NY Philharmonic starts the new season with a bang!!

Literally, with a bang - those final chords of the Hindemith Symphonic Metamorphosis of Themes of Carl Maria von Weber...  What a canny program this was to start the subscription season, a nice balance of diverse items.  Before the intermission, Don Juan by Richard Strauss and the Violin Concerto in E Minor by Felix Mendelssohn, with Itzhak Perlman as soloist.  So, pre-intermission was romantic music of the 19th century.  After intermission we had Metaboles by Henri Dutilleux (a living composer, in his 90s) and the Symphonic Metamorphosis by Hindemith, a product of the World War II period when Hindemith was living in exile from Germany in the U.S.  Thus, we had the 20th century covered, albeit without the most "far-out" experiments of the century.  Alan Gilbert, beginning his second season as Musical Director, conducted the concert.

The orchestra is in great shape.  It seems they haven't yet permanently filled the first clarinet chair, since Mark Nuccio is still listed as acting principal.  He really played up a storm tonight.  Between the Dutilleux and the Hindemith he had many chances to shine tonight, and shine he really did, as did all the wind principals and the crowd back in the percussion section.  But then the entire orchestra sounded absolutely superb, and they looked like they were really having fun playing together again.

Perlman's technique is not quite what it once was, and I heard some dubious intonation at times, but he certainly rose to all the big moments in the Mendelssohn, polished off the first movement cadenza with ease, and brought that soulful involvement that has made him such a widely-beloved soloist among concert audiences. 

The diversity of works on the program was quite exciting, and it was especially good to hear the Hindemith, which the program book reports had not been played by the orchestra in 15 years -- too long for such a mid-20th century staple.

Well-launched, guys!