New York Philharmonic / Рецензии

It is not often that the main attraction of a concert is a 30-minute new work, but such is the star power of its dedicatee, the phenomenally gifted Yuja Wang, that everyone was eager to listen with all due attention to Magnus Lindberg’s Piano Concerto no. 3. Two separate cadenzas – part of the few segments of the concerto where the piano is not forced to compete with a noisy orchestra – made clearer the composer’s ease in juggling with different rhythmic and harmonic combinations. They also allowed listeners to marvel once again at Wang’s ability to convey a poetic quality to passages that many pianists might just find too difficult to play.

Beyond his great musicianship—he is the most important American classical musician since Leonard Bernstein-—what makes Michael Tilson Thomas special is the uniqueness of his personality. In David Geffen Hall Thursday night, as guest conductor of the New York Philharmonic, it was that personality that came through above all else. That’s no slight to his musicianship, which was multifaceted and excellent. There were only two works on the program, Schubert’s Symphony in C Major, the “Great,” as the finale and the New York premiere of Tilson Thomas’ own Meditations on Rilke in the first half. Everything was well played and sung—mezzo-soprano Sasha Cooke and bass-baritone Dashon Burton were vocal soloists in Rilke—but the highpoint, the most powerful emotional moments, were the conductor’s conversations with the audience.