Nézet-Séguin and Met Orchestra offer compelling Mahler and Bruckner

By Sam Jacobson, 17 June 2019

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“the thrills came less from destinations along the way but from the long journey itself”

Reviewed at Carnegie Hall: Stern Auditorium, New York City on 14 June 2019

Mahler, Rückert-Lieder

Bruckner, Symphony no. 7 in E major, WAB 107

The Metropolitan Opera Orchestra

Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Conductor

Elīna Garanča, Mezzo-soprano

Asmik Grigorian strengthens the Met’s revival of Eugene Onegin

Susan Stempleski, 20th April

The Lithuanian soprano’s riveting performance as the central character in Tchaikovsky’s operatic masterpiece lights up Deborah Warner’s mostly bland production.

****1

Innocence: Saariaho’s final opera receives New York premiere

Kurt Gottschalk, 6th April

At the Metropolitan Opera, Innocence proves a gripping and perhaps divisive piece which feels real because it is a reflection of our reality, with no realistic hope of finding peace.

*****

Tristan und Isolde at the Met: staging gets in the way of the music

No’a L. bat Miri, 9th March

Michael Spyres shines in his debut as Tristan alongside powerhouse soprano Lise Davidsen as Isolde in Yuval Sharon's new, beguiling production at the Metropolitan Opera.

***11

Met Orchestra brings a long neglected symphony back to life

Susan Stempleski, 4th February

William Levi Dawson’s Negro Folk Symphony, overlooked for decades, heads an all-American program of 20th-century works in New York.

****1

Ailyn Pérez is the perfect Butterfly in the Met’s revival

Robert Levine, 13th January

Good Butterflys are not that difficult to come by but great ones are very very rare. Ailyn Pérez fits the bill in this revival of Anthony Minghella’s classic staging.

*****

Vocal thrills in Met’s traditional staging of Bellini’s I puritani

Susan Stempleski, 31st December

Marco Armiliato conducts a finely balanced rendition of Bellini's final masterpiece with a stellar cast headed by Lisette Oropesa and Lawrence Brownlee.

*****

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Sam Jacobson

Sam Jacobson has been writing for Bachtrack since 2015 and is currently in Pittsburgh, having previously lived throughout the Midwest. A keen traveler, he endeavors to see all the great orchestras and opera houses across the US and abroad. Outside of music, he works as a software engineer. He also maintains a blog which can be read here.

Nézet-Séguin and the Met Orchestra offer compelling Mahler and Bruckner