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An excellent orchestra and a rather grab-bag program officially opened the 2013 Musikfest Berlin last night. The Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra and its music director, Manfred Honeck, are currently on a European tour, and the audience at the Philharmonie rewarded their long trek with abundant applause, necessitating two encores.

In An Attitude to French Culture the Polish composer Witold Lutosławski remarked “I am aware that of the two traditions that initiated 20th-century music, that is, Schoenberg and Debussy, it is the latter that I feel prevails in my own compositional work”.

I often think of Lorin Maazel as the American equivalent of Sir Colin Davis – they are both in their eighties and they both deliver steady, reliable interpretations that let the music speak for itself. Maazel’s return performance with the New York Philharmonic on Saturday re-affirmed my view.