New York Philharmonic Podcast

Podcast host Mark Travis speaks with New York Philharmonic Principal Cello Carter Brey and Principal Viola Cynthia Phelps, who portray the protagonists in Richard Strauss's tone poem Don Quixote. Mr. Travis illuminates the history behind Beethoven's Symphony No. 6, Pastoral, and provides the listener with a tour through this musical ode to nature.

Podcast host Mark Travis, conductor Michael Riesman, Collegiate Chorale director James Bagwell, and author/radio producer William Berger discuss Philip Glass’s groundbreaking score for "Koyaanisqatsi," which the New York Philharmonic, Philip Glass Ensemble, and Collegiate Chorale will perform live during a screening of the film, November 2–3. Among the topics: the "almost unique collaboration" that led to the work’s creation; the history of its growing critical success; and how this essentially wordless film tells its story of "life out of balance."

Podcast host Mark Travis introduces Schubert’s Unfinished Symphony, a work that wasn’t premiered until nearly four decades after the composer’s death, and Director of Education Theodore Wiprud discusses Schubert’s melodic approach to the composition of symphonies. Through an archival recording, Laureate Conductor Leonard Bernstein recollects meeting the “reserved” and “shy” Shostakovich when the Philharmonic was on tour in Russia in 1959. Mark Travis and Theodore Wiprud also explore Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 13, Babi Yar — an impassioned “song cycle” or “choral symphony” that was a major political risk for the composer.

This special podcast is designed especially to acquaint young listeners with the themes and music of the October 15, 2011 Young People's Concert.

Music Director Alan Gilbert talks about the astonishing talent of Lorin Maazel, whose return to the New York Philharmonic continues with an all-Richard Strauss program. Mr. Maazel expresses his "unbounded admiration" for the Orchestra, whom he will be leading in Strauss's An Alpine Symphony, Horn Concerto No. 1, and Till Eulenspiegel's Merry Pranks. Philharmonic Principal Horn Philip Myers, the soloist in the concerto, comments on the work he will be performing, and Mr. Maazel talks about the composer's fondness for that instrument. Composer-conductor Victoria Bond discusses the “mountain adventure” that inspired An Alpine Symphony, and podcast host Mark Travis takes us on a musical stroll through Strauss's alpine countryside.

Former Music Director Lorin Maazel, in his first return to the Orchestra since the end of his tenure, expresses his affection and respect for the Philharmonic and its musicians, including Philharmonic Principal Flute Robert Langevin and Harp Nancy Allen, who discuss Mozart's Concerto for Flute and Harp, which they will perform on this program. Mr. Maazel discusses what draws him to the music of Debussy, whose playful Jeux and Spanish-inflected Iberia are being performed. Also, composer-conductor Victoria Bond shares the genesis of Jeux, and podcast host Mark Travis introduces all the works on these concerts, which open with Mozart's Symphony No. 38, Prague.

Music Director Alan Gilbert discusses a program featuring what he calls "our version of the three Bs" — J.S. Bach’s Concerto for Two Violins, Berg’s Violin Concerto, and Brahms’s introspective Symphony No. 3. Podcast host Elliott Forrest discusses the works on the program and introduces violinist Frank Peter Zimmermann, the 2011–12 season Mary and James G. Wallach Artist-in-Residence, and Alan Gilbert discusses the origins of his Philharmonic solo debut as Zimmermann’s "sparring partner."

Music Director Alan Gilbert explains why he commissioned John Corigliano to create One Sweet Morning, and the American composer himself talks about why he selected “poetry from all ages and all nationalities” for his reflection on the decade since 9/11; mezzo-soprano Stephanie Blythe is the soloist in this World Premiere. Podcast host Mark Travis also provides history and descriptions of the other works on the program: Barber’s Essay No. 1 for Orchestra and Dvorák’s Symphony No. 7, which Alan Gilbert has characterized as this great symphonist’s most powerful work.

Music Director Alan Gilbert discusses Mahler's Symphony No. 2, Resurrection — a monumental work that he describes as having a "universal message of renewal and rebirth" — one of the three Mahler symphonies he will conduct in the Philharmonic's 2011–12 season. Artistic Administrator Ed Yim explores the Philharmonic's Mahler tradition, as well as the symphony's cosmic themes and the emotions it can evoke in the listener.

Music Director Alan Gilbert discusses the program for Opening Night of the Philharmonic's 170th season. Podcast host Elliott Forrest speaks with the evening's soloist, Deborah Voigt, about the works she is singing and introduces the other works on the program.

Podcast host Mark Travis is your guide to Janácek’s opera The Cunning Little Vixen, a witty and poignant tale of a determined female fox and the humans and animals she encounters. Music Director Alan Gilbert discusses the underlying human message of the work, and why it is so right for the Philharmonic, and director/designer Doug Fitch, soprano Isabel Bayrakdarian (who portrays the Vixen), tenor Keith Jameson (Schoolmaster), and Janácek scholar Gavin Plumley also shed light on the works message and delights.

Gil Shaham describes Walton’s Violin Concerto as a work that has “some of the most moving, soaring violin music ever written for violin” and one that he wants to go back to “again and again.” Artistic Administrator John Mangum discusses the two Musorgsky works on this program: the Prelude to Khovanshchina, with its evocative proto-impressionist depiction of dawn on a river, and Pictures at an Exhibition, which will be performed in the arrangement by Ravel. Podcast host Elliott Forrest discusses Ravel’s poignant Pavane pour une Infante défunte.

Podcast host Mark Travis and Philharmonic Director of Education Theodore Wiprud discuss the two Russian works on this program, exploring the appeal of Shostakovich’s youthful yet finely crafted First Symphony, and the context and character of Rachmaninoff’s tone poem The Isle of the Dead. Soprano Deborah Voigt, who is joining the Orchestra for Schoenberg’s Erwartung, talks about this psychodrama’s artistic rewards and technical challenges.

Podcast host Elliott Forrest speaks with composer Sebastian Currier, whose Time Machines will be given its World Premiere by the Philharmonic and The Mary and James G. Wallach Artist-in-Residence Anne-Sophie Mutter, for whom the work was written. Music Director Alan Gilbert, who is conducting the concerts, offers his thoughts on the violinist's residency and discusses the two works that bookend this program: Beethoven's Romance No. 2 for Violin and Orchestra — also featuring Ms. Mutter — and Bruckner's Symphony No. 2.

Podcast host Mark Travis provides a guide to the two works on the program: Bartók's Violin Concerto No. 2 and Beethoven's Symphony No. 3, Eroica. Music Director Alan Gilbert praises violinist Lisa Batiashvili, who in turn lauds Mr. Gilbert and explains what she finds most compelling in the Bartók concerto, and archival audio of the late Philharmonic Conductor Laureate Leonard Bernstein reveals how the Eroica Symphony helped create Romanticism in music.