PIOTR ILYICH TCHAIKOVSKY (1840-1893)
Piano Concerto No. 1 in B-flat Minor, Op. 23 (1875)
Today it’s hard to believe that Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 1 wasn’t always on everyone’s hit parade. The American public took the concerto to its collective heart—along with Van Cliburn, who played it to win the First International Tchaikovsky Piano Competition in the Soviet Union in 1958. He was the first American to do so—an unwelcome event in the Cold War rivalry between two superpowers. But the concerto wasn’t always a winner. When the composer played it for Nikolai Rubinstein, the piano virtuoso remained silent at first, then, according to the composer, verbally assaulted it, proclaiming it “worthless, absolutely unplayable, …trivial, common;…only one or two pages are worth anything; the rest had better be destroyed.” Though understandably shaken, Tchaikovsky remained defiant and vowed, “I won’t change a single note.” And the world is the richer for it. He dedicated the concerto to the famed conductor/pianist Hans von Bülow, who premiered it in 1875 in Boston, Massachusetts. It was a triumph. Its dazzling pyrotechnics and soaring melodies have guaranteed it a permanent place in the repertoire of all pianists and endeared it to audiences for more than 130 years. Even the detractor Rubinstein eventually was conquered by its undeniable beauty and performed it many times.

LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN (1770-1827)
Symphony No. 4 (1806)
Robert Schumann spoke of Beethoven’s Fourth Symphony as “a slender Greek maiden between two Norse gods”—referring to the mighty “Eroica” that came before and the equally grand Fifth that followed. Hector Berlioz likened the second movement to “an angel singing at the gate of Paradise”; yet there were detractors, too, like Carl Maria von Weber, who thought listening to it was like a bad dream. But whatever subjective images it conjures, this is Beethoven in a sunny, almost rambunctious mood, and the music must have poured out of him like a sparkling brook. He composed the Fourth on commission from Count Franz von Oppersdorf, a Silesian nobleman, while in the midst of working on the Fifth Symphony. But Beethoven committed a faux pas with the premiere: though dedicated to the Count, Beethoven chose to hold the first performance at a private concert at the palace of Prince Josef Franz Lobkowitz in 1807, instead of having the Count’s own orchestra do so. Needless to say, this breech of etiquette was not forgiven by the Count, and he never commissioned another work from Beethoven. Less well-known and less frequently performed than the odd-numbered symphonies, Beethoven here seems to be having fun with the audience. He starts with a wonderfully mysterious introduction in a minor key, and then suddenly breaks forth at top speed in a blazing switch to the major mode. There are mood shifts in the other movements as well, but at the end, there is nothing but sunshine and a happy arrival at the home key.

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

LANG LANG, piano, born in 1982 in Shenyang, China
Lang Lang recalls that when he was just two years old he watched a “Tom & Jerry” cartoon in which Tom plays Liszt’s “Hungarian Rhapsody” on the piano. “From that moment on, there was only one thing I wanted: to play the piano.” His father was his first piano teacher, and his mother taught him how to read music. They made great sacrifices to provide the best for their only child (Lang Lang was born when China’s one-child-policy was in force). Among the highpoints of his amazing career his 1999 breakthrough stands out—when he made a dramatic last-minute substitution for an ailing André Watts at the Ravinia Festival in Tchaikovsky’s First Piano Concerto. Since then, he has appeared across the globe to great audience and critical acclaim. In an interview for Deutsche Grammophon, Lang Lang recalls: “When I was very little I heard Tchaikovsky’s First Piano Concerto and was really touched by the beautiful melodies and all the exciting passages. And so, since my childhood it’s been a life dream to perform this concerto….When I was nine years old I started to practice it. And then when I was 13, I played it for the first time, in Beijing with the China Youth Orchestra.” He acknowledges that there are special challenges playing such a well-known work: “First, you must respect everything that’s written in the score. Then you need to play not only with your heart, but with your soul, because this piece has real emotional power—it’s like somebody who’s had tremendous life experiences—some are super exciting but some are deeply tragic. At the beginning of the second movement, everything is reborn, you have the most beautiful flute solo, and when the piano comes in, it’s like waterfalls—so beautiful and so pure. When I play that movement I just enjoy myself. I’m not on earth—I’m in some heavenly place.”

“Yes, there’s gold in them fingers.” The Times (London)

“This young pianist, barely into his twenties, has captured wide public attention with the brilliance and energy of his playing.” Washington Post