THE MODERN BEETHOVEN: A PHILHARMONIC FESTIVAL
CONDUCTED BY DAVID ZINMAN
MARCH 1–20, 2012

Three-Week Festival To Explore Historically Informed Approach to Performances Of Six Beethoven Symphonies, Paired with 20th-Century Concertos by
Stravinsky, Barber, and Hartmann Pianist Peter Serkin, Cellist Alisa Weilerstein, and Violinist Gil Shaham Are Soloists
The New York Philharmonic will present The Modern Beethoven: A Philharmonic Festival conducted by David Zinman, March 1–20, 2012. The three-week festival will
explore Beethoven’s world from a modern perspective that honors the composer’s original vision, offering performances that use Jonathan Del Mar’s editions of the
symphonies, which revisit Beethoven’s intentions, including original tempo markings, the use of limited vibrato, and other techniques.
The symphonies will be coupled with three 20th-century concertos, each reflecting a different aspect of Beethoven as heard in the symphonies with which they are paired —
his roots in the Classical era and his wit (Stravinsky’s neo-classical Capriccio for Piano and Orchestra); his Romanticism (Barber’s neo-Romantic Cello Concerto); and his ability
to convey drama and pathos (Hartmann’s Concerto funèbre). The concertos will be performed by pianist Peter Serkin, cellist Alisa Weilerstein, and violinist Gil Shaham,
respectively.

Mr. Zinman will also conduct a Young People’s Concert on Saturday, March 17, 2012, at 2:00 p.m. The concert’s title is Four Greats: Beethoven, and it will be hosted by
Theodore Wiprud, Director of Education, The Sue B. Mercy Chair. The program will feature selections from Beethoven’s First and Third Symphonies and Haydn’s Symphony
No. 96, and the Philharmonic debut of the Voxare String Quartet.

“David Zinman is one of the most important interpreters of Beethoven working today,” said Music Director Alan Gilbert, The Yoko Nagae Ceschina Chair.
“When I first heard his performances of the symphonies, it taught me something about them that I didn’t know existed. While these works can withstand

differences of approach, I find his to be one of the most dramatic and compelling. After hearing his Beethoven symphonies, it’s hard for me to think
of them in another way.”

Mr. Zinman’s approach to the Beethoven symphonies is to remove the accretions of decades of performance tradition from the symphonies in order to
bring the listener as close as possible to the composer’s original conception as performed by a modern orchestra. “What listeners should know is that they’ll be
hearing a different approach to the Beethoven symphonies,” he says. “Beethoven was breaking ground in his own time, and so the playing style has to
come from his own style rather than from the Romantic era. “My approach to Beethoven is not as an ‘easy listening composer,’” Mr. Zinman
continues. “You’ll hear violence, noise, anger, but also a kind of ethos that has to do with freshness and revolutionary qualities. It’s very important to know
what he actually wrote and what was not changed. Jonathan Del Mar’s edition shows exactly what he wrote and didn’t write.”
The works by Hartmann, Stravinsky, and Barber in the programs represent, he says “a good way of refreshing people’s ears. You need something that sheds
another light. And perhaps Stravinsky or Barber, or Hartmann are another prism through which to look at Beethoven.”
Related Events

• Pre-Concert Talks
Arbie Orenstein, author and professor of music at the Aaron Copland School of
Music at Queens College, will introduce the program on March 1–3 and 6; composer/conductor Victoria Bond will introduce the concerts on March 8, 10,
and 13. And Joelle Wallach, composer and visiting professor at College of Music, University of North Texas, will introduce the concerts on March 15–17 and 20.
Pre-Concert Talks are $7; discounts available for multiple concerts, students, and groups. They take place one hour before each performance in the Helen Hull Room,
unless otherwise noted. Attendance is limited to 90 people. Information: nyphil.org or (212) 875-5656
• Insights Series Event — The Modern Beethoven David Zinman, speaker With Harvey Sachs, The Leonard Bernstein Scholar-in-Residence
David Zinman reveals the story behind recreating Beethoven’s sound world with the modern orchestra, and shows how a 21st-century perspective unveils new secrets in
music that has been treasured for 200 years.

Monday, March 5, 2012, 6:30 p.m.
Stanley Kaplan Penthouse, The Samuel B. and David Rose Building 165 West 65th Street, 10th floor. Tickets: $20; $15 for Philharmonic Friends
(Affiliate level and above) and current Subscribers; and $10 for Patrons

• New York Philharmonic Offstage
Cellist Alisa Weilerstein (who performs March 8, 10, and 13) and Philharmonic Assistant Conductor Joshua Weilerstein
Hosted by Jeff Spurgeon of WQXR 105.9 FM
Wednesday, March 7, 2012, 7:00 p.m. (free of charge; first-come, first served) R.S.V.P. up to three days prior to the event to offstage@nyphil.org
The David Rubenstein Atrium at Lincoln Center (Broadway between 62nd and 63rd Street)

• On the Music: The New York Philharmonic Podcast New York Philharmonic Audio Producer Mark Travis is the producer and host of this
program. Formerly with the WFMT Radio Network, he is the producer of the 52- week-per-year nationally and internationally syndicated radio series, The New York
Philharmonic This Week. These award-winning previews of upcoming programs — through musical selections as well as interviews with guest artists, conductors, and
Orchestra musicians — are available at nyphil.org/podcast and from iTunes.

• National and International Radio Broadcast The first program will be broadcast the week of March 19, 2012,* on The New York
Philharmonic This Week, a radio concert series syndicated weekly to more than 300 stations nationally, and to 122 outlets internationally, by the WFMT Radio Network.
The second program will be broadcast the week of March 26, 2012,* and the final program, the week of April 2, 2012.* The 52-week series, hosted by actor Alec
Baldwin, is generously underwritten by The Kaplen Foundation, the Audrey Love Charitable Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Philharmonic’s
corporate partner, MetLife Foundation. The broadcast will be available on the Philharmonic’s Website, nyphil.org. The program is broadcast locally in the New
York metropolitan area on 105.9 FM WQXR on Thursdays at 9:00 p.m.
*Check local listings for broadcast and program information.

PROGRAM I
Beethoven Symphonies Nos. 2 and 7, Coupled with Stravinsky’s Capriccio for Piano and Orchestra, with Peter Serkin The festival’s first program takes place March 1–3 and 6, 2012, beginning with Beethoven’s Symphony No. 2, which was written in the period when the composer was first acknowledging his increasing deafness. Premiered in Vienna in April 1803, the work is considered to be one of Beethoven’s last “early period” compositions. It is followed by Igor Stravinsky’s 1929 Capriccio for Piano and Orchestra, featuring pianist Peter Serkin.

In a reflection of his love of Tchaikovsky, Stravinsky composed this three-movement neo-classical concerto for himself to perform — it was another way for the recently
expatriated musician to earn a living — and it is written in a style that emphasizes the composer’s virtuosic strengths at the piano. The concert concludes with Beethoven’s

energetic Symphony No. 7, composed in 1811–12 and premiered at a benefit for soldiers wounded in the battle of Hanau on December 8, 1813. It was one of the composer’s most
successful concerts, given for an enthusiastic Viennese crowd that was overjoyed that the tide of the Napoleonic Wars had turned in their favor.

PROGRAM II
Beethoven Symphonies Nos. 8 and 4, Coupled with Barber’s Cello Concerto with Alisa Weilerstein The second program, March 8, 10, and 13, 2012, begins with Beethoven’s Symphony No. 8, a tighter work written during the composer’s third period. Composed primarily at a countryside spa and completed in Linz, it was premiered in Vienna on February 27, 1814; lighter and more humorous, it reflects a more Classical style. Samuel Barber’s Cello Concerto, composed in 1945, was premiered in 1946 by Raya Garbousova — for whom it was written — and the Boston Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Serge Koussevitzky. “It is one of his best pieces,” commented Mr. Zinman about this technically demanding work, which won the 1947 New York Music Critics’ Circle Award and is considered by many to be one of the masterworks of the genre. The program closes with the leastperformed of Beethoven’s nine symphonies, the Symphony No. 4. Dedicated to Count Franz von Oppersdorff — at whose palace Beethoven was staying while composing the work — it was premiered in March 1807, in a private performance at the palace of Prince Lobkowitz in Vienna. Although originally well received, it has historically been eclipsed by the enormous popularity of Beethoven’s Third and Fifth Symphonies.

This program will also be presented at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center in Newark, New Jersey, on Friday, March 9, 2012.

PROGRAM III
Beethoven Symphonies Nos. 1 and 3 Coupled with Hartmann’s Concerto funèbre, with Violinist Gil Shaham The final program, March 15–17 and 20, 2012, begins with Beethoven’s Symphony No. 1, which the composer wrote at the age of 29, late in the first period of his career. Premiered in 1800, it was immediately praised for its originality and masterful composition, essentially becoming a game-changer that set a new stage for the genre.
Next on the program is Karl Amadeus Hartmann’s Concerto funèbre, composed during the first months of World War II. Hartmann was an underground dissident; he wrote the
concerto, which reflects his horror at the German invasion of Czechoslovakia, to protest the deaths of millions during the war. The soloist will be violinist Gil Shaham, who has performed the Hartmann work as part of his “Violin Concertos from the 1930s” project, which explores pieces composed during one of Europe’s most destructive decades of upheaval. The Festival concludes with one of Beethoven’s most famous works, the Symphony No. 3, Eroica. Regarded as a turning point — many historians use its 1803

premiere to mark the change of eras, from the Classical to the Romantic — it shows a
new direction for Beethoven, and continues to be a significant influence on the musical
community two centuries later.

David Zinman’s career has been distinguished by his programming of a broad repertoire,
his strong commitment to the performance of contemporary music, and his introduction of
historically informed performance practice. He is in his 17th season as music director of the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich. He has conducted all of the leading North American orchestras, including the Boston and Chicago Symphony Orchestras, The Cleveland and Philadelphia Orchestras, as well as the New York Philharmonic. In Europe he performs with the Berlin Philharmonic, Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, hr-Sinfonieorchester, Munich Philharmonic, Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, WDR Symphony Orchestra, and the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment. He also has relationships with the Amsterdam’s Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Vienna Symphony, London Philharmonic Orchestra, as well as Orchestre de Paris, Philharmonia Orchestra, and Orchestre National de France. His most recent opera performance was a production of Offenbach’s Les contes d’Hoffmann at
Geneva Opera in March 2010, to be revived in late 2011.

David Zinman’s extensive discography of more than 100 recordings has earned him
numerous international honors, including five Grammy awards, two Grand Prix du Disque,
two Edison Prizes, the Deutsche Schallplattenpreis, and a Gramophone Award. He was also
the 1997 recipient of the Ditson Award from Columbia University in recognition of his
commitment to the performance of works by American composers. David Zinman and the
Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich recently completed a highly acclaimed Mahler symphony cycle
(the Mahler Symphony No. 8 disc receiving a 2011 ECHO Award), which followed similarly praised Beethoven, Strauss, and Schumann cycles. A recording of all the Schubert symphonies is their current project for Sony/BMG; the most recent release is a cycle of Brahms symphonies.

David Zinman studied conducting with Pierre Monteux, and made his first major
conducting debut with The Philadelphia Orchestra in 1967. Previous positions include
music director of the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, Rochester Philharmonic
Orchestra, and Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, and principal conductor of the Netherlands
Chamber Orchestra. He was also music director of the Aspen Music Festival and
School, and the American Academy of Conducting for 13 years.
In 2000 the French Ministry of Culture awarded David Zinman the title of Chevalier de
l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, and in October 2002 he received the City of Zurich Art
Prize for his outstanding artistic efforts, making him the first conductor and the first non-Swiss recipient of this award. He last appeared with the New York Philharmonic in May 2009.

Tickets
Tickets for the March 1–3 and 6 performances start at $46; for March 8, 10, and 13,
$45; for March 15–17 and 20, $41. Tickets for Open Rehearsals are $18. Pre-Concert
Talks are $7; discounts are available for multiple concerts, students, and groups (visit
nyphil.org/preconcert for more information). All other tickets may be purchased online at
nyphil.org or by calling (212) 875-5656, 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., Monday through
Saturday, and 12:00 noon to 5:00 p.m. on Sunday. Tickets may also be purchased at the
Avery Fisher Hall Box Office or the Alice Tully Hall Box Office at Lincoln Center,
Broadway at 65th Street. The Box Office opens at 10:00 a.m. Monday through Saturday,
and at noon on Sunday. On performance evenings, the Box Office closes one-half hour
after performance time; other evenings it closes at 6:00 p.m. A limited number of $12.50
tickets for select concerts may be available through the Internet for students within 10
days of the performance, or in person the day of. Valid identification is required. To
determine ticket availability, call the Philharmonic’s Customer Relations Department at
(212) 875-5656. [Ticket prices subject to change.]