WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART (1756-1791)
Piano Concerto No. 12, K. 414 (1782)
In a momentous decision, Mozart decided to leave Salzburg in 1781, escaping the oppressive presence of his father, the court of his employer, Prince-Archbishop Colloredo, and the city itself. He was off to the big city of Vienna. Stimulated by his independence he set to work. Between 1782 and 1786, Mozart composed 15 concertos for himself, including a set of three (Nos. 11, 12, and 13), which he worked on simultaneously. He provided an assessment of his work to his father: “These concertos are a happy medium between what is too easy and too difficult; they are very brilliant, pleasing to the ear, and natural, without being vapid.” To raise money he offered the set for sale on “subscription”—though unsuccessfully. (When his father opined that he was charging too much, Mozart reduced the price from six to four ducats.) Before long he would be the toast of Vienna, in demand as a pianist, performing his own concertos to great acclaim.

PAUL HINDEMITH (1895-1963)
Klaviermusik mit Orchester: Piano Left Hand (1923)
When pianist Paul Wittgenstein (1887-1961) lost his arm as a result of a bullet in World War I, he turned his tragedy into an opportunity. An heir to his father’s substantial fortune, he had the means to commission the great composers of the day (Ravel, Prokofiev, Britten, Strauss, and Korngold) to compose for his exclusive use. His conservative tastes, however, left several of those works unperformed, including Ravel’s masterful Concerto for the Left Hand, as well as this Piano Music with Orchestra: Piano Left Hand by Hindemith. Still, Wittgenstein refused to release the concerto to other pianists. In 2002 the Hindemith Foundation was unexpectedly approached about purchasing the score, and after serious sleuthing and negotiating, the work was finally published two years later. It created a sensation when this work, which had slumbered in the possession of the Wittgenstein family for some 80 years, was finally given its first public performance by Leon Fleisher and the Berlin Philharmonic. Our soloist says that this piece “is not easy to play! A lot of octaves—you have to be in good physical condition. I had to work hard on the piece. The last movement has enormous difficulties… [It gives] me great joy to play.”

ALBERT ROUSSEL (1869-1937)
Bacchus et Ariane (Bacchus and Ariadne), Suite No. 2 (1931)
Albert Roussel’s ballet vibrantly captures a Greek legend. Ariadne gives Theseus the golden thread that guides him out of the Labyrinth, where he has slain the monstrous half-man, half-bull Minotaur. Theseus eventually abandons Ariadne on the island of Naxos. When in despair she throws herself into the sea, she is caught in the embrace of Bacchus (aka Dionysus). With his divine kiss the island comes to life with fauns and maenads, and an intoxicating bacchanal follows. In the climactic scene, Bacchus takes Ariadne to a mountain peak and places a crown of stars, plucked from the constellations, upon her head.

RICHARD STRAUSS (1864-1949)
Final Scene from Salome (1905)
The scandalous subject matter of the opera Salome put Strauss’s opera-writing career on a fast—if notorious—track. The depraved Salome is a teen who gets what she asks for from her stepfather Herod: in exchange for a special dance involving seven veils (sometimes teasingly called the world’s first strip tease) she receives the head of John the Baptist … on a silver platter). Strauss said the role calls for “a 16-year-old girl with the voice of a Wagnerian soprano.” In the hair-raising final scene a crazed, obsessed Salome sings some of the most chillingly spine-tingling music ever written.

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.

Pianist Leon Fleisher, a recipient of a 2007 Kennedy Center Honor and the subject of the 2006 Oscar-nominated short documentary Two Hands: The Leon Fleisher Story, is celebrating his 80th year with leading musical organizations around the world. In addition to these New York Philharmonic performances, he marked his birthday in July as soloist and conductor of an all-Mozart program with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, followed by concerts with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra at the Ravinia Festival and the Boston Symphony Orchestra at Tanglewood. He made his annual Carnegie Hall appearance, and performs this season with orchestras such as the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra and the London Philharmonic Orchestra with Vladimir Jurowski.

At the age of nine, Mr. Fleisher began studies with the great German pianist Artur Schnabel; he made his New York Philharmonic debut at 16, and was the first American to win the prestigious Queen Elisabeth of Belgium Competition in 1952. He made touchstone recordings with Szell and The Cleveland Orchestra, and for a dozen years he appeared in all the world’s major music centers to great acclaim until, in 1965, he was struck with a neurological affliction that rendered two fingers of his right hand immobile. For almost four decades, Mr. Fleisher continued to share his special gifts through performances of the repertoire for left hand, as a conductor and teacher, never giving up the hope that he would play again with both hands. Through special treatments, he has been playing with both hands again in recent seasons and making critically acclaimed recordings. Mr. Fleisher last appeared with the New York Philharmonic in November–December 2006, performing Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 12, conducted by Lorin Maazel.

Soprano Nancy Gustafson has performed at The Metropolitan Opera, San Francisco Opera, Houston Grand Opera, and Lyric Opera of Chicago. In Europe she has appeared in Vienna, Munich, Hamburg, Geneva, Rome, Turin, Berlin, and at Paris’s Opéra Bastille, London’s Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, and Milan’s Teatro all Scala. Ms. Gustafson is especially well known for her interpretations of Janáček operas, particularly the title role of Katya Kabanova, which she has performed at the Glyndebourne Festival Opera under Andrew Davis, and at Opéra Bastille. She sang the title role of Janáček’s Jenůfa at Covent Garden and at Paris’s Théâtre du Châtelet under the baton of Simon Rattle, and returned to Glyndebourne as Lisa in Tchaikovsky’s Queen of Spades. Other roles include the Marschallin in R. Strauss’s Der Rosenkavalier, and the title roles in Strauss’s Ariadne auf Naxos and Salome. She performed in the world premieres of Deborah Drattell’s Nicholas and Alexandra opposite Plácido Domingo in Los Angeles, and in Lorin Maazel’s opera, 1984, at Covent Garden. Her recordings include Wagner’s Das Rheingold (Decca), as well as Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra and Puccini’s La bohème (both for Teldec). Ms. Gustafson last appeared with the New York Philharmonic in December 2006, performing the Final Scene from Salome, conducted by Lorin Maazel.