Lorin MAAZEL (born in 1930 in Neuilly-sur-Seine, France)
Monaco Fanfares (1993)
When Monaco Fanfares opened the New York Philharmonic’s special celebration of Maestro Maazel’s 75th Birthday, he provided the following note in that evening’s program book: “This is really a work that I wrote in self-defense. I used to live right opposite the prince’s palace in Monte Carlo, and I’d hear the fanfares played every day at the changing of the guard at 12 o’clock. Finally I couldn’t deal with it any longer, and so I wrote them down and then wrote a little piece all in one key. It stuck me as a compositional challenge to write a piece in one key without ever changing it. And in fact, as in [Ravel’s] Boléro, I do make a change eventually, but just for a moment before I go back to the tonic B-flat Major.” Maestro Maazel led the Monte Carlo Philharmonic in the premiere of Monaco Fanfares before his Royal Highness Prince Rainier of Monaco.

Lorin MAAZEL
Farewells, Symphonic Movement, Op. 14 (1999)
Commissioned by the Vienna Philharmonic for his 70th birthday, Maestro Lorin Maazel led that orchestra in the world premiere of his Farewells in 2000, and later conducted the work at the Concertgebouw of Amsterdam. He also conducted the U.S. premiere at the Chicago Symphony Orchestra on December 14, 2000. The review of the concert in the Chicago Sun Times noted that the work might represent the composer’s response to the then-apocalyptic, millennial mindset. And, the review continued, though Maestro Maazel described himself in the program book “as a normally optimistic soul, he poured his worries about nuclear weapons, the ozone layer and machines that produce horrific, if unintended, consequences, into ‘Farewells’.” Maestro Maazel himself says: “In this mood, I composed a work which is at once a mirror of the obtuseness of human nature and the inhuman crunching of the machines of our invention, and a melancholy evocation of the tenderness we can still find within the souls of those not yet desensitized by the din of the present-day human arena. Therein lies our strength as a race: in the innocence of children; their natural yearning for warmth, beauty, and love; their gift for living harmoniously in Nature; their wish to flourish in happiness and peace. Therein lie our hopes for the future. The work begins with a violent wrenching of massive blows heard through a matrix of unformed substance. Clocks strike at ever-more irregular intervals. The noise moves on and away and a timid melody is heard gloating about, as if all would be well forever. Creeping mechanized things appear, oddly coherent little monsters, then bigger ones, drawing us into an odd waltz which whirls through into an eerie wasteland where high-pitches sounds almost imperceptible to the ear slide through the ether. Isolated souls mourn they know not what. All the little and big monsters reappear, dragging everything into a cacophonous mix of waltz and march themes. The timid melody returns, now more melancholy, with a foreboding of horrors to come. And come they do: the waltz them is mercilessly battered, a frolicsome flicker of a tune is soon twisted into mad shapes, and awesome crescendo of machines and hammers finally leads to a terrifying crash and a sustained scream of anguish. Parts of whatever had existed before now float aimlessly about, gradually settling in the dust of total destruction. Isolated voices are heard, sounding senseless and lost. The last note fades and fades, finally coming to rest like a pebble in nothingness. …The work was written over a two-year period and finished before the end of the last century. I now write very cheerful music and hope to be able to do so for the foreseeable future.”

JEAN SIBELIUS 1865-1957)
Symphony No. 2 (1901)
Sibelius composed his Second Symphony mainly while he and his family were soaking up the Italian sun in Rapallo (a trip made possible with money raised by his patron, Axel Carpelan). The Symphony came shortly on the heels of Finland’s virtual national anthem, Finlandia, composed in 1899. Many have seen or heard in it an emblem of hope for the national liberation of the Grand Duchy of Finland from the yoke of Russia’s Tsar Nikolai II, whose grip on the semi-autonomous land had been steadily increasing, even limiting the use of the Finnish language and culture. In fact, more than one of Sibelius’s works was banned by Russian regime for being too inspirational. The composer led the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra in the 1902 premiere, which was received with great acclaim by his countrymen, hungry for music by their national hero. The Second Symphony was so successful that three more performances had to be scheduled. And though the composer strenuously denied it, many have commented on the political associations of this work, including Finnish conductor Osmo Vänskä: “The second symphony is connected with our nation’s fight for independence, but it is also about the struggle, crisis and turning-point in the life of an individual. This is what makes it so touching.” Of particular note is the finale, which builds up tremendous tension until the final brass coda, which Sibelius marked a triumphant fff. It was the tonic that the Finns needed to salve their national wounds. And whether it had a “program” or not, the Second Symphony is by far the most popular of his symphonies, and its style is characteristic Sibelius…the marvelous dark-hued sonorities, the expansive brass chorales, the passionate expressiveness.

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.