Found in Translation

The latest from our EUROPE / SPRING 2013 Virtual Tour is now available for your voyeuristic pleasure! Among the highlights of our time in Dresden are the beautifully ornate Semperoper, where we played Mozart, Bloch, and Musorgsky, and its striking contrast in Volkswagen’s Die Gläserne Manufaktur, the site of Magnus Lindberg’s Kraft, plus works by Christopher Rouse and Leonard Bernstein. Not to mention a familiar face in the audience…

(Photos by Chris Lee)

That’s the Fact, Jack

Well, there’s somethin’ you don’t see everyday… While filming in Dresden, Bill Murray (aka Phil Connors aka Bob Harris aka Steve Zissou) spent his day off at Volkswagen’s Die Gläserne Manufaktur watching Alan and the Orchestra perform Christopher Rouse’s Prospero’s Rooms, Bernstein’s Serenade (with Joshua Bell), and Magnus Lindberg’s wildly theatrical and raucous Kraft (which used reporposed Volkswagen auto parts for its found instruments).

If we had to pick one day to live over and over, yesterday may not be a bad choice; if you missed the performance, for the next 90 days you’ll have the change to re-live it, courtesy of medici.tv.

Revving Up

If you’re not yet psyched about experiencing Magnus Lindberg’s Kraft by watching the Webcast on medici.tv — which begins at 2:00 p.m. New York time — you will be after watching this video of Alan Gilbert and the Philharmonic’s preparations for today’s concert at Dresden’s Volkswagen Transparent Factory! Then check in tomorrow for photos and more video on our Virtual Tour.

Drivers Welcome

A peek inside the (transparent) walls of Volkswagen’s Die Gläserne Manufaktur, our home tomorrow evening for a triple-bill of works capped off by Magnus Lindberg’s Kraft. During the performance, Volkswagen cars will be seen, through the factory’s signature glass walls, in various stages of production. Not in Dresden? Never fear; the concert will be Webcast at 2:00 p.m. EDT on medici.tv.

Kraft Work

Volkswagen’s Transparent Factory in Dresden is as much tourist destination as auto plant. This month it will also become a concert venue, as the New York Philharmonic performs Magnus Lindberg’s Kraft there during its EUROPE / SPRING 2013 tour. The composer has visited the factory to source parts from the manufacturing process for use as instruments in the site-specific work. Watch as he tries some out, and mark your calendar to watch the live webcast at 2 p.m. (EDT) on Tuesday, May 14, on medici.tv.

Wishes for a Magnus-ficent Birthday

Today we celebrate Magnus Lindberg’s birthday. We get to do so in person, since the Finnish composer is in town for the culmination of his tenure as our Marie-Josée Kravis Composer-in-Residence — a three-year partnership that led to the birth of four new works (including his Piano Concerto No. 2, available as a download), the creation of our CONTACT! series, and New York premieres including of Kraft — with his role as one of the three conductors leading Stockhausen’s Gruppen this weekend in Philharmonic 360. We’ll miss you, Magnus; come back often!

Happy Birthday to New York Philharmonic Principal Percussion
Christopher S. Lamb!

Mr. Lamb was recently honored for his 25 years with the Orchestra, and over the years has been soloist in works commissioned for him by the Philharmonic, such as Tan Dun’s Concerto for Water Percussion, which he performed to rave reviews at Avery Fisher Hall, and on the Philharmonic’s tour to South America, as well as in Asia and Europe with such notable orchestras as the London Philharmonic Orchestra, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, and Gewandhaus Orchestra.

Here are some video clips of Mr. Lamb “Searching for Heavy Metal” in a local scrap yard, demonstrating percussion for Lincoln Center’s Varèse (R)evolution, and showing his ambidexterity at rehearsal for Ligeti’s Le Grand Macabre.

(via musicalmelody)

Junk Sale

Fresh from Alan Gilbert and The New York Philharmonic: 2010–11 Season iTunes Pass, and just released today, are Magnus Lindberg’s Kraft and Debussy’s Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun. The New York Times called Kraft an “intricate and sonically wondrous” work that was “fascinating to hear.” For the first time ever, you can get this and three other titles from the current season as individual downloads from the iTunes Store. Subsequent albums will be made available as they are released on the complete iTunes Pass — more than 30 works on 12 albums at a ridiculously low price!

Stay tuned to Tumblr for a sneak peek from the latest album…

New Yorker critic Alex Ross on

2010: The Most Memorable
Moments in Music

Conductor: In a startling turn of events, Alan Gilbert, midway through his second season at the New York Philharmonic, has transformed a once hidebound orchestra into a crusading modern-music ensemble. Even more surprising, he has brought much of the audience along with him, inciting full-throated ovations for such risky fare as György Ligeti’s “Le Grand Macabre,” Edgard Varèse’s “Amériques,” and Magnus Lindberg’s “Kraft.” Gilbert’s task is now to bring the same fire to standard repertory.