WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART (1756-1791)
Symphony No. 38, K. 504, Prague (1786)
While Mozart’s star seemed to be setting in Vienna in 1786, it was rising in Prague. He had become the lion of the Bohemian capital when his opera The Marriage of Figaro was premiered there in the winter of that year. Its popularity in Prague was legendary. The people went wild for it, and its tunes were on the lips of the public. Mozart happily wrote in a letter from Prague: “…here they talk about nothing but ‘Figaro.’ Nothing is played, sung, or whistled but ‘Figaro.’ No opera is drawing like ‘Figaro.’ Nothing, nothing but ‘Figaro.’” The composer, his wife Constanze, a servant, and his dog (yes, Mozart had a dog) traveled to Prague where he was scheduled to conduct. They were treated like royalty, by royalty, as the palace guests of Mozart’s patron, Count Franz von Thun. At the first of two performances led by Mozart, on January 19, 1787 he premiered the present symphony—a work he had brought from Vienna, and which would from then on be known by the nickname “Prague.” Lacking a minuet, the “Prague” symphony has only three movements, and the feeling throughout this impressive work is one of dramatic tension and forward momentum. In terms of structure it is unusual, because it begins with a slow introduction—a practice reminiscent of many Haydn symphonies. The ensuing Allegro is a sophisticated piece of contrapuntal writing (so intricate, in fact, that Mozart worked out its complexities in preliminary sketches—something he rarely had to do) Standing at the midpoint of the work is the profound and lyrical Andante, in which Mozart keeps trumpets and drums silent. The sparkling Presto finale was and is a delight to hear: by quoting a theme from the opera Mozart was tipping his hat to his fanatical Figaro-crazed audiences in Prague.

ALEXANDER VON ZEMLINSKY (1871-1942)
A Lyric Symphony (1922)
The form of Alexander von Zemlinsky’s best-known and most often performed work, A Lyric Symphony, owes a debt to Mahler. In 1922 he wrote to a friend, “This summer I’ve written something along the lines of Das Lied von der Erde.” Like that work, the present work is part symphony, part orchestral song cycle, and its sumptuous orchestrations fall between the late-Romantic tradition of Mahler and the modernism of the Second Viennese School of Arnold Schoenberg, et. al. And, like Das Lied… the texts are drawn from an Eastern source, the Bengali poet Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941). In seven remarkable, impassioned poems, soprano and baritone soloists speak of love, from longing to passion fulfilled to farewell and release. Zemlinsky’s music captures Tagore’s opulent language, heavy with symbolism and breathtaking beauty. The structure of the symphony falls roughly into three parts: the first two songs deal with yearning and desire “Ich bin friedlos, ich bin durstig nach fernen Dingen” (“I am restless, I thirst for distant things”) and “O Mutter, der junge Prinz” (“Oh mother, the young prince”). The middle portion of the A Lyric Symphony sings of love fulfilled: “Du bist die Abendwolke” (“You are the evening cloud”) and “Sprich zu mir, Geliebter” (“Speak to me, Beloved”); and the final section is about separation and leave-taking: “Befrei mich von den Banden deiner Süße, Lieb“ (“Set me free from the bonds of your sweetness, Love”), the heart-breaking “Vollende denn das letzte Lied” (“Finish, then, the last song”); and the finale “Friede, mein Herz“ (“Be at peace, my heart”).

Neeme Järvi, chief conductor of the Residentie Orkest of the Hague and conductor laureate and artistic advisor of the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, will take over, in 2010, the Estonian National Symphony Orchestra, where he began his career in 1963 before fleeing Estonia, a former Soviet republic. Mr. Järvi makes frequent guest appearances with some of the foremost orchestras in the world, including the Berlin Philharmonic, Amsterdam’s Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Orchestra de Paris, Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, and the major orchestras of Scandinavia. In the United States he regularly conducts the Chicago and Detroit Symphony Orchestras, Philadelphia Orchestra, and National Symphony Orchestra.

In the 2009–10 season Mr. Järvi will open the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra’s season, and return to the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Göteborgs Symphony, and London Philharmonic Orchestra. He will tour China with Residentie Orkest of the Hague, and later lead the Shanghai Symphony and China Philharmonic Orchestras.

Neeme Järvi, who has a discography of more than 400 releases along with many accolades and awards, is music director emeritus of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra; principal conductor emeritus of the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra; conductor laureate of the Royal Scottish Orchestra; and first principal guest conductor of the Japan Philharmonic Orchestra. He last appeared with the New York Philharmonic in late November–December 2001, leading works by Weber, Brahms, and Taneyev.

American baritone Thomas Hampson has performed in the world’s preeminent concert halls and opera houses and with many of today’s most renowned musicians and orchestras; he also maintains an active interest in teaching, music research, and technology. An important interpreter of German romantic song, he is known as a leading proponent of the study of American song through his Hampsong Foundation, which he founded in 2003 to promote intercultural dialogue and understanding. In the 2009–10 season Mr. Hampson becomes The Mary and James G. Wallach Artist-in-Residence at the New York Philharmonic as well as the Leonard Bernstein Scholar-in-Residence. In these roles he will perform three programs with the Orchestra, appear on the Orchestra’s European tour, give a recital in Alice Tully Hall, and present three lectures entitled “Listening to Thought” as part of the Orchestra’s Insights Series.

Much of Mr. Hampson’s 2009–10 season is devoted to his “Song of America” project. In collaboration with the Library of Congress, Mr. Hampson is performing recitals and presenting master classes, educational activities, exhibitions, and broadcasts across the country and through a new interactive online resource, www.songofamerica.net; as part of the project, he has just released a new album, Wondrous Free — Song of America II, on his own label, Thomas Hampson Media. Other engagements include Mendelssohn’s Elijah, led by Kurt Masur in Leipzig; Verdi’s Ernani and Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin with Zurich Opera; Verdi’s La traviata at The Metropolitan Opera; solo recitals throughout the United States and in many European capitals; and the galas of the Vienna Staatsoper and the new Winspear Opera House in Dallas.

Raised in Spokane, Washington, Thomas Hampson has released more than 150 albums that have received many honors, including a Grammy Award, two Edison Prizes, and the Grand Prix du Disque. He has been named Kammersänger of the Vienna Staatsoper; Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the Republic of France; and Special Advisor to the Study and Performance of Music in America by Dr. James H. Billington, Librarian of Congress. Other accolades include the Austrian Medal of Honor in Arts and Sciences (in 2004), and the Edison Life Achievement Award (2005). Mr. Hampson last appeared with the New York Philharmonic on September 20, 2001, in Brahms’s Ein deutsches Requiem, led by Kurt Masur in memory of 9/11.

Find additional upcoming performances with Thomas Hampson

Soprano Hillevi Martinpelto, a resident of Stockholm, concentrates most of her work this season in Sweden, where she sings regularly with the Royal Opera. Recent operatic engagements, at home and abroad, have included Elisabeth in Wagner’s Tannhäuser; Desdemona in Verdi’s Otello; La Contessa in Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro; Leonora in Verdi’s Il trovatore; Alice Ford in Verdi’s Falstaff; and the Marschallin in R. Strauss’s Der Rosenkavalier in Stockholm. She also has sung Elsa in Wagner’s Lohengrin in Leipzig; Amelia in Verdi’s Un ballo in maschera in Gothenburg; Cio-Cio-San in Puccini’s Madama Butterfly in Berlin; Donna Anna in Mozart’s Don Giovanni in Dresden, Menorca, and Hong Kong; and Vitellia in Mozart’s La clemenza di Tito at the Maggio Musicale in Florence and in Munich.

Ms. Martinpelto has given Lieder recitals and sung in concert performances of Lohengrin, Weber’s Der Freischütz, La clemenza di Tito, and Wagner’s Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg at the Edinburgh Festival, as well as concert performances of La clemenza di Tito with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment in London and New York. Her appearances with orchestra have included Zemlinsky’s Lyric Symphony in Amsterdam; Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra in Sir Simon Rattle’s valedictory concerts as its music director; Mendelssohn’s Elijah in Paris; Handel’s Messiah in London at the BBC Proms; Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony in Berlin and at the Tanglewood Music Festival; Schumann’s Paradise and the Peri in Torino; and Sibelius’s Luonnatar with the Hallé Orchestra, Manchester.

Hillevi Martinpelto trained in Stockholm and made her debut at the Royal Opera as Cio- Cio-San in Madama Butterfly. Her principal recordings are on the Deutsche Grammophon and EMI labels. These concerts represent her New York Philharmonic debut.