NYT: Alan Gilbert Made the New York Philharmonic 'a Bigger Box'

[Frank Forman]

Alan Gilbert Made the New York Philharmonic 'a Bigger Box'
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/31/arts/music/alan-gilbert-made-the-new-york-philharmonic-a-bigger-box.html

By ANTHONY TOMMASINI

In the spring of 2010, near the end of Alan Gilbert's first season
as music director of the New York Philharmonic, the players in the
orchestra pelted him with crumpled pieces of paper in the middle of
a performance. This wasn't a mass jeer. In fact, Mr. Gilbert
explained at a public interview at Lincoln Center recently, nothing
could have pleased him more.

The incident came during the Philharmonic's inventive production of
Ligeti's audacious opera "Le Grand Macabre." For a passage of
frenzied mayhem, Mr. Gilbert came up with the idea of having the
players toss paper fusillades at him. But there was a purpose to the
silliness, Mr. Gilbert, who is stepping aside after eight years as
music director, said in the interview.

It's crucial, he said, for a major performing arts institution to
work outside its comfort zone and "think outside the box," though he
added that dislikes that often-heard phrase: Mr. Gilbert prefers to
strive for "a bigger box."

Boldly stepping into that bigger box, Mr. Gilbert has expanded the
mind-set of the Philharmonic--the major legacy of his tenure. His
artistic priorities now seem embedded in the orchestra's identity.
It must champion contemporary music. It must foster associations
with living composers and maintain the composer-in-residence
position that Mr. Gilbert re-established (Esa-Pekka Saloonen is now
in his second year). It must continue to appoint dynamic performers
as artists in residence and give them a say in programming. It must
regularly leave Lincoln Center to perform unusual programs in spaces
large and small, from National Sawdust in Brooklyn to the massive
Park Avenue Armory.

The enormous success of "Le Grand Macabre" emboldened the
Philharmonic and its players, at least for a while. In 2011, the
Philharmonic presented an enchanting production of Janacek's "The
Cunning Little Vixen," directed, like the Ligeti opera, by Doug
Fitch, who has been a crucial Gilbert ally. In 2013, the
Philharmonic offered "A Dancer's Dream," a program that included a
staging of Stravinsky's "Petrushka." During the bustling Shrovetide
Fair scene, the musicians, many wearing costumes, stomped their
boots and swayed with the music; some even got up and danced. Mr.
Gilbert, wearing a satiny black robe, leapt from the podium at one
point to play the magician who introduces the puppets at the fair.

Still, from what we know, Mr. Gilbert did not receive consistent
support for his ambitious plans from the Philharmonic's
administration and board, especially in recent years, as the
orchestra has often seemed adrift. Indeed, the Contact! new-music
series, one of Mr. Gilbert's initiatives, was close to death this
season and was saved only by personal contributions from, among
others, Mr. Gilbert himself. In recent seasons, he has chosen to
pick his battles with the administration, deferring perhaps too much
to guest conductors, which has made for some sleepy programs.

At least for the near future, the Philharmonic remains committed to
his most ambitious venture: the NY Phil Biennial, a project that
has, twice so far, offered festivals that have made New York the
capital of the international contemporary-music community. In the
most encouraging bit of recent news, Deborah Borda, a visionary who
broadly shares Mr. Gilbert's values, is about to take over as the
orchestra's executive director, following her game-changing tenure
at the thriving Los Angeles Philharmonic.

My doubts remain about whether Jaap van Zweden, Mr. Gilbert's
designated successor, will continue the Gilbert legacy. He's a
powerful maestro but has shown less passion for artistic innovation.
Lately, though, he's been talking up contemporary music and voicing
strong support for Ms. Borda, both encouraging signs.

Mr. van Zweden has made his reputation in the standard repertory,
while over the years, Mr. Gilbert's conducting of staples has been
found wanting by some. I don't really agree. For me, his
performances of standard works as varied as Bach's Mass in B minor
and Beethoven's Ninth Symphony have demonstrated keen musical
insight, a feeling for the shape and flow of a piece, and an
unsentimental sense of drama. Also, when it comes to assessing a
music director of a major orchestra, I care more about the larger
artistic mission than the slow movement of a Brahms symphony.

I understand, though, what those who find Mr. Gilbert's Beethoven
and Mozart a little too wan are taking about. At the public
interview, in answering a question about interpretation, he said
something revealing. In rehearsal, he explained, especially with a
well-known work, when he asks the orchestra to do something (to
execute a gradual crescendo, say, or bring out an inner voice, or
pull on the tempo), he cautions the players to "not make it
obvious." His interpretive choices should emerge without seeming
deliberate.

That's an admirable but difficult balance to bring off. Mr. Gilbert
is not a charismatic type by nature. Perhaps he could go outside his
own comfort zone and make things a little more obvious. When he
conducts a contemporary work, however, you sense him afire with
enthusiasm, owning every moment, making a piece click into place and
take off. And in works that are just outside the standard repertory,
like Schoenberg's early symphonic poem "Pelleas und Melisande" or
Ravel's Suite No. 2 from "Daphnis and Chloe," which he conducted
blazingly with the Philharmonic at Carnegie Hall, he can be superb.
His recordings of the complete Carl Nielsen symphonies and
concertos, taken from live Philharmonic performances, are matchless.

I regret that he will not be around for the renovation of David
Geffen Hall (assuming this $500 million project, currently scheduled
to be completed by the fall of 2022, actually happens). The
construction will force the orchestra out of its home for at least
two seasons, and some within the organization dread the disruption.
But Mr. Gilbert was ready to seize on it, as he said in a 2014
interview.

It could force the Philharmonic to throw out its usual playbook, he
explained, to alter its sacrosanct subscription series and to
perform in unconventional spaces throughout the city. For two years,
he said, the Philharmonic could "truly be New York's orchestra."

Adam Gopnik, the New Yorker writer who led the public interview,
thanked Mr. Gilbert on behalf of the city for bringing a new sense
of community to the Philharmonic. I've been gratified to see him so
committed over the years to the Philharmonic's concerts in the
parks. And the way he commemorated the 10th anniversary of the Sept.
11 attacks was perfect: He led a free performance of Mahler's great
"Resurrection" Symphony. The Philharmonic set aside 700 tickets for
emergency workers and families of victims, and some 2,000 seats were
set up at Lincoln Center Plaza for a video relay of the concert. The
ovation went on for 10 minutes.

I'll join the chorus: Thank you, Alan Gilbert.