David Geffen Hall, Lincoln Center, New York
October 10, 2018

The New York Philharmonic is celebrating Louis Andriessen’s 70th birthday year with a series of events, including inviting the Dutch iconoclast to curate one of their new Nightcap progams (on October 13). This concert was an opportunity to hear an Andriessen rarity – his TAO for solo piano, voice and koto, orchestra and vocal quartet – alongside two mainstays of the repertoire: Rachmaninov’s Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini and Sibelius’s ever-popular Second Symphony. I heard Robertson lead a dynamic performance of the Sibelius in Sydney two years back so I was looking forward to the second half, in which it’s fair to say he didn’t disappoint, but more of that anon.

David Robertson conducts the New York Philharmonic in Andriessen’s TAO with Tomoko Mukaiyama and Synergy Vocals. Photo © Chris Lee

An 18-minute extended work, TAO sets texts that deal with the meaning and transience of life against a musical backdrop that though it doesn’t play any of the obvious ‘music of the Far East’ cards, conjures a certain Asian atmosphere through high...