Rooms with a View

Johannes Brahms wrote his Fourth Symphony under the inspiration of his surroundings in the summers of 1884 and 1885: Mürzzuschlag, a picturesque Styrian village about two hours southwest of Vienna. His requirements: rooms with a view of the town square, near a worthy restaurant, with room for a good piano.

You can visit the same haunts today, strolling the path of his hikes (the Brahmsweg), stopping by his statue in the town square, and dropping in at the Brahms Museum “in the genuine summer residence of Johannes Brahms,” which displays the piano he used during those summers. Read more in the program notes for the Philharmonic concerts November 15–17. 

“The Lion Returns”

So read the Superconductor headline for its review of Kurt Masur’s return to the Philharmonic podium this weekend. Take a glance through our Kurt Masur photo album as we get ready for his appearance tomorrow evening and for his second round of performances, November 15–17, in this kick-off of the season’s Brahms cycle. 

On the Case

Philharmonic Assistant Conductor Case Scaglione had a whirlwind weekend. Scheduled to conduct the Young People’s Concert on Saturday afternoon, he completed a spirited rehearsal of that “Gypsy Airs” program on Friday morning. Then, just hours later, he was tapped at the last moment to fill in for Kurt Masur — whose arrival at Avery Fisher Hall was delayed due to traffic snarls — on the first half of the evening’s all-Brahms program.

The performance of Brahms’s Double Concerto, with Concertmaster Glenn Dicterow and cellist Alisa Weilerstein (herself a last-minute substitute for ailing Principal Cello Carter Brey), was Case’s subscription concert debut. 

(Chris Lee photo)

Name That Conductor

In a family photo (from 1931), this four-year-old is hanging out with his sisters, mother, and grandmother at a picnic.

Guess who? (Hint: he really loves Brahms)

(photo courtesy New York Philharmonic Digital Archives)

Artist Change: Alisa Steps In

Cellist Alisa Weilerstein will perform Brahms’s Double Concerto for Violin and Cello with Concertmaster Glenn Dicterow in this week’s Philharmonic program, replacing Principal Cello Carter Brey, who has had to withdraw due to illness.

Music Director Emeritus Kurt Masur will conduct the November 8–10, and 13 program that also includes Brahms’s Symphony No. 2. 

Vote Your Conscience

Here’s a contest for which you don’t have to wait on line to vote: your favorite Brahms symphony or concerto. This week Music Director Emeritus Kurt Masur has returned the Philharmonic for two weeks of all-Brahms programs, launching the Orchestra’s season of the German’s master’s symphonies and concertos?

Which is your favorite? Feel free to add a link to a YouTube clip of your pick.

Double Concerto for Violin and Cello? 

Symphony No. 2? 

Symphony No. 3?

Symphony No. 4?

Piano Concerto No. 1?

Violin Concerto?

Piano Concerto No. 2?

Symphony No. 1?

Brahms’s Musical Dialogue

Glenn Dicterow: ”In this three-part dialogue the themes are passed back and forth among the cello, violin, and orchestra…. We do have similar feelings about this work — it’s very organic. That’s the joy of it.”

Carter Brey: ”We’re so used to playing off each other, I almost don’t have to think about it. It’s a combination of support and spontaneity.”

So said the Philharmonic Concertmaster and Principal Cello about performing as co-soloists in Brahms’s Concerto for Violin, Cello, and Orchestra, which they will do again November 8–13 and 13, in a reunion with Music Director Emeritus Kurt Masur. Experience their partnership for yourself in what Glenn calls “one if the greatest concertos ever written” and what Carter identifies as “the Brahms concerto” for cellists.

A Very Brahms Season

The music of Johannes Brahms will be heard a lot this season, as the Philharmonic performs all of his symphonies and concertos. But this titan of orchestral music also composed  intimate chamber works that reflected his warmth and humor, and four of them  will be featured on our Saturday Matinee series. 

We kick things off this Saturday, September 29, with his autumnal Clarinet Quintet, created in 1891, after the composer — who’d felt he’d run out of ideas — was freshly inspired by meeting clarinetist Richard Mühlfeld.

Read more about his inspiration in our online program notes. 

It’s Carter Brey Day

Happy birthday to Carter Brey, the eminent and award-winning cellist who became the Philharmonic’s Principal in 1997. We are really looking forward to hearing him as a soloist this season, first as one of the concerto soloists (along with Concertmaster Glenn Dicterow) in the Brahms Double, November 8–10, and 13, and when he plays all of Bach’s Suites for Solo Cello on March 27 during The Bach Variations: A Philharmonic Festival.