Dudamel kicks off Philharmonic weeks with bracing American music, old and new
Gustavo Dudamel won’t become the New York Philharmonic’s official music director until the start of the 2026-27 season, but he’s already substantially involved with the orchestra. He is leading concerts for the next several weeks, including the free ones in city parks in early June.
If the Thursday night subscription concert in David Geffen Hall was any indication, the future is already in mid-stride.
To start with, this was a program one longs to see much more from one of the major American orchestras a quarter way through the 21st century. It featured the world premiere of a piece commissioned by the Philharmonic from an American composer, bracketed by two great American symphonies, from Stravinsky and Philip Glass.
Stravinsky’s Symphony in Three Movements is indeed an American symphony, not just composed during his American era but exploding with the sleek, muscular modern aesthetic that was a trademark of the national style, not least because of Stravinsky’s influence.
The crackling, blunt timbres and power of the opening laid down a marker for this fine performance. The machinery of the first movement was powerful, and Dudamel folded the piano and timpani concertante parts (played by Eric Huebner and Markus Rhoten) into the overall orchestral texture, which kept up a great driving, mass of sound. Woodwinds emerged bright with that piquant Stravinsky touch; the second movement was delicate and wistful, the finale churning. This is a masterpiece with a deceptively modest façade, and the sense of commitment and forward motion that flowed from the podium through the orchestra and out into the hall was scintillating.
The world premiere was Kate Soper’s Orpheus Orchestra Opus Onus, with the composer upfront making her Philharmonic performing debut speaking and singing. Soper is one of the most inventive and skillful composers of vocal music around, and her ideas go well past mere singing. She intertwines the performance of vocal and instrumental music along with text, and, at its best, her music is a dazzling and poetic experience of vocal expression seamlessly combined with a demonstration of how the music works.
Orpheus Orchestra Opus Onus is in that manner, a piece that mixes the Orpheus myth with a gathering together of instruments, that is the foundation of the orchestra. Soper narrated this on a meta-level, at times got down into the details of how orchestration produces color and character, discussed what music can and cannot do, and sang key parts of the Orpheus story as the character.
That’s a lot of elements, and in truth there were too many to be entirely successful. Nothing was poor quality, but the quality of the elements varied, with a drastic difference in feeling between the Orpheus music performances and the spoken word sections. The narrations were essentially a lecture with music, and entertaining, while the Orpheus music was tremendous, totally enthralling. Things like Soper repeating an arpeggio, shadowed by on overblown bass flute, were deeply beautiful and time-stopping.
But those didn’t last. Despite her superb skills and what seemed a technically sharp performance from the orchestra, this was too uneven to be fully satisfying.
Philip Glass has written over a dozen symphonies, and their quality varies. Symphony No. 11 may be his best—and it is one of the few great 21st-century orchestral works. In the minimalist-standard three movements (fast-slow-fast), it brings together the composer’s familiar arpeggios and cross-rhythms, but is also packed with surprising and idiosyncratic melodic turns and harmonic movement.
The Eleventh is also full of drama and spirit. The moody, atmospheric introduction with harp and low brass gives way to rich thematic material in the first movement. The second has a brand range of feeling, and the third is packed with forceful music that pushes the rondo idea into dance. Underneath, there is enormous expression that rises up through each movement and comes close to overpowering the listener.
As with the Symphony in Three Movements, this was a fantastic performance. An orchestra like this has the skills to handle the notes and rhythms, and one felt that in partnership with Dudamel they also have the energy and spirit to find musical and expressive power inside Glass’ repetitions. This was one of the more stirring things one has heard in David Geffen all season, and the ovation for Glass, 88, who was seated in a box, warmed the heart of one who has seen his long journey from avant-gardist to one of the most popular mainstream classical composers.
This program will be repeated 2 p.m. Friday and 7:30 p.m. Saturday and Tuesday. nyphil.org
