In Tuesday’s (7/16) New York Times, Anthony Tommasini assesses Alan Gilbert’s performance as music director of the New York Philharmonic. “Though he has a modest manner, he has been a galvanizing force at the Philharmonic.… Mr. Gilbert has infused the Philharmonic with his passion for contemporary music and reinstated the position of composer-in-residence. He started the Contact! contemporary music series, presented at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and Symphony Space. These adventurous programs attract enthusiastic audiences that include gratifying numbers of younger listeners.” Tommasini praises Gilbert’s commitment to personally conducting the summer parks concerts and his advocacy of such risky but successful productions as Ligeti’s Le Grand Macabre, Janacek’s The Cunning Little Vixen, and Philharmonic 360, “an inventive program of works by Boulez, Mozart, Ives and Stockhausen presented in the Park Avenue Armory.” In standard repertoire, Gilbert “brings the respect of a lifelong student to his performances. With a combination of sure technique and enthusiasm, he knows how to get a symphonic work up and running.… Is Mr. Gilbert ideal? No one would be. But he is building a legacy that matters and is helping to change the template for what an American orchestra can be.”
Posted July 17, 2013
