Payare, Thibaudet and Bruckner's Ninth at the NY Phil, Geffen Hall
Three evenings, November 4, 5 and 7, at David Geffen Hall, Lincoln Center, pair Liszt's concerto with Bruckner's final symphony.
Two monuments of the Romantic repertoire share one program at the New York Philharmonic next week, with conductor Rafael Payare on the podium and the French pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet as soloist.
What is on the program
The evening opens with Liszt's Piano Concerto No. 2, a work of lyrical, almost improvisatory freedom in which the piano converses with the orchestra rather than competing with it. Thibaudet, a pianist long admired for his color and refinement, is a natural advocate for it.
After intermission comes Bruckner's Symphony No. 9, the last symphony the composer wrote. Its broad, cathedral-like paragraphs reward a hall with good acoustics, and the Philharmonic's home in the renovated Wu Tsai Theater at David Geffen Hall is precisely that.
Dates and venue
Performances are Wednesday, November 4, Thursday, November 5 and Saturday, November 7, each at 7:30 p.m., in the Wu Tsai Theater at David Geffen Hall, 10 Lincoln Center Plaza.
Also on the Philharmonic calendar
Looking a few weeks ahead, conductor Santtu-Matias Rouvali leads Schubert's Ninth Symphony, the Great, with principal bassoonist Judith LeClair as soloist in the world premiere of Kevin Puts's Bassoon Concerto. The same program includes Florence Price's Still Dances in the Canebrakes. Those concerts are on November 25, 27 and 28 and December 1 at 7:30 p.m.
On Thursday, November 19, Friday, November 20 at 11 a.m. and Saturday, November 21, conductor Roberto González-Monjas makes his Philharmonic conducting debut with violinist Frank Huang in Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto, alongside Korngold and a Der Rosenkavalier suite by Richard Strauss.
Tickets and details are at nyphil.org. Prices are not listed in the Philharmonic's schedule, so check the box office for current availability.