Maazel says farewell to NY Philharmonic

NEW YORK — Before conductor Lorin Maazel even lifted his baton, the audience at the New York Philharmonic concert gave him a rousing ovation.

The pre-performance acclaim on Saturday fit the occasion: Maazel’s last concert as the music director of America’s oldest orchestra after seven years at the helm.

When he did raise his baton, Gustav Mahler’s “Symphony of a Thousand” exploded with an E-flat major chord played by an organ and winds — then the orchestra joining three choruses singing full thrall to the Latin words “Veni, creator spiritus” (”Come, creator spirit”).

For his “Grand Finale,” as the program described Maazel’s farewell to the orchestra, he chose Symphony No. 8 — dubbed “Symphony of a Thousand.” It’s the Austrian composer’s fireball farewell to life based on the medieval invocation to the Holy Spirit, followed by texts from the last scene of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s dramatic poem “Faust.”

Mahler was at the podium in 1910 for the premiere of the work in Munich by choral and orchestral forces of more than 1,000. These days, the symphony is typically played by hundreds of musicians; about 350 filled the stage of Avery Fisher Hall on Saturday, including the New York Choral Artists, the Dessoff Symphonic Choir and the Brooklyn Youth Chorus, plus eight vocal soloists and a brass choir in an offstage balcony.

While emotional warmth is not Maazel’s trademark, the 78-year-old maestro exuded relentless energy that fueled about 80 minutes of music without intermission. He commanded the musicians with his usual passion for precision, and the instrumentalists offered him fluid, soaring melodies, rich harmonies and crisp articulation.

But this was Mahler, not Mozart, a force-of-nature piece requiring the kind of visceral, on-the-edge passion the late Leonard Bernstein could coax from an orchestra — even from tepid players. In this case, those roles were reversed, with the Philharmonic breaking away from Maazel’s elegant control and plunging into Mahler’s anguish-turned-ecstasy ending to “Faust.”

The eight singers voice the story of the aging scholar Faust and a pure young woman. The Satan-planted seduction destroys the man, who only in death defeats his bargain with the devil in the redeeming love of a celestial female figure.

On Saturday, the singers were some of today’s best, including soprano Christine Brewer, who is back performing after canceling her appearances in Wagner’s “Ring” at the Metropolitan Opera in March because of a knee injury. Her powerful but pure, golden voice capped Mahler’s massive ensembles, practically levitating with joy along with the transfigured Faust.

Also top-notch was Anthony Dean Griffey, a Grammy-winning tenor whose lyric voice packed a thrilling punch, especially in glorious, tender high notes.

The Philharmonic is one of about 150 orchestras Maazel has conducted in a prodigious career that started when he led major U.S. orchestras as a 12-year-old. The Paris-born American has said that he aspired for years to become music director of the New York Philharmonic, for its quality as well as because it’s the main orchestra of a city where he feels at home.

“I leave with a tranquil heart and a very happy feeling that our relationship — mine with the New York Philharmonic and theirs with me — has been not only fruitful but on a human level, extremely gratifying for all of us,” Maazel said last week.

“We have faced the challenges of making music in this troubled world with success; we have brought our message of peace and beauty to the far corners of the earth,” he added.

Maazel led the Philharmonic on its tour of North Korea and China last year.