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WASHINGTON POST May 20, 2002 By Ronald Broun When conductor Kurt Masur took over the New York Philharmonic from Zubin Mehta 11 years ago, the orchestra had lost its edge and much of its lofty reputation. Rampant infighting and Mehta's inattention to detail -- the complex orchestral circuitry that must be constantly tuned and calibrated to something like perfection if it is to fire in unison -- had left the Philharmonic sounding like a hundred soloists routinely plying their trade. Masur's old-school discipline and scrupulous attention to ensemble work soon yielded finely graded articulation, rhythmic spine, lucid vertical balances, and above all a shared musicality that justified the discipline. Along the way Masur, however, made a few enemies of his own. His directorship is ending in a three-week valedictory of concerts, all in New York except for an appearance that was Saturday afternoon at the Kennedy Center Concert Hall. Leonard Bernstein's Serenade for Solo Violin, Strings, Harp and Percussion (After Plato's "Symposium") was sensitively negotiated by concertmaster Glenn Dicterow, and the reduced orchestra supported alertly, but the piece is so slight that it left few orchestral fingerprints. From the vertiginous opening of Gustav Mahler's Symphony No. 1 (a pedal point in A stretched across seven octaves) to the blazing, horn-drenched finale, the orchestra delivered a beautifully scaled, fluid, fastidiously controlled performance that reflected the rock-solid integrity of its conductor. Although the scrubbed-clean textures were a touch severe -- Mahler's poetry was evident everywhere, but not his rapture -- Masur's muscular authority has restored the orchestra to robust health. The gift is immense. |
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