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10-13 Mahler:Layout 1 10/3/11 11:38 AM Page 27 

OCTOBER 13–15 & 18, 2011 

Thursday, October 13, 2011, 7:30 p.m. 

15,245th Concert 

Open rehearsal at 9:45 a.m. 

Friday, October 14, 2011, 2:00 p.m. 


Saturday, October 15, 2011, 8:00 p.m. 


Tuesday, October 18, 2011, 7:30 p.m. 


Lorin Maazel, Conductor 

Robert Langevin, Flute 

The Lila Acheson Wallace Chair 

Nancy Allen, Harp 

The Mr. and Mrs. William T. Knight III Chair 

This concert will last approximately two hours, which 

includes one intermission. 

Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center 

Home of the New York Philharmonic 

Global Sponsor 

Alan Gilbert, Music Director, 

holds The Yoko Nagae 

Ceschina Chair. 

Lorin Maazel’s appearance is made 

possible through the Daisy and Paul 

Soros Endowment Fund. 

Exclusive Timepiece of the New York Philharmonic 

October 2011 

27


New York Philharmonic 

Lorin Maazel, Conductor 

Robert Langevin, Flute, The Lila Acheson Wallace Chair 

Nancy Allen, Harp, The Mr. and Mrs. William T. Knight III Chair 

MOZART Symphony No. 38 in D major, Prague, K.504 (1786) 

(1756–91) Adagio — Allegro 

Andante 

Finale: Presto 

MOZART Concerto in C major for Flute and Harp, 

K.299/297c (1778) 

Allegro 

Andantino 

Rondeau: Allegro 

ROBERT LANGEVIN 

NANCY ALLEN 

Intermission 

DEBUSSY Jeux: Poème dansé (1912–13) 

(1862–1918) Très lent — Scherzando (Tempo initial) 

DEBUSSY Ibéria, from Images for Orchestra (1905–08) 

By the Highways and By-ways 

Parfumes of the Night 

Morning of a Festival Day 

(The second and third movements are played without pause) 

28 

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Notes on the Program 

By James M. Keller, Program Annotator 

The Leni and Peter May Chair 

Symphony No. 38 in D major, 

Prague, K.504 

Concerto in C major for Flute 

and Harp, K.299/297c 

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart 

When Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart left his native 

provincial Salzburg for the exciting Austrian 

capital of Vienna in 1781, he seems to have 

assumed that the world would be his oyster. 

This was not to be, however. He met with a 

good measure of success, to be sure, gaining 

a following as a virtuoso pianist and as a composer 

— the latter even in the high-stakes 

world of the musical theater — but Vienna 

was full of other talented 

composers, and many of 

them were more politically 

savvy than Mozart, whose 

genius was often accompanied 

by an obstreperous 

streak. The decade 

he would spend in Vienna 

(where he died in 1791) 

might be characterized 

as a love-hate relationship 

in which Mozart 

derived important aesthetic 

sustenance from 

the city’s cultural life 

but often felt personally 

underappreciated. 

Not so Prague — which 

Mozart also loved, and 

which loved him back. 

Germany, Austria, and 

In Short 

Born: January 27, 1756, in Salzburg, Austria 

Died: December 5, 1791, in Vienna 

Bohemia shared an active cultural exchange 

in the 18th century. In the balance of artistic 

trade, Bohemia seems to have been a net exporter: 

its gifts to the musical world included 

the flotilla of Czech musicians who elevated 

Mannheim (in southern Germany) into a midcentury 

musical center so prominent that its 

orchestra set the standard to which all others 

aspired. For all its openness to outsiders, 

Prague seems not to have attracted immigrants 

quite so easily. Its welcome mat was 

out to Mozart, though, and its music-loving 

populace was quick to embrace such operas 

as Le nozze di Figaro and Don Giovanni unconditionally, 

even when Vienna had given 

them a more guarded reception. Franz Xaver 

Works composed and premiered: Symphony No. 38: composed 1786, in 

Vienna; Mozart entered it into his catalogue of compositions on December 6; 

premiered apparently January 19, 1787, in Prague, Bohemia (now Czech Republic), 

the composer conducting 

Concerto for Flute and Harp: composed April 1778 in Paris; we have no information 

about the early performance history of this work 

New York Philharmonic premieres and most recent performances: 

Symphony No. 38: premiered January 27, 1866, Carl Bergmann, conductor; most 

recently performed November 10, 2009, Neeme Järvi, conductor 

Concerto for Flute and Harp: premiered October 17, 1931, Erich Kleiber, conductor, 

John Amans, flute, and Theodore Cella, harp; most recently performed February 24, 

2007, Lorin Maazel, conductor, Robert Langevin, flute, and Nancy Allen, harp 

Estimated durations: Symphony No. 38: ca. 29 minutes; Concerto for Flute and 

Harp: ca. 29 minutes 

October 2011 

29


Niemetschek, the composer’s early biographer, 

clarified the difference when recounting 

the first performances of Mozart’s Figaro: 

In Vienna … they slandered him and did 

their best to belittle his art…. [In Prague] 

the enthusiasm shown by the public was 

without precedent; they could not hear it 

enough. 

In 1786 Mozart received an invitation to 

visit Prague — apparently extended by a coterie 

of culturally inclined citizens of the city’s 

German-speaking community, well known for 

its patriotic support of the Austro-Germanic 

arts. At the beginning of 1787 Mozart, his 

wife, and a considerable entourage (including 

their dog) traveled by coach to the Bohemian 

capital for what would be the closest 

the composer ever came to a pleasure trip. 

His musical obligations were few, limited to 

an evening conducting Le nozze di Figaro 

and a couple of performances as a pianist, 

during which he particularly distinguished 

himself as an improviser. 

Mozart had arrived bearing gifts, chief 

among them the Symphony in D major 

that he had completed late in 1786 and that 

Listen for … Echoes of Figaro 

would forever have the name of “Prague” attached 

to it. Mozart led a distinguished 

orchestra — albeit a small one of about 20 

players — in the work’s premiere, which appears 

to have taken place on January 19, 1787. 

Years later, in 1808, Niemetschek reported: 

the symphonies he composed for this occasion 

are real masterpieces … full of surprising 

modulations, and have a quick, fiery 

gait, so that the very soul is transported to 

sublime heights. This applies particularly 

to the Symphony in D major, which remains 

a favorite in Prague, although it has 

doubtless been heard a hundred times. 

Indeed, this is one of Mozart’s most impressive 

symphonies — in spite of its having 

only three movements rather than the by 

then traditional four. What’s missing is the 

minuet-and-trio that normally occupies the 

third movement of a classical symphony. No 

one knows why Mozart decided not to include 

one, but he more than compensates 

for its absence by attaching a slow introduction 

to the opening Allegro. Although such 

introductions are found in the later symphonies 

of Haydn and in those of Beethoven, 

Commentators are wont to find both Don Giovanni and Die Zauberflöte prefigured in the Prague Symphony; 

but one might just as easily hear reflections of the good-humored wisdom of Le nozze di Figaro as the moody 

introduction gives way to the main stretch of the first movement, where the drama of quiet syncopations gives 

way to jubilant outbursts from the trumpets and timpani. The spirit of Figaro again returns with the concluding 

Presto — and quite directly so, since its main theme is derived from that opera, or in any case relates closely 

to the fleeting duet between Susanna and Cherubino (Act II, scene 7) that culminates in the latter leaping from 

the window of the Countess’s boudoir: 

Mozart wrote this movement at about the same time he was completing Figaro. Just why he embarked on a 

stand-alone D-major symphonic Presto in the spring of 1786 remains a mystery, but, practical craftsman that 

he was, Mozart found a use for it later that year and built the rest of his symphony to fit with it. 

30 

New York Philharmonic


they are not much associated with Mozart. In 

this opening, Mozart seems to be looking 

ahead to the perplexing chromatic ruminations 

of Don Giovanni, which, as it happens, 

Prague would giddily idolize within a year. 

By the time Mozart turned 21, in January 

1777, he had already experienced more of 

the world than most young adults of any era 

would approach in a lifetime. As a child 

prodigy, he had impressed musical connoisseurs 

and had entertained crowned heads in 

At the Time 

many European capitals. When he reached 

his majority, Mozart’s compositions at least 

equaled and often surpassed the best work 

of his contemporaries, and he had begun to 

make a mark in all the major genres. However, 

the young composer felt repressed in 

what he viewed as the artistic backwater of 

Salzburg, and he yearned to pursue his career 

elsewhere. 

In September 1777 Mozart and his mother 

embarked on a journey north and west, tracing 

a route from their home in Salzburg to 

In the years 1786–87, when Mozart composed and premiered his Symphony No. 38, the following events were 

taking place: 

1786: Jacques Balmat and Dr. Michel-Gabriel Paccard become the first 

men to climb France’s Mont Blanc; Robert Burns (top right) publishes 

Poems, Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect, his first book of poetry; Charles 

Cornwallis, whose surrender to American forces at Yorktown signaled 

the end of major fighting in the American Revolution, is appointed governor-general 

of India; George Washington calls for the abolition of slavery; 

the Necklace Affair (“L’Affiare du Collier”) trial ends in Paris; Reykjavík, 

the capital of Iceland, is founded; Johann Wolfgang von Goethe embarks 

on his travels to Italy; Daniel Shays, a Revolutionary War veteran, leads a 

rebellion that begins in Springfield, Massachusetts, to protest evictions 

and seizure of property for non-payment of debts 

1787: William Herschel discovers Titania and Oberon, moons of 

Uranus; Milan’s Teatro alla Scala is built by Giuseppe Piermarini 

(center); the Constitutional Convention convenes in Philadelphia 

(bottom); Morocco becomes the first country to recognize 

the United States as a sovereign nation; the Ottoman Empire 

declares war on Russia; Irish painter Robert Barker invents and 

patents the panorama; the first left and right shoes are made; 

Alexander Hamilton becomes the first U.S. Treasury secretary; 

the Constitution of the United States is completed and signed, 

going into effect on March 4; the first ships carrying convicts 

leave Great Britain for Australia’s Botany Bay 

(penal transports will continue until 1853) 

— The Editors 

October 2011 31


distant Paris, with visits in Munich and Augsburg 

and a lengthy stay in Mannheim along 

the way. The composer’s father, Leopold, remained 

at home; the family could not subsist 

without the income he earned there. “The 

purpose of the journey,” Leopold reminded 

his son in a letter on November 27, “the sole 

purpose, was, is, and must be to obtain a position 

or earn some money.” Mozart failed to 

accomplish the former, although he claimed 

to have turned down a well-paying post as 

an organist at Versailles. In any case, the 

money he acquired from composing, performing, 

and teaching during his months 

away wouldn’t have been impressive even if 

he had been paid as promised for his engagements, 

which on numerous occasions 

he was not. Tragedy struck on July 3, 1778, 

when Mozart’s mother died as the result of a 

sudden illness. The 22-year-old composer 

(who had never before been without parental 

supervision) was left to make burial arrangements, 

break the news to his father and sister 

back home, and struggle on in a foreign 

country before making his way back to 

Salzburg, where he arrived in January 1779, 

dreading his return to the provincial routine 

he had hoped to escape. 

During the six months that Mozart had 

spent in Paris he made serious efforts to 

stake a place in that metropolis’s musical life. 

Immediately after his arrival on March 23, 

1778, he sought out an old family friend, 

Baron von Grimm, who had opened numerous 

Parisian doors when the Mozarts had 

visited Paris in 1763. The Baron again 

alerted his aristocratic circle, but the jobseeking 

adult Mozart was a harder sell than 

the seven-year-old prodigy had been, and he 

was received into Parisian salons with less 

excitement, if at all. Leopold, who in his barrage 

of correspondence proved to be a veritable 

Niagara of advice, reminded his son 

32 


Mozart and the Flute 

Mozart, 1789 

Much has been made of the fact that Mozart once 

spoke disparagingly of the flute. “I am quite inhibited 

when I have to compose for an instrument which I 

cannot endure,” he wrote to his father (from 

Mannheim on February 14, 1778, while on his way to 

Paris). It was the end of a litany of excuses 

explaining why he had not yet fulfilled a commission 

for some flute concertos (though he had found 

plenty of time to spend with his then girlfriend). 

This comment, clearly made in a snit, is often 

cited as proof that Mozart truly loathed the flute. It is 

weak evidence, especially since the composer never 

repeated anything to that effect in his remaining 

years, and since he would spotlight that instrument 

sensitively in many of his symphonies and operas, in 

addition to his two flute concertos (which he 

eventually did finish) and his four flute quartets, as 

well as the Flute and Harp Concerto. Would a 

composer who detested the flute have permitted it 

to serve as the “title character” of Die Zauberflöte 

(The Magic Flute), where it is exalted as a repository 

of mystical powers of salvation? In the end, the 

music would seem to put this question to rest. If 

Mozart really had misgivings about the instrument, 

listening to the concerto that he himself wrote for it 

would probably have converted him. 

(on April 20) to “be guided by the French 

taste” while in Paris (italics his). “If you only 

win applause and get a decent sum of 

money, let the devil take the rest.”


Leopold was responding to a letter that his 

wife had sent him two weeks earlier that had 

reported that Wolfgang was already busy with 

several projects, among them “two concertos, 

one for the flute and the other for the harp.” 

She had it not quite right: it was one concerto 

for both instruments together, and in writing it 

Mozart was indeed taking his father’s advice 

about being guided by French taste, since the 

particular passion of French audiences just 

then was the symphonie concertante, effectively 

a concerto with multiple soloists. 

Mozart wrote the piece for a friend of 

Baron Grimm’s: the Duc de Guînes, an accomplished 

flutist whose daughter was receiving 

daily two-hour composition lessons 

from Mozart. As in much of Mozart’s music 

“in the French taste,” this concerto treads 

lightly in matters of harmonic bravery, but 

it makes up for that in its abundance of 

Angels and Muses 

melodic invention and the sheer sonic beauty 

of the instrumental combination. The concerto’s 

success was more aesthetic than pecuniary: 

by the end of July Mozart had still 

not been paid for the work; in addition, the 

duke tried to stiff him of half the money for 

his daughter’s lessons. 

Instrumentation: The Symphony No. 38 

employs two flutes, two oboes, two bassoons, 

two horns, two trumpets, timpani, and 

strings. The Concerto in C major for Flute 

and Harp calls for two oboes, two horns, and 

strings, in addition to the solo flute and harp. 

Cadenzas: As Mozart provided no cadenzas, 

though he calls for them in all three 

movements, the soloists in this performance 

of the Concerto for Flute and Harp play 

those crafted by Karl Hermann Pillney. 

Mozart composed his Flute and Harp Concerto on commission from Adrien-Louis de Bonnières de Souastre, 

Duc de Guînes (1735–1806). This music-loving aristocrat (who played the flute) had started life as a mere count, 

distinguished himself as a soldier in the Seven Years War, and served as French Ambassador to Berlin (where 

he had played flute duets with Frederick the Great) and to London (from whence he was recalled for financial 

improprieties). On returning to France, in 1776, he was elevated to the status of duke, and in 1788 was named 

Governor of Artois. On May 14, 1778, Mozart wrote to his father about the Duc de Guînes, “whose daughter is my 

pupil in composition, plays the flute extremely well, and … plays the harp magnifique.” He continued: 

She has a great deal of talent and even genius, and in particular a 

marvelous memory, so that she can play all her pieces, 

actually about 200, by heart. She is, however, extremely 

doubtful as to whether she has any talent for 

composition, especially as regards invention or 

ideas. But her father who, between ourselves, is 

somewhat too infatuated with her, declares that 

she certainly has ideas and that it is only that she 

is too bashful and has too little self-confidence. 

Well, we shall see. If she gets no inspiration or 

ideas (for at present she really has none 

whatever), then it is to no purpose, for — God 

knows — I can’t give her any. Her father’s intention 

is not to make a great composer of her. “She is not,” 

he said, “to compose operas, arias, concertos, sym pho - 

nies, but only grand sonatas for her instrument and mine.” 

The Concert, attributed to Jean-Honoré Fragonard 

October 2011 

33


Jeux: Poème-dansé 

Ibéria, from Images for 

Orchestra 

Claude Debussy 

Claude Debussy developed a knotty relationship 

with the stage. He carried out work 

in each of the three principal stage genres: 

opera, ballet, and incidental music for plays. 

Yet he managed to complete only a single 

example of each — Pelléas et Mélisande, 

Jeux, and Le Martyre de Saint Sébastien, respectively, 

leaving numerous other attempts 

in various stages of incompletion. So far as 

ballet is concerned, he had essentially fulfilled 

a commission (between 1910 and 

1912) for a piece titled Khamma for the 

choreographer Maud Allan, though he left 

the orchestration to his fellow composer 

Charles Koechlin; but the piece never received 

even a concert performance until 1924 (six 

years after Debussy’s death) and did not 

reach the stage until 

1947. It remains largely 

unheard today. Two other 

ballet scores also remained 

incomplete: the 

children’s ballet La Boîte 

à joujoux of 1913 (which 

made it up to the orchestration 

stage), and 

No-ja-li (Le palais du silence) 

of 1913–14. 

In posterity, the score 

for Jeux (Games) has 

made up for the lack of 

the others. It is Debussy’s 

last completed 

orchestral work, and it 

has been cited as an essential 

point of departure 

for a certain strand 

34 New York Philharmonic 

In Short 

of later composers. Pierre Boulez maintained 

that it signified: 

the arrival of a kind of musical form which, 

renewing itself from moment to moment, 

implies a similarly instantaneous mode of 

perception. 

Debussy composed it for the impresario 

Serge Diaghilev, whose Ballets Russes — 

launched in Paris in 1909 — became quickly 

identified with the vanguard of the European 

arts scene. Diaghilev soon commissioned new 

ballet scores, of which the very first was 

Stravinsky’s Firebird, premiered in 1910. More 

Stravinsky followed, including Petrushka, premiered 

in 1911, and Le Sacre du printemps 

(The Rite of Spring) on May 29, 1913 — a 

date that earned legendary status thanks to 

the riot that broke out at its premiere. That 

event eclipsed the more minor disappointment 

that precisely two weeks earlier had attended 

the premiere of Jeux, with a score by Debussy. 

Born: August 22, 1862, in St. Germain-en-Laye, just outside Paris, France 

Died: March 25, 1918, in Paris 

Works composed and premiered: Jeux: composed 1912–13, but largely in 

August 1913; premiered May 15, 1913, in a staged production by the Ballets 

Russes at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, Pierre Monteux, conductor; it was 

given the following year in concert form by the Orchestre des Concerts Colonne, 

conducted by Gabriel Pierné. 

Ibéria: begun in 1905 as a piano duet; completed as an orchestral work on 

December 25, 1908; premiered February 20, 1910, Gabriel Pierné conducting 

the Orchestre des Concerts Colonne in Paris 

New York Philharmonic premieres and most recent performances: 

Jeux: premiered January 13, 1938, Georges Enesco, conductor; most recently 

performed March 18, 1986, Pierre Boulez, conductor 

Ibéria: premiered January 3, 1911, Gustav Mahler, conductor; most recently 

performed February 13, 2007, Alan Gilbert, conductor 

Estimated durations: Jeux: ca. 18 minutes; Ibéria: ca. 20 minutes


The concept of Jeux was expounded by 

the dancer Vaslav Nijinsky over lunch with 

Diaghilev and the designer Léon Bakst at 

the Savoy Hotel in London, the notes being 

jotted down on the tablecloth. The event was 

recounted to the painter Jacques-Émile 

Blanche, who, in his memoirs, related the scenario 

drawn up on that occasion: 

There should be no corps de ballet, no ensembles, 

no variations, no pas de deux, 

only boys and girls in flannels and rhythmic 

movement. A group at a certain stage was 

to depict a fountain, and a game of tennis 

was to be interrupted by the crashing of 

an aeroplane. 

Nijinsky also detailed this work’s genesis 

in his diary, adding the detail that the action 

would depict the story of “three young men 

making love to each other.” It fell to Blanche 

to telegraph the concept to Debussy. The 

composer immediately responded “I should 

not dream of writing a score for this work,” 

but then amended his answer to say that he 

could find a way to write it after all, if his fee 

were to be doubled. 

In the end, the plane crash was blessedly 

eliminated and the three young men Nijinsky 

imagined were turned into one young man and 

two young women. Nijinsky ended up falling 

out of love with the project, but Debussy seems 

to have warmed to it, producing his score with 

uncharacteristic speed, apparently within the 

course of about three weeks in August 1913. 

Near the end of the month he wrote to his 

friend, the composer André Caplet: 

How was I able to forget the cares of this 

world and manage to write music that is 

nevertheless joyous and alive with droll 

rhythms? Nature, so absurdly harsh, sometimes 

takes pity, it seems, on her children. 

Sources and Inspirations 

Nijinsky’s initial inspirations for the ballet Jeux 

underwent a considerable amount of refinement, 

eventually yielding this scenario, which was supplied 

to Debussy as the foundation on which he should 

construct his score: 

In a park, at dusk, a tennis ball goes astray; a 

young man, then two young women hurriedly try to 

find it. The artificial light of huge electric lamps 

casts its fantastic gleam about them and suggests 

the idea of children’s games; they play hide-andseek, 

run after each other, quarrel and sulk for no 

good reason; the night is warm, the sky bathed in 

gentle light, they kiss. But the spell is broken by a 

tennis ball thrown by some malicious hand. Surprised 

and frightened, the young man and two 

young women disappear into the depths of the 

night-enshrouded park. 

Nonetheless, Debussy hated Nijinsky’s 

choreography and he was glad to be rid of the 

ballet, which was poorly received. While the 

performance was underway on opening night, 

he left his box to smoke a cigarette outside. 

Almost 10 years earlier the final work on this 

program, Ibéria,, had been premiered. The 

Spanish composer Manuel de Falla wrote in 

an article he contributed to an all-Debussy 

issue of the Revue musicale, published in 

December 1920: 

Without knowing Spain, or without having 

set foot on Spanish ground, Claude Debussy 

has written Spanish music. He came 

to know Spain through books and paintings, 

through songs and dances performed 

by native Spaniards. 

He continued, replete with admiration: 

Debussy, who did not actually know Spain, 

spontaneously — I dare say unconsciously — 

October 2011 

35


Debussy in May 1902 

In the Composer’s Words 

Debussy may have insisted that IIbbéérriiaa was not based 

on any plot or program, but in a letter to his colleague 

André Caplet, written six days after the work’s premiere, 

he revealed just how specific his imagery was: 

You can’t imagine how naturally the transition works 

between Parfumes of the Night and Morning of a 

Festival Day. It sounds as though it’s improvised. … 

The way it comes to life, with people and things 

waking up ….. There’s a man selling watermelons 

and urchins whistling: I see them all quite clearly. 

created such Spanish music as was to 

arouse the envy of many who knew Spain 

only too well. He crossed the border only 

once, and stayed for a few hours in San Sebastián 

to attend a bullfight: little enough 

experience indeed. However, he kept a vivid 

memory of the unique light in the bullring, of 

the astonishing contrast between the side 

flooded by sunlight and the one in shadow. 

Perhaps an evocation of that afternoon 

passed on Spain’s threshold is to be found 

in Morning of a Festival Day from Ibéria. 

Debussy’s Spain, then, was a romantic 

Spain born of fantasy. It was an imaginary 

journey the composer would take often and 

would inspire a number of compositions. 

Some proclaimed their Spanish connection 

explicitly, such as his piano piece La Soirée 

dans Grenade (from Estampes), while others 


reflected it more subtly through the specific 

sounds of their music, as when the string 

players mimic the strumming of a guitar in 

the second movement of his String Quartet. 

Falla applauded Debussy’s achievements 

as revelatory for Spanish composers themselves. 

“While the Spanish composer to a 

large extent uses in his music the authentic 

popular material,” Falla wrote, 

the French master avoids them and creates a 

music of his own, borrowing only the essence 

of its fundamental elements. There is still another 

interesting fact regarding the particular 

texture of Debussy’s music. In Andalusia they 

are produced on the guitar in the most spontaneous 

way. It is curious that Spanish composers 

have neglected, even despised as 

barbaric, those effects, or they have adapted 

them to the old musical procedures. Debussy 

has taught the way to use them. 

Ibéria is the most imposing of Debussy’s 

imaginary “postcards from Spain,” occupying 

three full movements for a colorfully constituted 

orchestra, themselves the central 

group of the composer’s symphonic triptych 

Images. (Although Debussy titled the set only 

Images, it is commonly referred to as Images 

for Orchestra to distinguish it from his two 

earlier sets of Images for piano.) The three 

Images for Orchestra drew on national music 

from different lands — the first part, Gigues, 

evokes English folk dance; the third, Rondes 

de printemps, portrays an Italian May Day 

celebration — and as a whole they occupied 

him for some eight years. He began Ibéria in 

1905 and by the following July reported to 

his publisher that he expected to complete it 

by the next week. Two and a half years later 

he finally did finish it, and by that time what 

he had envisioned as a work for piano duet 

had grown into a score for full orchestra.


“It is useless to ask me for anecdotes about 

this work,” Debussy protested to the exasperated 

program annotator charged with producing 

materials to accompany the premiere of 

Ibéria, in 1910. “There is no story attached to 

it, and I depend on the music alone to arouse 

the interest of the public.” Even if Ibéria has 

no extramusical plot, the scenes it evokes are 

nonetheless specific. The first movement is a 

street scene, its brilliant light thrown into 

greater relief by the shadowy contrast heard 

midway. Mystery pervades the night air in the 

second movement. And the third, which follows 

without pause, vividly portrays a festival. 

Sources and Inspirations 

Instrumentation: Jeux calls for two flutes 

and two piccolos, three oboes and English 

horn, three clarinets and bass clarinet, three 

bassoons and contrabassoon, four horns, 

four trumpets, three trombones, tuba, timpani, 

tambourine, triangle, cymbals, xylophone, 

celesta, two harps, and strings. Ibéria 

employs three flutes (one doubling piccolo) 

and piccolo, two oboes and English horn, 

three clarinets, three bassoons and contrabassoon, 

four horns, three trumpets, three 

trombones, tuba, timpani, tambourine, castanets, 

snare drum, xylophone, chimes, two 

harps, celesta, and strings. 

The three pieces of Debussy’s Images evoke three different cultures: Gigues points to England, with its use of 

the Northumbrian folk song “The Keel Row,” and Rondes du printemps draws on two French folk songs, “Nous 

n’irons plus au bois,” and “Do, l’enfant, do.” IIbbéérriiaa contains no specific national musical references to Spain, but 

a Spanish feeling can surely be felt throughout it, so much so that it could surprise a listener to learn that Debussy 

had never spent any significant time in that country. The Spanish composer Manual de Falla inferred that 

his French colleague had learned the sights, sounds, scents, and sense of Spain through the art created by 

Spaniards, such as Joaquín Sorolla y Bastida (1863–1923). 

— The Editors 

Sorolla’s Beach at Valencia or Afternoon Sun, 1908 

October 2011 

37



2011–2012 SEASON 

ALAN GILBERT, Music Director, The Yoko Nagae Ceschina Chair 

Case Scaglione, Assistant Conductor 

Joshua Weilerstein, Assistant Conductor 

Leonard Bernstein, Laureate Conductor, 1943–1990 

Kurt Masur, Music Director Emeritus 

VIOLINS 

Glenn Dicterow 

Concertmaster 

The Charles E. Culpeper 

Chair 

Sheryl Staples 

Principal Associate 

Concertmaster 

The Elizabeth G. Beinecke 

Chair 

Michelle Kim 

Assistant Concertmaster 

The William Petschek 

Family Chair 

Enrico Di Cecco 

Carol Webb 

Yoko Takebe 

Hae-Young Ham 

The Mr. and Mrs. Timothy 

M. George Chair 

Lisa GiHae Kim 

Kuan-Cheng Lu 

Newton Mansfield 

The Edward and Priscilla 

Pilcher Chair 

Kerry McDermott 

Anna Rabinova 

Charles Rex 

The Shirley Bacot Shamel 

Chair 

Fiona Simon 

Sharon Yamada 

Elizabeth Zeltser 

The William and Elfriede 

Ulrich Chair 

Yulia Ziskel 

Marc Ginsberg 

Principal 

Lisa Kim* 

In Memory of Laura Mitchell 

Soohyun Kwon 

The Joan and Joel I. Picket 

Chair 

Duoming Ba 


Marilyn Dubow 

The Sue and Eugene 

Mercy, Jr. Chair 

Martin Eshelman 

Quan Ge 

The Gary W. Parr Chair 

Judith Ginsberg 

Stephanie Jeong+ 

Hanna Lachert 

Hyunju Lee 

Joo Young Oh 

Daniel Reed 

Mark Schmoockler 

Na Sun 

Vladimir Tsypin 

VIOLAS 

Cynthia Phelps 

Principal 

The Mr. and Mrs. Frederick 

P. Rose Chair 

Rebecca Young* 

Irene Breslaw** 

The Norma and Lloyd 

Chazen Chair 

Dorian Rence 

Katherine Greene 

The Mr. and Mrs. William J. 

McDonough Chair 

Dawn Hannay 

Vivek Kamath 

Peter Kenote 

Kenneth Mirkin 

Judith Nelson 

Robert Rinehart 

The Mr. and Mrs. G. Chris 

Andersen Chair 

CELLOS 

Carter Brey 

Principal 

The Fan Fox and Leslie R. 

Samuels Chair 

Eileen Moon* 

The Paul and Diane 

Guenther Chair 

Eric Bartlett 

The Shirley and Jon 

Brodsky Foundation Chair 

Maria Kitsopoulos 

Elizabeth Dyson 

The Mr. and Mrs. James E. 

Buckman Chair 

Sumire Kudo 

Qiang Tu 

Ru-Pei Yeh 

The Credit Suisse Chair 

in honor of Paul Calello 

Wei Yu 

Wilhelmina Smith++ 

BASSES 

Timothy Cobb++ 

Acting Principal 

The Redfield D. Beckwith 

Chair 

Orin O’Brien* 

Acting Associate Principal 

The Herbert M. Citrin Chair 

William Blossom 

The Ludmila S. and Carl B. 

Hess Chair 

Randall Butler 

David J. Grossman 

Satoshi Okamoto 

FLUTES 

Robert Langevin 

Principal 

The Lila Acheson Wallace 

Chair 

Sandra Church* 

Mindy Kaufman 

PICCOLO 

Mindy Kaufman 

OBOES 

Liang Wang 

Principal 

The Alice Tully Chair 

Sherry Sylar* 

Robert Botti 

The Lizabeth and Frank 

Newman Chair 

ENGLISH HORN 

The Joan and Joel Smilow 

Chair 

CLARINETS 

Mark Nuccio 

Acting Principal 

The Edna and W. Van Alan 

Clark Chair 

Pascual Martinez 

Forteza* 


The Honey M. Kurtz Family 

Chair 

Alucia Scalzo++ 

Amy Zoloto++ 

E-FLAT CLARINET 

Pascual Martinez 

Forteza 

BASS CLARINET 

Amy Zoloto++ 

BASSOONS 

Judith LeClair 

Principal 

The Pels Family Chair 

Kim Laskowski* 

Roger Nye 

Arlen Fast 

CONTRABASSOON 

Arlen Fast


HORNS 

Philip Myers 

Principal 

The Ruth F. and Alan J. Broder Chair 

Stewart Rose++* 


Cara Kizer Aneff 

R. Allen Spanjer 

Howard Wall 

David Smith++ 

TRUMPETS 

Philip Smith 

Principal 

The Paula Levin Chair 

Matthew Muckey* 

Ethan Bensdorf 

Thomas V. Smith 

TROMBONES 

Joseph Alessi 

Principal 

The Gurnee F. and Marjorie L. Hart 

Chair 

Daniele Morandini* 


David Finlayson 

The Donna and Benjamin M. Rosen 

Chair 

BASS TROMBONE 

James Markey 

The Daria L. and William C. Foster 

Chair 

TUBA 

Alan Baer 

Principal 

TIMPANI 

Markus Rhoten 

Principal 

The Carlos Moseley Chair 

Kyle Zerna** 

PERCUSSION 

Christopher S. Lamb 

Principal 

The Constance R. Hoguet Friends of 

the Philharmonic Chair 

Daniel Druckman* 

The Mr. and Mrs. Ronald J. Ulrich 

Chair 

Kyle Zerna 

HARP 

Nancy Allen 

Principal 

The Mr. and Mrs. William T. Knight III 

Chair 

KEYBOARD 

In Memory of Paul Jacobs 

HARPSICHORD 

Lionel Party 

PIANO 

The Karen and Richard S. LeFrak 

Chair 

Harriet Wingreen 

Jonathan Feldman 

ORGAN 

Kent Tritle 

LIBRARIANS 

Lawrence Tarlow 

Principal 

Sandra Pearson** 

Sara Griffin** 

ORCHESTRA PERSONNEL 

MANAGER 

Carl R. Schiebler 

STAGE REPRESENTATIVE 

Louis J. Patalano 

AUDIO DIRECTOR 

Lawrence Rock 

* Associate Principal 

** Assistant Principal 

+ On Leave 

++ Replacement/Extra 

The New York Philharmonic uses 

the revolving seating method for 

section string players who are 

listed alpha betically in the roster. 

HONORARY MEMBERS OF THE 

SOCIETY 

Emanuel Ax 

Pierre Boulez 

Stanley Drucker 

Lorin Maazel 

Zubin Mehta 

Carlos Moseley 

Instruments made possible, in part, by 

The Richard S. and Karen 

LeFrak Endowment Fund. 

Programs are supported, in part, by 

public funds from the New York 

City Department of Cultural 

Affairs, New York State Council 

on the Arts, and the National 

Endowment for the Arts. 

Steinway is the Official Piano of 

the New York Philharmonic and 

Avery Fisher Hall. 

October 2011 

39


The Artists 

Lorin Maazel served as Music Director of 

the New York Philharmonic from 2002 to 

2009. In the 2010–11 season he completed 

his fifth and final year as the inaugural music 

director of the Palau de les Arts Reina Sofia 

opera house in Valencia, Spain, and at the 

start of the 2012–13 season he will become 

music director of the Munich Philharmonic. 

Mr. Maazel is also the founder and artistic director 

of the Castleton Festival, based on his 

farm property in Virginia, which was launched 

to great acclaim in 2009. The festival is expanding 

its activities nationally and internationally 

in 2011 and beyond. 

Mr. Maazel is also a composer, with a 

wide-ranging catalogue of works written primarily 

over the last dozen years. His first 

opera, 1984, based on George Orwell’s literary 

masterpiece, had its world premiere at 

the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, in 

May 2005, and was revived at Milan’s Teatro 


alla Scala in May 2008. A Decca DVD of the 

original London production was released in 

May 2008. 

A second-generation American born in 

Paris, France, Lorin Maazel began violin lessons 

at age five, and conducting lessons at 

age seven. He studied with Vladimir Baka - 

leinikoff, and appeared publicly for the first 

time at age eight. Between ages nine and fifteen 

he conducted most of the major American 

orchestras, including the NBC Symphony 

at the invitation of Arturo Toscanini. In the 

course of his decades-long career Mr. Maazel 

has conducted more than 150 orchestras in 

no fewer than 5,000 opera and concert performances. 

He has made more than 300 

recordings, including symphonic cycles of 

complete orchestral works by Beethoven, 

Brahms, Debussy, Mahler, Schubert, Tchai - 

kovsky, Rachmaninoff, and Richard Strauss, 

winning 10 Grands Prix du Disques. 

Lorin Maazel has been music director of 

the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra 

(1993–2002); music director of the Pittsburgh 

Symphony (1988–96); general manager 

and chief conductor of the Vienna 

Staatsoper (1982–84, the first American to 

hold that position); music director of The 

Cleveland Orchestra (1972–82); and artistic 

director and chief conductor of the Deutsche 

Oper Berlin (1965–71). His close association 

with the Vienna Philharmonic has included 

11 internationally televised New 

Year’s Concerts from Vienna.


Robert Langevin joined the New York Philharmonic 

as Principal Flute, The Lila Acheson 

Wallace Chair, in the 2000–01 season. In May 

2001 he made his solo debut with the Orchestra 

in the U.S. premiere of Siegfried 

Matthus’s Concerto for Flute and Harp with 

Philharmonic Principal Harp Nancy Allen, led 

by then Music Director Kurt Masur. Prior to the 

Philharmonic, Mr. Langevin held the Jackman 

Pfouts Principal Flute Chair of the Pittsburgh 

Symphony, was an adjunct professor at 

Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, and served 

as associate principal of the Montreal Symphony 

Orchestra for 13 years. As a member 

of Musica Camerata Montreal and l’Ensemble 

de la Société de Musique Contemporaine du 

Québec, he premiered many works, including 

the Canadian premiere of Pierre Boulez’s Le 

Marteau sans maître. In addition, Mr. Langevin 

has performed as soloist with Quebec’s most 

distinguished ensembles and has recorded 

many recitals and chamber music programs 

for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. 

He also served on the faculty of the University 

of Montreal for nine years. 

Born in Sherbrooke, Quebec, Robert 

Langevin won the prestigious Prix d’Europe, a 

national competition open to all instruments 

with a first prize of a two-year scholarship to 

study in Europe. He subsequently worked 

with Aurèle Nicolet at the Staatliche 

Hochschule für Musik in Freiburg, Germany, 

from which he graduated in 1979. He also 

studied with Maxence Larrieu in Geneva, winning 

second prize at the Budapest International 

Competition in 1980. Robert Langevin is a 

member of the Philharmonic Quintet of New 

York, and has given recitals and master classes 

throughout the United States and abroad. 

Nancy Allen joined the New York Philharmonic 

in June 1999 as Principal Harp, The 

Mr. and Mrs. William T. Knight III Chair. She 

maintains a busy international concert schedule 

as well as heading the harp departments of 

The Juilliard School and the Aspen Music Festival 

and School. In addition, Ms. Allen appears 

regularly with The Chamber Music Society of 

Lincoln Center and the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra. 

In May 2001 she was featured in the 

Philharmonic’s U.S. premiere of Siegfried 

Matthus’s Concerto for Flute and Harp with 

then Music Director Kurt Masur and Principal 

Flute Robert Langevin. 

Ms. Allen’s performing schedule includes 

solo appearances at major international festivals, 

and has featured collaborations with soprano 

Kathleen Battle, clarinetist Richard 

Stoltzman, and guitarist Manuel Barrueco; and 

with flutist Carol Wincenc and Philharmonic 

Principal Viola Cynthia Phelps in their trio, Les 

October 2011 

41


Amies. She has appeared on PBS’s Live From 

Lincoln Center with The Chamber Music Society 

of Lincoln Center, as well as with Ms. Battle, 

and has performed as a recitalist on “Music 

at the Supreme Court” in Washington, D.C. Ms. 

Allen’s recording of Ravel’s Introduction and 

Allegro with the Tokyo String Quartet, flutist 

Ransom Wilson, and clarinetist David Shifrin 


received a Grammy Award nomination; she can 

also be heard on recordings on the Sony Classical, 

Deutsche Grammophon, and CRI labels. 

Nancy Allen studied with Marcel Grandjany 

at The Juilliard School. She won the 

Fifth International Harp Competition in Israel, 

and was awarded a National Endowment for 

the Arts Solo Recitalist Award.



The New York Philharmonic, founded in 1842 

by a group of local musicians led by Americanborn 

Ureli Corelli Hill, is by far the oldest symphony 

orchestra in the United States, and one of 

the oldest in the world. It plays some 180 concerts 

a year, and on May 5, 2010, gave its 

15,000th concert — a milestone unmatched by 

any other symphony orchestra in the world. 

Music Director Alan Gilbert, The Yoko Nagae 

Ceschina Chair, began his tenure in September 

2009, the latest in a distinguished line of 20thcentury 

musical giants that has included Lorin 

Maazel (2002–09); Kurt Masur (Music Director 

1991–2002, Music Director Emeritus since 

2002); Zubin Mehta (1978–91); Pierre Boulez 

(1971–77); and Leonard Bernstein (appointed 

Music Director in 1958; given the lifetime title of 

Laureate Conductor in 1969). 

Since its inception the Orchestra has championed 

the new music of its time, commissioning 

and/or premiering many important works, such 

as Dvorˇák’s Symphony No. 9, From the New 

World; Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 3; 

Gershwin’s Piano Concerto in F; and Copland’s 

Connotations. The Philharmonic has also given 

the U.S. premieres of such works as Beethoven’s 

Symphonies Nos. 8 and 9 and Brahms’s Symphony 

No. 4. This pioneering tradition has continued 

to the present day, with works of major 

contemporary composers regularly scheduled 

each season, including John Adams’s Pulitzer 

Prize– and Grammy Award–winning On the 

Transmigration of Souls; Melinda Wagner’s Trombone 

Concerto; Esa-Pekka Salonen’s Piano Concerto; 

Magnus Lindberg’s EXPO and Al largo; 

Wynton Marsalis’s Swing Symphony (Symphony 

No. 3); Christopher Rouse’s Odna Zhizn; and, by 

the end of the 2010–11 season, 11 works in 

CONTACT!, the new-music series. 

The roster of composers and conductors who 

have led the Philharmonic includes such historic 

figures as Theodore Thomas, Antonín Dvorˇák, 

Gustav Mahler (music director 1909–11), Otto 

Klemperer, Richard Strauss, Willem Mengelberg 

(Music Director 1922–30), Wilhelm Furtwängler, 

Arturo Toscanini (Music Director 1928–36), Igor 

Stravinsky, Aaron Copland, Bruno Walter (Music 

Advisor 1947–49), Dimitri Mitropoulos (Music Director 

1949–58), Klaus Tennstedt, George Szell 

(Music Advisor 1969–70), and Erich Leinsdorf. 

Long a leader in American musical life, the Philharmonic 

has become renowned around the 

globe, appearing in 430 cities in 63 countries on 

5 continents. Under Alan Gilbert’s leadership, the 

Orchestra made its Vietnam debut at the Hanoi 

Opera House in October 2009. In February 2008 

the Philharmonic, conducted by then Music Director 

Lorin Maazel, gave a historic performance 

in Pyongyang, D.P.R.K., earning the 2008 Common 

Ground Award for Cultural Diplomacy. In 

2012 the Philharmonic becomes an International 

Associate of London’s Barbican Centre. 

The Philharmonic has long been a media pioneer, 

having begun radio broadcasts in 1922, and 

is currently represented by The New York Philharmonic 

This Week — syndicated nationally and 

internationally 52 weeks per year, and available 

at nyphil.org. It continues its television presence 

on Live From Lincoln Center on PBS, and in 

2003 made history as the first symphony orchestra 

ever to perform live on the Grammy Awards. 

Since 1917 the Philharmonic has made nearly 

2,000 recordings, and in 2004 became the first 

major American orchestra to offer downloadable 

concerts, recorded live. Since June 2009 more 

than 50 concerts have been released as downloads, 

and the Philharmonic’s self-produced 

recordings will continue with Alan Gilbert and the 

New York Philharmonic: 2011–12 Season, comprising 

12 releases. Famous for its long-running 

Young People’s Concerts, the Philharmonic has developed 

a wide range of educational programs, 

among them the School Partnership Program that 

enriches music education in New York City, and 

Learning Overtures, which fosters international exchange 

among educators. 

Credit Suisse is the Global Sponsor of the New 

York Philharmonic. 

October 2011 

43


The Music Director 

Music Director Alan Gilbert, The Yoko 

Nagae Ceschina Chair, began his tenure at 

the New York Philharmonic in September 

2009, launching what New York magazine 

called “a fresh future for the Philharmonic.” 

His creative approach to programming combines 

works in fresh and innovative ways, 

and he has developed artistic partnerships, 

including the positions of The Marie-Josée 

Kravis Composer-in-Residence and The Mary 

and James G. Wallach Artist-in-Residence; an 

annual three-week festival; and CONTACT!, 

the new-music series. The first native New 

Yorker to hold the post, he has sought to 

make the Orchestra a point of civic pride for 

the city as well as for the country. 

In the 2011–12 season Alan Gilbert conducts 

world premieres, three Mahler symphonies, 

a residency at London’s Barbican 

Centre, tours to Europe and California, and a 

season-concluding musical exploration of 

space that features Stockhausen’s theatrical 

immersion, Gruppen, to be given at the Park 

Avenue Armory. Highlights of the previous 

season include two tours of European music 

capitals, Carnegie Hall’s 120th Anni versary 


Concert, and an acclaimed production of 

Janáček’s The Cunning Little Vixen, hailed 

by The Washington Post as “another victory,” 

building on 2010’s wildly successful staging 

of Ligeti’s Le Grand Macabre, which The New 

York Times called “an instant Philharmonic 

milestone.” Other highlights of Mr. Gilbert’s inaugural 

season comprise the Asian Horizons 

tour in October 2009, which included the Orchestra’s 

Vietnam debut at the historic Hanoi 

Opera House; the EUROPE / WINTER 

2010 tour; world premieres; and chamber 

performances as violinist and violist with Philharmonic 

musicians. 

In September 2011 Alan Gilbert became 

Director of Conducting and Orchestral Studies 

at The Juilliard School, where he is also 

the first to hold the William Schuman Chair in 

Musical Studies. He is Conductor Laureate of 

the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra 

and Principal Guest Conductor of Hamburg’s 

NDR Symphony Orchestra; he regularly conducts 

leading orchestras in the U.S. and 

abroad. His 2011–12 season engagements 

include appearances with the Munich Philharmonic, 

San Francisco Symphony, Cleveland 

Orchestra, Orchestre Philharmonique de 

Radio France, Royal Swedish Opera, and the 

Royal Stockholm Philharmonic. 

Alan Gilbert made his acclaimed Metropolitan 

Opera debut in November 2008 leading 

John Adams’s Doctor Atomic. His recordings 

have been nominated for Grammy Awards, 

and his recording of Mahler’s Symphony No. 9 

received top honors from the Chicago Tribune 

and Gramophone magazine. Mr. Gilbert 

studied at Harvard University, The Curtis Institute 

of Music, and The Juilliard School, and 

served as the assistant conductor of The 

Cleveland Orchestra (1995–97). In May 2010 

he received an Honorary Doctor of Music degree 

from The Curtis Institute of Music.


LGOs 

October 2011 

45


LGOs 

46 New York Philharmonic

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