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Thursday 4 February That shortcoming had been rectified by the time Berg composed his Three Orchestral Pieces in 1913–15, a work that demonstrates his fluency in manipulating a huge orchestra toward an expressive end. The direct inspiration seems to have come from the premiere of Mahler’s Ninth Symphony in June 1912, at which Berg was present. One might fairly say that he picked up where Mahler left off; Berg’s Three Orchestral Pieces takes Mahlerian transformation and exaggeration to an extreme, all overlaid on a structure of traditional dance-types, such as ländler, waltz and march. Everything is meticulously organised in these complex movements, which are unified by the careful interweaving of thematic material. The combined duration of the first two pieces perfectly balances that of the third. In fact, the first two movements were premiered as a pair, with the March only joining them in performance seven years later; even the printed score allows that the first two movements may be presented without the third. Berg had hoped to present the set on Schoenberg’s 40th birthday, which fell on 13 September, 1914. But the work progressed slowly. ‘I keep asking myself, again and again’, he wrote to his mentor, ‘whether what I express [in this piece], often brooding over certain bars for days on end, is any better than my last things.’ At least the first and third pieces were ready in time, and Berg offered them to his teacher along with a letter that speaks volumes about their relationship: ‘My hope to write something … I could dedicate to you without incurring your displeasure has been repeatedly disappointed for several years … I cannot tell today whether I have succeeded or failed. Should the latter be the case, then in your fatherly benevolence, Mr Schoenberg, you must take the goodwill for the deed.’ Programme note © James M. Keller, New York Philharmonic Program Annotator 14
about the performers About the performers Hayley Sparks Alan Gilbert conductor Alan Gilbert began his tenure as Music Director of the New York Philharmonic in September 2009, the first native New Yorker to hold the post. For his inaugural season he has introduced a number of new initiatives and artistic partners: The Marie-Josée Kravis composer-in-residence, held by Magnus Lindberg, and artist-inresidence, held by Thomas Hampson; an annual three-week festival; and CONTACT!, the New York Philharmonic’s new-music series. This season he led the orchestra on a major tour of Asia, with debuts in Hanoi and Abu Dhabi, and he gives world, American and New York premieres. Also this season he takes up the first William Schuman Chair in Musical Studies at the Juilliard School, a position that includes coaching, conducting and performance masterclasses. Highlights of last season with the New York Philharmonic included the Bernstein anniversary concert at Carnegie Hall and a performance with the Juilliard Orchestra. In May last year Alan Gilbert conducted the world premiere of Peter Lieberson’s The World in Flower, a New York Philharmonic commission, and in July he led the New York Philharmonic Concerts in the Parks and Free Indoor Concerts, as well as giving concerts at the Bravo! Vail Valley Music Festival in Colorado. In June 2008 he became conductor laureate of the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, following his final concert as its chief conductor and artistic advisor. He has been principal guest conductor of Hamburg’s NDR Symphony Orchestra since 2004. He regularly conducts other leading orchestras in America and internationally, including the Boston, Chicago and San Francisco Symphony orchestras, the Cleveland and Philadelphia orchestras, the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Amsterdam’s Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, and Orchestre National de Lyon. In 2003 he was named the first music director of Santa Fe Opera. Alan Gilbert studied at Harvard University, the Curtis Institute of Music and the Juilliard School. He was assistant conductor of the Cleveland Orchestra from 1995 to 1997. In November 2008 he made his acclaimed Metropolitan Opera debut, conducting John Adams’s Doctor Atomic. His recording of Prokofiev’s Scythian Suite with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra was nominated for a Grammy Award in 2008, while his CD of Mahler’s Symphony No. 9 received acclaim from the Chicago Tribune and Gramophone magazine. 15
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