THE STAR-LEDGER
July 20, 2002

MASUR'S N.Y. FAREWELL
Maestro shares spotlight with musicians he led for 11 years

By Willa J. Conrad

Farewells are typically filled with conflicting emotions: joy and anxiety for the new journey, sorrow in leaving, regrets over things left undone, satisfaction over things accomplished.

Conductor Kurt Masur said goodbye to New York audiences Thursday at Avery Fisher Hall in Lincoln Center with a program that had all these feelings, and more. The outgoing music director of the New York Philharmonic has been on a farewell marathon - he led three weeks of goodbye concerts in May and June and will travel with the orchestra to Tanglewood summer music festival in Lenox, Mass., this weekend for his final ultimate, complete, absolute farewell performances as music director. Who says only pop stars have long and lingering goodbye tours? Yet, it was good to see Masur, who had a kidney transplant last fall, looking vigorous and healthy, even bouncy and affectionate, on the podium.

The abundant spirit Thursday was of appreciation and pride - loud, fervent, vocal appreciation on the audience's part, pride in that Masur structured the program to show off the world-ranked soloists he has woven into the Philharmonic's ranks as principal players.

This performance marked the Philharmonic's official participation in Lincoln Center Festival 2002 and also served as a birthday party for Masur, who turned 75 on Thursday. Beverly Sills hosted the two-hour program aired live on local PBS stations as part of Live from Lincoln Center; it will be rebroadcast at noon Sunday on Channel 13.

Masur's choices of excerpts offered insight into a musical mind audiences have come to know well, and will likely come to miss dearly, during his 11 years in charge. He is an uncompromising believer that music is a moral force, and so Bach and Brahms, the twin formative pillars of his career, were well represented. Surprisingly, so was Leonard Bernstein, the late Philharmonic music director whom Masur seems to consider the ultimate American. Family memories were a key thematic element: Joseph Turrin's "Fandango" for trumpet and trombone were included because Masur met his wife, Tomoko, in South America. The introduction to Act II, Part 2 of Puccini's "Madama Butterfly" was likewise a nod to Tomoko's farewell appearance as a mezzo-soprano decades ago.

"Festival at Baghdad" from Rimsky-Korsakov's "Scheherazade" showed off the orchestra's brute force, while Ravel's "Bolero" was an example of the razor-sharp discipline these musicians practice. Masur did not create the Philharmonic personality, but what he has done in a decade is rebuild the authoritative core of its sound production, deepen and blossom the string quality, and give the Philharmonic's wind, brass and percussion players more respect.

Consequently, this evening was about rotating musicians to the front to serve as soloists. Concertmaster Glenn Dicterow, violinists Sheryl Staples and Michelle Kim, violist Cynthia Phelps, cellist Carter Brey, bass player Eugene Levinson, trumpet player Philip Smith and trombone player Joseph Alessi all took their turns. The pairing of Brey and Dicterow, two virtuosos of equal weight pulling at each other in a movement from Brahms' Double Concerto, was the most satisfying.

Encores were a bubble of fun: an ad hoc singing of "Happy Birthday" to the maestro, Johann Stauss' "Egyptian March," an audience participation version of the Mambo from Leonard Bernstein's "West Side Story" Suite.

And then, from Bach's Suite No. 3, the gentle "Air on the G String." Keeping remarks to a minimum, Masur said he wanted to send off his listeners with a silent meditation. "Farewell, auf wiedersehn," he said, then began the piece, leaving the orchestra to finish by itself as he quietly walked off the stage. Poignant and appropriate, his gesture was a parting gift, the literal returning of the orchestra to its own leadership as he walked out the door.