Still, in my mind, best concert ever: D. Robertson @ Juilliard

Ligeti – Atmospheres
Debussy – Jeux
Messaien – Turangalila

von Weber – Der Freischutz
Grieg – Piano Concerto in A minor
Barber – Adagio for Strings
Tchakovsky – Romeo and Juliet

Another:
Rossini – Overture to William Tell
Beethoven – Symphony No. 1
Delius – The Walk to the Paradise Garden
Hanson – Symphony No 2

Our opening concert was a ridiculous mix of the overplayed and the never heard:

TCHAIKOVSKY: Romeo and Juliet
TCHAIKOVSKY: Violin concerto
D´INDY (!?!?): Symphony no. 2

but this only came about because we were recording it the following week for a major label and needed to run it in concert. Not ideal, but it actually worked pretty well. And I made up for the sheer randomness of it last week with the crazy gamelan program, which I´ll post just for fun:

POULENC: Concerto for two pianos
MCPHEE: Tabuh-tabuhan
MUHLY: Wish You Were Here
DEBUSSY: La mer

Also, I may steal your Adams/Elgar/Beethoven idea. It may be predictable, but it´s exactly the kind of program we all want to hear no matter what.

I did my second professional music interview today, this time with the pianist Emanuel Ax after a rehearsal of Szymanowski’s Fourth Symphony for piano and orchestra in San Francisco. It sounded absolutely sensational and he’s going to be performing it at the NY Phil this winter, so be sure to check it out. My last question to him was, “Why is your hometown orchestra in New York so conservative in its programming?” and he defended their honor prodigiously. I’m going to have a look at this year’s schedule to see if I agree with him or not.

In any case, when I asked the p.r. lady at the symphony who had actually programmed the concert, she paused and said, “Good question. I’m not sure.” The program is a bizarre quartet conducted by Jeffrey Oundjian from Toronto of Mozart’s “Magic Flute Overture,” the Szymanowski, R. Strauss’ early Burleske for Piano & Orchestra, and Tchaikovsky’s “Francesca da Rimini.” It seems that putting together an actual program involves quite a few chefs, from the conductor, the soloist, and the artistic bureaucrat at the symphony who checks to make sure a piece isn’t being played repeatedly within the course of a few seasons. Sometimes the combo works, other times it’s a silly divertissement like the NY Phil opening.

But big cultural institutional openings are just that, a chance for wealthy donors to have fancy dinners and get drunk together. You don’t want to scare them with too much actual music.

ADAMS Short Ride in a Fast Machine
VIVALDI Bassoon Concerto
MAHLER Symphony No. 5

Back when I was working as a critic in Norfolk, the then-music director of the Virginia Symphony uncorked this:

COPLAND El salon Mexico
BERNSTEIN Serenade
BERNSTEIN Symphonic Dances from West Side Story
COPLAND Four Dance Episodes from Rodeo

which is fascinating in that there’s no correct order possible there. A conductor friend supplies one he conducted years ago (but didn’t program):

STRAUSS Also sprach Zarathustra
ROUSSEL Bacchus and Ariadne Suite No. 2
RAVEL Bolero

But my favorite — in part because of the venue, a Holiday Inn ballroom in Chesapeake, Va. — is this, concocted by a community chorus conductor and performed with a hired-out Virginia Symphony:

STRAVINSKY Symphony of Psalms
RODGERS Sound of Music Suite
WILHOUSKY Battle Hymn of the Republic

Jeez.

“Beat Movement”: TURNAGE A Prayer Out of Stillness, MACKEY Violin Concerto, STRAVINSKY The Rite of Spring.

As with Palin…eh. (Shivers…more shivers…)

On the other hand, Galway has definitely played modern stuff. Even the Corigliano is a better choice. I could easily come up with something good around that.

Would that The Almighty had sent a lightning bolt down from the sky then and there!

I love your blog, Nico.

Just add “Wellington’s Victory.” Gaaaaaackkkk…

Or perhaps Ms. Palin narrating “Lincoln Portrait?” In her homey phoney “I’m just like y’all” bullsh*t voice?

Ducking and running, humming “O Canada”…