Alan Gilbert To Conduct Webern and Brahms 10/14-16

Music Director Alan Gilbert will lead the New York Philharmonic in Webern's Passacaglia, Op. 1, Brahms's Violin Concerto with Pinchas Zukerman as soloist, and Brahms's Symphony No. 4, Thursday, October 14, 2010, at 7:30 p.m., Friday, October 15, at 2:00 p.m., and Saturday, October 16, at 8:00 p.m. The program opens and closes with works that feature a passacaglia - a musical form that was popular in the 17th and 18th centuries.

"We have two passacaglias book-ending the program," explains Mr. Gilbert. "The last movement of Brahms's Fourth Symphony is based on a ground bass passacaglia - a kind of a repetitive pattern, a theme and variations. We thought it would be interesting to show how two composers dealt with the passacaglia."

Speaking about Brahms's Fourth Symphony, Mr. Gilbert notes: "This symphony, to me, is a culmination of Brahms's music. It's emotionally so potent and so intense, but at the same time so rigorously composed. What makes this piece endlessly fascinating is that it's so intellectually sophisticated and complex; you never get to the end of the techniques he employed. Webern is a composer who had a kind of conflict between the intellectual rigor of his composition and the emotional impact, and as such, I think is very much a kindred spirit to Brahms."

Mr. Gilbert, who has played chamber music with Pinchas Zukerman, says that the violinist "is a consummate musician. To hear him play the Brahms Violin Concerto is something that I think we can all really look forward to."

• Pre-Concert Talk
A Pre-Concert Talk will take place one hour before each performance in the Helen Hull Room, unless otherwise noted. Speaker to be announced. Tickets are $7 (effective September 13) in addition to the concert ticket. Attendance is limited to 90 people. Information: nyphil.org or (212) 875-5656

• On the Music: The New York Philharmonic Podcast
Mark Travis, a producer for the WFMT Radio Network since 1999 and the producer of the 52-week-per-year nationally syndicated radio series, The New York Philharmonic This Week, is the producer of this podcast. These award-winning previews of upcoming programs - through musical selections as well as interviews with guest artists, conductors, and Orchestra musicians - are available at
nyphil.org/podcast or from iTunes.

• National Radio Broadcast
This concert will be broadcast the week of November 8, 2010,* on The New York Philharmonic This Week, a radio concert series syndicated nationally to more than 300 stations by the WFMT Radio Network. The 52-week series, hosted by actor Alec Baldwin, is generously underwritten by The Kaplen Foundation, the Audrey Love Charitable Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Philharmonic's corporate partner, MetLife Foundation. The broadcast will be available on the Philharmonic's Website, nyphil.org. The program is broadcast locally in the New York metropolitan area on Classical 105.9 FM WQXR on Thursdays at 9:00 p.m.
*Check local listings for broadcast and program information.

• Archival Exhibit
Dimitri Mitropoulos: Conducting the Unfamiliar, 1940-1960. The Greek-born conductor (1896-1960), who served as the New York Philharmonic's Music Director at the height of his orchestral career, was a champion of the new and unusual, expanding the Orchestra's repertoire, commissioning new works, and promoting the symphonies of Gustav Mahler. The exhibition, marking the 50th anniversary of Mitropoulos's death, will focus on the music that he brought to the Philharmonic's
audiences. Bruno Walter Gallery, Avery Fisher Hall, September 27-November 30, 2010.

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