in late December. The dedication had been promised to Baron Ignaz von Gleichenstein, but when the concerto was published, the dedicatee was Archduke Rudolph, Beethoven’s longtime friend. Ever the iconoclast, Beethoven began his concerto with an unaccompanied gentle introduction from the piano, followed by the orchestra playing alone and at great length. The concept was at least astonishing, if not shocking, to early-19th century ears. Listen also for the beautiful, intense “conversation” between soloist and orchestra that music theorist Adolf Marx compared to Orpheus taming the wild beasts with his lyre—an appealing, if unlikely, explanation of Beethoven’s beautifully constructed music. An equally valid interpretation sees two opposing ideas in a struggle for dominance, with the piano’s more restrained insistence gaining the upper hand. The rondo finale begins quietly but dashes to a joyful and brilliant close.

Alan Gilbert will begin his tenure as Music Director of the New York Philharmonic in the 2009–10 season, the first native New Yorker to hold the post. For his inaugural season he has introduced a number of new initiatives: Composer-in-Residence Magnus Lindberg; The Mary and James G. Wallach Artist-in-Residence Thomas Hampson; an annual three-week festival; and CONTACT, the New York Philharmonic’s new-music series. He will also lead the Orchestra on a major tour of Asia in October 2009, with debuts in Hanoi and Abu Dhabi; a European tour in January 2010; and performances of world, U.S., and New York premieres. Also in the 2009–10 season Mr. Gilbert becomes the first to hold the William Schuman Chair in Musical Studies at The Juilliard School, a position that will include coaching, conducting, and performance master classes.

Highlights of Mr. Gilbert’s 2008–09 season with the New York Philharmonic included the November 14, 2008, Bernstein anniversary concert at Carnegie Hall, and a performance with the Juilliard Orchestra, presented by the Philharmonic, featuring Bernstein’s Symphony No. 3, Kaddish. In May 2009 he conducted the World Premiere of Peter Lieberson’s The World in Flower, a New York Philharmonic Commission, and in July 2009 he led the New York Philharmonic Concerts in the Parks, Presented by Didi and Oscar Schafer, and two concerts at the Bravo! Vail Valley Music Festival in Colorado.

In June 2008 Mr. Gilbert was named conductor laureate of the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, following his final concert as its chief conductor and artistic advisor. He has been principal guest conductor of Hamburg’s NDR Symphony Orchestra (NDRSO) since 2004. Mr. Gilbert regularly conducts other leading orchestras in the U.S. and abroad, including the Baltimore, Boston, Chicago, and San Francisco symphony orchestras; The Cleveland Orchestra; Munich’s Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra; Amsterdam’s Royal Concertgebouw; and Orchestre National de Lyon. In 2003 he was named the first music director of Santa Fe Opera, where he served for three seasons.

Born and raised in New York City, Alan Gilbert studied at Harvard University, The Curtis Institute of Music, and The Juilliard School; he was a substitute violinist with The Philadelphia Orchestra for two seasons, and assistant conductor of The Cleveland Orchestra from 1995 to 1997. In November 2008 he made his acclaimed Metropolitan Opera debut conducting John Adams’s Dr. Atomic. His recording of Prokofiev’s Scythian Suite with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra was nominated for a 2008 Grammy Award for Best Orchestral Performance.

Learn More about Alan Gilbert

EMANUEL AX, piano, born in 1948 in Lvov, Poland
Emanuel Ax is renowned not only for his poetic temperament and unsurpassed virtuosity, but also for the exceptional breadth of his performing activities. Each season his distinguished career includes appearances with major symphony orchestras worldwide, recitals in the most celebrated concert halls, chamber music collaborations, the commissioning and performance of new music, and adding to his acclaimed discography. One of the most popular and respected pianists in the world, Emanuel Ax started his piano career in Warsaw when he was just seven years old. “That’s what I wanted to do, and that’s what I’m doing. I also went to a regular college as well as the conservatory. That was my dad’s influence—music is a pretty iffy career. … What you need is luck.” While still a boy, in 1961, he and his family moved to Winnipeg, Canada. Thanks to the sponsorship of the Boys Clubs of America he enrolled in the pre-college division at Juilliard, and was soon winning prize after prize, including the Young Concert Artists Award, the first Arthur Rubinstein International Piano Master Competition in 1974, and the coveted Avery Fisher Prize in 1979. Seven Grammy Awards further attest to his achievements. His exquisite lyricism and brilliant technique allow him to tackle all parts of the repertoire, from Mozart to today’s music. In recent seasons he has premiered John Adams’s Century Rolls, Christopher Rouse’s Seeing, and Bright Sheng’s Red Silk Dance, and at these Philharmonic concerts he plays Messiaen’s Couleurs de la cité céleste. He says, “Performing remains enormously fun for me and in some ways it is becoming even more fun. …And how lucky am I to be in a profession where I never have to think about retiring, but can play music forever.”

“His greatness, his overwhelming authority as musician, technician and probing intellect emerges quickly as he plays. Within minutes, we are totally captured by his intensity and pianistic achievement.” Los Angeles Times

“His performances have a clarity and unpretentiousness that direct our focus to the music itself and not the interpreter at the keyboard.” Chicago Sun Times