Our trip last Thursday to a performance by the New York Philharmonic felt to me like a homecoming. As an Arts Administration student on the “Music track” (and a past Music Education/Vocal Performance major), I've really been enjoying our total immersion into the world of contemporary visual art; my cultural horizons have been broadened immeasurably in the past two weeks. But I was particularly excited to spend the morning discussing the themes of the Romantic era and contemplating the effects of timbre and instrumentation on the human ear. For a few short hours, I was back in my own element.
Our guest speaker, Jacob Cohen, led us in a discussion of the current “classical music crisis” and introduced us to the harmonic concepts behind the works by Sibelius, Brahms and Lindberg on that evening's program. Jacob, who is a music professor at Baruch College (as well as a fellow Phish head), really helped us understand the work that goes into programming a classical music concert (placing a modern piece in the beginning or middle of a program, for example, and ending with a familiar classical piece, is a popular way of “sneaking” new music into the mix without scaring away traditional listeners). That evening we also enjoyed a pre-concert lecture about each of the pieces, which helped us understand the personalities and unique experiences of each of the composers and how these could be referenced in the music itself.
The concert at Lincoln Center's Avery Fisher Hall that night really knocked my socks off. I couldn't believe how fast Lisa Batiashvili's fingers flew as she led the orchestra in Sibelius' notoriously difficult Violin Concerto. Her four curtain calls were well deserved in my opinion. And the finale of Brahms' Symphony No. II... flawless. There's a reason the NYP is considered one of the “Big Five” (the foremost classical ensembles in the US, including the Boston, Chicago, Philadelphia and Cleveland Symphony Orchestras)!
-Yasmina Kamal
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