GUSTAV MAHLER (1860-1911)
Adagio from Symphony No. 10 (1910)
Superstitious about composing a ninth symphony (he knew that Beethoven, Schubert, Dvorák, and Bruckner did not live to write a Tenth), Mahler gave his next to last symphony a name instead of a number: Das Lied von der Erde). He then composed his Ninth, thinking he had outwitted fate. But it was not to be. Though there is music for all five movements of the Tenth, the state of completion of the movements varies from just melodic lines, to essentially completed orchestral parts; it was never finished by Mahler. The time of the symphony’s composition was one of personal turmoil, marked by his continuing preoccupation with his mortality, heart disease, and the affair his beloved beautiful wife Alma Schindler Mahler (and eventually Alma Schindler Mahler Gropius Werfel) was having with the architect Walter Gropius. In fact, this work may be seen as an attempt to heal the rift between them: the final page of the short score includes tortured outbursts addressed to her “To live for you! To die for you!” And yet, this symphony seems to have achieved a peace that his Ninth never did. It ends in great tenderness and serenity, with her affectionate name “Almschi!” written over the final bars. After Mahler’s death the symphony was shrouded in mystery—a mystery perpetuated by biographers, other composers, and conductors. Alma Mahler suppressed it until 1924, when she asked the young composer Ernst Krenek (briefly her son-in-law), to prepare the manuscript for publication. Controversy surrounded this and other attempts to correct, edit, or fill in the score, and several other composers declined to undertake the task. Fast forward to 1959/60, when Deryck Cooke created his first performing version of the Tenth, which Alma Mahler eventually approved. The first movement—275 bars and about 25 minutes in length—can be considered “authentic” because Mahler completed orchestrating it. The New York Philharmonic performs only this movement at these concerts. The Andante opening is for violas alone playing pianissimo in a probing, searching mode, after which the music progresses to the Adagio, with a melody presented by the violins, soft and warm, enriched by second violins, violas and horns. The movement builds to a massive, terrifying climax, with nine notes of the chromatic scale played at once—like some apocalyptic organ chord. Eventually everything concludes on an expansive, beautifully scored cadence.

LORIN MAAZEL (born in 1930 in Neuilly-sur-Seine, France)
Music for Flute and Orchestra, Op. 11 (1995)
Maestro Lorin Maazel composed his playful Music for Flute and Orchestra, Op. 11 for James Galway and the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra in 1995 as part of a trilogy of concertos (the others are Music for Cello and Orchestra, Op. 10 written for Mstislav Rostropovich, and Music for Violin and Orchestra, Op. 12, for himself in the soloist role). While the works are separate pieces, they have often been programmed together, thus illustrating their relationship to one another. All three concertos are virtuoso pieces for both soloists and the orchestra. This one-movement work is divided into six sections, for which Maestro Maazel provides helpful guidance (excerpted here): Comodo, the tenor tuba has a “virtuoso obbligato part” and “baroque-like ornamentations and flourishes embellish both the solo flute and tenor tuba parts”; the title Playful says it all—a “hopping, skipping episode, with all instruments leaping rapidly in a jaunty, reveling spirit”; “Languid is a dreamy sequence”; “Song is built on a wistful theme, a slow flow of notes which rises shyly only fall away and begin again”; Cadenza “contains a tongue-in-cheek dialogue with castanets”; and the Finale’s main theme is “assigned again to the flute, with virtuoso ‘licks’ given in turn to piano, xylophone, roto drums and tenor tuba” and the work ends in a final unison E. Of the premiere at Carnegie Hall The New York Times enthused: “Mr. Maazel possesses enormous inborn musicianship, and his Music for Flute and Orchestra…testified to his fine instincts. It was a marvelously orchestrated piece in which complex balances came off with extreme lucidity. The sonorities, particularly a blend of flute and tenor tuba, engaged the ear. The vocabulary ranged from Straussian triad themes to languid Barber-like melodies to exotic percussive touches. … there was much to admire: the surface sheen, the textural ingenuity, the overall confidence of the thing.”

LEONARD BERNSTEIN (1918-1990)
Symphony No. 2 for Piano and Orchestra, The Age of Anxiety (after W. H. Auden) (1949, rev. 1965)
Six years after Leonard Bernstein rocketed to fame as the last-minute replacement for Bruno Walter to conduct the New York Philharmonic (and nine years before he would himself become its music director), he composed this symphony, inspired by W. H. Auden’s long poem, “The Age of Anxiety: a Baroque Eclogue.” Bernstein dedicated it to his champion, the great conductor Serge Koussevitzky, who premiered it in 1949 with the Boston Symphony Orchestra and the composer as soloist. In the broadest terms, the symphony is about the search of the individual for meaning in the world…making sense of his/her destiny. Bernstein comments that the scenario involves four lonely people—Quant, Malin, Rosetta, and Emble who meet in a bar on Third Avenue and proceed to lubricate their “symposium on the state of man” with alcohol. They continue their drinking and discussion in a taxi, and then at Rosetta’s apartment. Eventually they go their separate ways. The symphony is in two parts: Part One is divided into a Prologue (introduction of the four characters), The Seven Ages (the life of man in a fourfold discussion), and The Seven Stages (an inner “and highly symbolic journey…[where]… relationships can be formed and faith can be established.” Part Two consists of The Dirge (lament in a cab for the absence of a father figure—“a leader who can always find the right solution”—to give meaning to life), The Masque in Rosetta’s apartment (drinking, dancing, wrapped in a jazzy “crazy scherzo,” according to Bernstein), and The Epilogue (resolution/ reconciliation/ coming to terms); as the composer says: “…the irony of the end of the poem and the crisis of faith is that one finds faith in one’s backyard …not in these great terms of faith with a big ‘F’.” The musical language employed by the composer includes jazz notes, variations, a touch of 12-tone concepts, and music that echoes the popular idiom, with the solo piano a stand-in for the composer himself. “I imagine that the conception of a symphony with piano solo emerges from the extreme personal identification of myself with the poem. The pianist provides an almost autobiographical mirror in which he sees himself, analytically in the modern ambiance. The work is therefore no concerto, in the virtuosic sense…The essential line of the poem (and the music) is the record of our difficult and problematic search for faith.”

Lorin Maazel, who has led more than 150 orchestras in more than 5,000 opera and concert performances, became Music Director of the New York Philharmonic in September 2002. His appointment came 60 years after his debut with the Orchestra at Lewisohn Stadium, then the Orchestra’s summer venue. As Music Director he has conducted seven World Premiere–NewYork Philharmonic Commissions, including the Pulitzer Prize– and Grammy Award–winning On the Transmigration of Souls by John Adams; Stephen Hartke’s Symphony No. 3; and Melinda Wagner’s Trombone Concerto. He has led cycles of works by Brahms, Beethoven, and Tchaikovsky; and he conducted the Orchestra’s inaugural performances in the DG Concerts series — a groundbreaking initiative to offer downloadable New York Philharmonic concerts exclusively on iTunes.

Mr. Maazel has taken the Orchestra on numerous international tours, including the historic visit to Pyongyang, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, in February 2008 — the first performance there by an American orchestra, and an event watched around the world. Other recent tours have included Asia 2008 — to Taipei, Kaohsiung, Hong Kong, Shanghai, and Beijing; the May 2007 Tour of Europe; the November 2006 visit to Japan and Korea; the Philharmonic Tour of Italy in June 2006, sponsored by Generali; the two-part 75th Anniversary European Tour to thirteen cities in five countries in the fall of 2005; and residencies in Cagliari, Sardinia, and at the Bravo! Vail Valley Music Festival in Colorado.

In addition to the New York Philharmonic, Mr. Maazel is music director of the Palau de les Arts Reina Sofia in Valencia, Spain. A frequent conductor on the world’s operatic stages, he returned to The Metropolitan Opera in January 2008 for the first time in 45 years to conduct Wagner’s Die Walküre.

Prior to his tenure as New York Philharmonic Music Director, Mr. Maazel led more than 100 performances of the Orchestra as a guest conductor. He served as music director of the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra (1993–2002), and has held positions as music director of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra (1988–96); general manager and chief conductor of the Vienna Staatsoper (1982–84); music director of The Cleveland Orchestra (1972–82); and artistic director and chief conductor of the Deutsche Oper Berlin (1965–71). He is an honorary member of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra and an honorary member of the Vienna Philharmonic. On February 17, 2009, he will be named a Commander of the Legion of Honor by the government of France.

A second-generation American, born in Paris, Mr. Maazel was raised and educated in the United States. He took his first violin lesson at age five, and first conducting lesson at seven. Between ages 9 and 15 he conducted most of the major American orchestras. In 1953 he made his European conducting debut in Catania, Italy.

Mr. Maazel is also an accomplished composer. His opera, 1984, received its world premiere on May 3, 2005, at London’s Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. It was revived in the 2007–08 season at the Teatro alla Scala in Milan, and has been released on DVD by Decca.

Robert Langevin, holder of The Lila Acheson Wallace Chair, joined the New York Philharmonic as Principal Flute at the start of the 2000–01 season. In May 2001, he made his solo debut with the Orchestra in the North American premiere of Siegfried Matthus’s Concerto for Flute and Harp with Philharmonic Principal Harp Nancy Allen and then- Music Director Kurt Masur. Prior to the Philharmonic, Mr. Langevin held the Jackman Pfouts Principal Flute Chair of the Pittsburgh Symphony and was an adjunct professor at Duquesne University, in Pittsburgh. Mr. Langevin served as associate principal flute of the Montreal Symphony Orchestra for 13 years, playing on more than 30 recordings. As a member of Musica Camerata Montreal and l’Ensemble de la Société de Musique Contemporaine du Québec, he premiered many works, including the Canadian premiere of Pierre Boulez’s Le Marteau sans maître. In addition, Mr. Langevin has performed as soloist with Quebec’s most distinguished ensembles and has recorded many recitals and chamber music programs for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. He also served on the faculty of the University of Montreal for nine years.

Born in Sherbrooke, Quebec, Mr. Langevin began studying flute at age 12 and joined the local orchestra three years later. While studying with Jean-Paul Major at the Montreal Conservatory of Music, he started working in recording studios, where he accompanied a variety of artists of different styles. He graduated in 1976 with two first prizes, one in flute, the other in chamber music. Not long after, he won the prestigious Prix d’Europe, a national competition open to all instruments with a first prize of a two-year scholarship to study in Europe. This enabled him to work with Aurèle Nicolet at the Staatliche Hochschule für Musik in Freiburg, Germany, where he graduated in 1979. He subsequently studied with Maxence Larrieu, in Geneva, winning second prize at the Budapest International Competition in 1980. His most recent solo appearance with the Philharmonic was in September 2008 in Lorin Maazel’s Music for Flute and Orchestra.

Find additional upcoming performances with Robert Langevin

JOYCE YANG
Piano, born in 1986 in Seoul, South Korea
Though Joyce Yang attends the College Division of The Juilliard School (having received Presidential Honors and a full scholarship) her career is already in full swing. Her first teacher was her aunt who gave Joyce Yang her first piano as a present on her 4th birthday, and she was soon winning national competitions in her native South Korea. She entered the Korean National Conservatory, and at age 10, she began to make concerto and recital appearances. In 1997 she moved to the U.S. to begin studies at Juilliard’s pre-college division, winning its Concerto Competition. Her victories at other competitions have garnered her opportunities to perform with many orchestras, including the Philadelphia Orchestra, the National Symphony, and the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. When she was just 19, Joyce Yang won the silver medal at the Twelfth Van Cliburn International Piano Competition in June 2005, (the youngest entrant at this prestigious piano event), was awarded Best Chamber Music Performance and Best Performance of a New Work, received $20,000, three years of US concert engagements, and a compact disc recording opportunity. She also is featured in In the Heart of Music, the film documentary about the competition. She made her New York Philharmonic debut in November 2006, and that same season also appeared with the symphony orchestras of Houston, Indianapolis, Fort Worth, Colorado, Kansas City, Colorado Springs, and Orlando, and gave numerous recitals throughout North America and in Europe, including appearances at The Kennedy Center and the Tonhalle in Zurich, Switzerland. Her desire for “anonymity” when playing runs counter to the star culture of many performers: “I think the best performance is when people don’t even know I’m there, when the connection between the music and the audience is so intense that the performer doesn’t exist. When I’m playing, that’s the highest goal for me. This is what it’s supposed to be like, (knowing) what the music is about, rather than remembering who I am. When I touch the audience by music, it’s something so indescribably beautiful, a heart to heart.”

“The recital’s blazing finish, which earned Yang a standing ovation, proved that she is one of the most gifted young pianists of her generation. The large audience should feel privileged to have witnessed her artistry at close range.” (The Flint Journal), after the 2005 Van Cliburn International Piano Competition

“Joyce Yang … won the audience’s heart right from the start. … She’s a brilliant pianist and a million-volt presence onstage.” (Dallas Morning News)

KIERA DUFFY, soprano
Winner of a 2008 Sullivan Foundation grant and a finalist in the 2007 Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, American soprano Kiera Duffy is recognized for both her gleaming high soprano and insightful musicianship.

Ms. Duffy opened her 2008-09 season with her New York Philharmonic debut in Pierre Boulez’s Pli selon pli: Improvisation II sur Mallarmé under the baton of Lorin Maazel, and went on to sing György Ligeti’s seminal works, Aventures and Nouvelles Aventures, for her Los Angeles Philharmonic debut.

In previous seasons she was seen at Tanglewood as Despina in Così fan tutte, Tebaldo in Don Carlo, and in the U.S. staged premiere of Elliott Carter’s opera What Next? , all conducted by James Levine. Critics have called her singing “virtuosic” (The New York Times) , “silvery” (Boston Globe) , and “gleaming” (The New Yorker) . She has performed with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, Utah Symphony, Omaha Symphony, and the Masterwork Chorus and Orchestra for her Carnegie Hall debut. Ms. Duffy’s varied repertoire has taken her to New York City Opera’s VOX Showcase for John Zorn’s monodrama La Machine de l’Être, the Spoleto Festival USA for Pascal Dusapin’s To God, and Arizona Opera as Fatmé in Grétry’s Zémire et Azor.