THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
February 8, 2002

PHILHARMONIC CONDUCTOR MASUR RETURNS

The New York Philharmonic billed this season as "Thank you, Kurt Masur." It was a chance to say farewell to the towering maestro who took over as music director on Sept. 11, 1991, tamed an ensemble of egos and held the post longer than anyone except Zubin Mehta.

Then came Sept. 11, 2001. Next came a failing kidney.

A season that was supposed to start Sept. 20 with a glitzy celebration featuring Anne-Sophie Mutter playing Beethoven's beloved violin concerto instead began with a solemn performance of Brahms' "A German Requiem" in memory of terror victims.

Two months later, the 74-year-old Masur had to halt his performances and head home to Leipzig, Germany, because of declining health. On Nov. 29, he underwent a transplant operation there, receiving a kidney from a nephew.

Masur returned to New York in late January, hoping to complete the rest of his tenure on a high note. His long-awaited first concert back was Thursday night's heartfelt performance of Wagner's hormone-charged "Tristan und Isolde," for which he received five curtain calls. Soprano Deborah Voigt and tenor Stig Andersen sang the title roles in the program -- the Prelude to Act I, Act II, and the Act III Prelude and Liebestod.

Even before the musicians stepped foot on stage, the buildup to the concert carried its own drama.

How would the instrumentalists handle a piece they hadn't performed in recent memory?

How would Voigt do, since she had never performed so much of the opera?

How would acoustically challenged Avery Fisher Hall, where musicians complain they can't hear each other under ideal circumstances, contend with offstage horns and singing from outside the rear balcony?

And how would Masur hold up through 17 hours of rehearsals over four days while still convalescing?

"We had our doubts whether he would be here, and to be back on the stage and conduct Wagner two months later -- that's an indomitable feat," concertmaster Glenn Dicterow said after the second day of rehearsals. "He has a fighting spirit to get better, and he steps on that podium, and it's like a tonic for his health. ... Working out the passages, you'd not be aware that this man has had major surgery. ... It's rigorous, very rigorous."

Masur dismisses the topic of fatigue faster than a 64th note.

"You never get tired in such a long piece. Why should I be tired?" he said in a telephone interview the day of concert. "This keeps you alive. It's a wonderful story, and as a musician you are kept alive by beautiful things."

From the tension-packed first chord to Isolde's final deathly gasp of eternal bliss, Masur led the musicians through the lustful score with the steadiness of a seasoned ship's captain. Occasionally, the orchestra would overpower the singers, but Masur made the multitude of musicians seem as if they were one instrument.

"It's been a huge challenge," principal violist Cynthia Phelps said in an interview. "It's unwieldy to put it together. That's one aspect of it. Music that we're not familiar with, that's another aspect of it. ... But of course it's great for us to do something like this."

One balancing problem came early on with the accompaniment to Voigt, until her voice blossomed into full power, grasping the broad vocal range and the shifting dynamics with driving command. Fresh from her triumphant portrayal of the empress in the Metropolitan Opera's new production of Richard Strauss' "Die Frau ohne Schatten," Voigt showed she is ready to step into Isolde's challenging shoes in a full operatic performance. She plans to do so with the Vienna State Opera in May 2003.

Andersen, who entered by marching down the right aisle and up the temporary steps onto the stage, also performed passionately. Being in concert attire rather than in costume, the lovers kept the visual drama to a minimum, keeping eye contact with the audience rather than with each other.

Not so for tenor Thomas Studebaker, who sang the part of Tristan's murderous nemesis Melot, or for bass-baritone Theo Adam, the befuddled King Marke, who lost his intended Isolde to Tristan. Studebaker hurled vengeful leers at Tristan, and Adam demonstrated the king's disbelief by holding up his left hand through his soliloquy. Mezzo-soprano Violeta Urmana, her voice full-bodied and rich, was quite effective as Isolde's maid Brangaene, especially when singing invisibly from outside the rear balcony.

The program is being presented three times, including a national radio broadcast on Valentine's Day (check local listings).

Masur plans to continue his final season as music director with a full schedule, including performances of Mozart's "Requiem" in early April, a tour of Asia in June, and a concert at the Lincoln Center Festival on July 18, his 75th birthday. After his contract is up, he becomes music director of the Orchestre National de France and will be succeeded in New York by Lorin Maazel.

"I am very happy to have had these predecessors who have given me an orchestra of sterling quality, and a group with which I really think I can work and make my music," Maazel said in a recent interview.

Executive Director Zarin Mehta said, "Masur was sitting in my box with me on Saturday night when Mariss Jansons conducted the Mahler Third Symphony. ... He saw how well it sounded. We all turned to him and said, 'Thank you. That's your orchestra.'"