New York Philharmonic

New York Philharmonic
Alan Gilbert, conductor
Håkan Hardenberger, trumpet
Avery Fisher Hall, New York, NY
June 19, 2010

Hakan Hardenberger

Håkan Hardenberger

For the Philharmonic’s penultimate program, Alan Gilbert chose Mozart, Wagner, and the New York premiere of Aerial (1998-99) by HK Gruber.

Mozart’s “Little” G minor Symphony was crisp, precise, and finely etched. The fast movements were moderately paced but lively, the Andante sang, yet the overall impression was cool and reserved; the drama and the emotional intensity seemed underplayed, the contrasts muted.

Heinz Karl Gruber, born in 1943 in Austria, studied various instruments and composition at the Vienna Music Academy after having been a member of the Vienna Choir Boys for four years. New Yorkers heard him some years ago at the “Berlin Lights Festival,” when he performed cabaret songs by Kurt Weill and Hanns Eisler as “chansonniere.” A prolific composer of vocal and instrumental music in many genres and contemporary styles, he wrote Aerial on commission from the BBC for the London Promenade Concerts. It is the first of three works composed for Hakan Hardenberger, the Philharmonic’s soloist at this concert. A spectacular trumpet player, he switched between muted and unmuted trumpet, piccolo trumpet and cow’s horn with dizzying frequency, producing an amazing variety of sounds, and easily competing with a large orchestra, which, after a hazy beginning, gradually built up to a jazzy, uninhibited dance. The music is supposed to evoke a vision of a barren earth-landscape seen from outer space, an imaginative but literally and figuratively “far-out” notion.

Both Wagner‘s personal and creative life were marked by controversy and turbulence, so it may be worth noting that both works on this program – the Siegfried Idyll and the Prelude and Liebestod from “Tristan und Isolde” – were inspired by significant – and notorious – relationships. The Idyll was written in 1870 as a birthday present for his wife Cosima, and also to celebrate their wedding shortly before (following a seven-year liaison while both had other spouses), and the birth of their youngest child, Siegfried, in 1869 (they had three children before they married and none afterwards.)

Wagner wrote his opera “Tristan und Isolde” in 1858-59 while living in exile in Switzerland with his first wife. In dire financial straits, they were supported by Otto Wesendonk, a wealthy admirer; Wagner repaid his generosity by engaging in a passionate relationship with his wife, Mathilde, remembered today mainly for having written the texts of the so-called “Wesendonk Songs,” five steamy poems which Wagner set to properly lush music as an “exercise” for Tristan.

The Idyll was premiered by 15 musicians at the Wagners’ house as a birthday serenade; using mostly single winds and no percussion, it is his only lightly scored composition. (The Philharmonic’s performance was almost too intimate and so subdued that some parts were barely audible.) The Tristan excerpts, in contrast, with a full complement of brass and percussion, are among his most luxurious works. The Liebestod is also one of his most famous soprano arias; Wagner made an orchestral version so that it could be performed in concert. He succeeded in recreating its melodic richness, harmonic elusiveness and textural density, but some lovers of the opera still find it hard to accept Isolde’s death without Isolde.

One of Alan Gilbert’s most admirable strengths is his ability to create transparency and to bring out important voices without seeming to suppress the rest. This showed most impressively in the “Tristan” excerpts. Gilbert preserved the lush sonority and sensuousness, the kaleidoscopic color, the undulating texture, but the lines were so carefully balanced that every melodic strand and every harmonic twist stood out.

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by Edith Eisler  for New York Concert Review; New York, NY

Alexander White, trumpet

Alexander White, trumpet
2009 Olga Koussevitzky Young Artists Winner
Steinway Hall, New York City
May 13, 2010

In a concert sponsored by the Musicians Club of New York, the 2009 first place winner of the prestigious Olga Koussevitzky Young Artists Awards, trumpeter Alexander White, performed at beautiful Steinway Hall in New York City. This was the first time a trumpet player was awarded a prize in the competition’s winds and brass division, where flutists or clarinetists usually get the honor.

Mr. White is not new to placing in competitions, as he was a two-time finalist in the National Trumpet Competition and won the International Trumpet Guild Solo Competition, Metropolitan Washington Philharmonic’s Winds Competition and the City of Fairfax Band Competition. He has performed as soloist with the American Youth Philharmonic, the Metropolitan Washington Philharmonic and the Brooklyn Symphony Orchestra. He is finishing his Masters Degree at Juilliard as a student of Mark Gould.

There was a good balance of styles in his program, and he also brought variety via distinguished performers, including another trumpet player, Caleb Hudson, and cellist Joe Lee for a performance of Handel’s Ode from Eternal Source of Light Divine. Hudson made an impressive partner in his brief appearance, almost stealing the show with a pure, golden high register. Here and in other works, White showed why he won such a high honor from the Olga Koussevitzky, but also showed why trumpet players don’t often tackle long programs: their lips simply give out after extensive playing. But even at the program’s outset (Bartok’s Romanian Folk Dances), he displayed a fair amount of cracks or the occasional wrong note—perhaps due to some nerves or having an off-day, which brass players tend to have.

In general, Alexander White showed the type of technical brilliance that would warrant any brass and wind jury’s special attention. In both Bellstedt’s Napoli and in Arban’s Fantasie Brillante, his double-tonguing and rapid finger-work were very impressive, and in Handel/Fitzgerald’s Aria con Variazioni from the 5th Harpsichord Suite, scales and flourishes were played with both ease and elegance. Accomplished pianist Stephanie Wu, (also a Juilliard Masters student), was a solid accompanist throughout, as the ensemble-playing was consistently unified.

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by Anthony Aibel  for New York Concert Review; New York, NY

Temple University Symphony Orchestra

Temple University Symphony Orchestra
Louis Biava, conductor;
Terell Stafford, trumpet
Alice Tully Hall, New York, NY
April 9, 2010


This concert “celebrated the American creative spirit” by combining photography and music. The program featured the “three B’s” American style – Barber, Bernstein, and Brubeck (Dave and his son Chris) – and included two New York premieres: the Brubecks’ “Ansel Adams: America,” and Bill Cunliffe’s fourth stream… La Banda (The Band). Composers Dave Brubeck and Bill Cunliffe were present, as were several members of Adams’ family.

The program’s only non-jazz work was Samuel Barber’s 1942 Essay No. 2, three continuous movements, the first slow and stately, the second an energetic fugue, and the third a “solemn chorale.” In Leonard Bernstein’s own symphonic arrangement of the Three Dances from his “On the Town,” the orchestra admirably captured the nostalgia of the middle section and the vibrant liveliness of the outer dance movements.

The program’s centerpiece was “Ansel Adams: America,” the Brubecks’ collaborative work written to accompany a projection on screen of Adams’ photographs of the American West. The concept was inspired by the composers’ discovery that Adams intended to become a concert pianist until, overwhelmed by the scenic beauty of Yosemite, he turned to photography instead. At the concert, the orchestra performed the music while Adams’ photographic images were displayed on a huge screen behind it. Proceeding without pause or interruption, this visual and auditory experience created a riveting cumulative impact. However, concentrating on both eventually became difficult; and, since each element was absorbing and beautiful enough to stand on its own, one began to wonder whether the simultaneity acted as an enhancement or a distraction.

Bill Cunliffe cites as his inspiration John Lewis and the Modern Jazz Quartet as well as the distinctive rhythms of Latin music. For his La Banda, a jazz band with a large percussion section was added to the orchestra; the players were splendid, but so enthusiastic that they obliterated virtually everything else. Trumpeter Terell Stafford was fine but also had only one dynamic: fortissimo. The orchestra, apart from some doubtful intonation in the winds, was excellent throughout. Maestro Luis Biava was at home in every style and in full command of his forces. The audience was extremely responsive, but included a large group of friends whose behavior was more suitable to a private party than a public cultural event.

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by Edith Eisler  for New York Concert Review; New York, NY