"Concerto Retinkered (for Youthful Soloist)"
The New York Times, July 31, 2007

An article about the outstanding cellist Alisa Weilerstein, who plays the New York premiere of Osvaldo Golijov’s cello concerto Azul tonight (July 31) during the opening-night gala of the Mostly Mozart Festival at Avery Fisher Hall. The piece was originally unveiled by Yo-Yo Ma and the Boston Symphony Orchestra at Tanglewood last summer. For this performance, it has been extensively revised, and Weilerstein’s participation had a lot to do with the changes Golijov has made. The program, which will repeat tomorrow night, also includes Mozart’s "Linz" Symphony and Beethoven’s "Emperor" Concerto with soloist Paul Lewis.

Tuesday night’s concert will be followed by a late-night session at the Kaplan Penthouse: Weilerstein will play the Kodály’s Sonata for Solo Cello (which you can also see her play on her website), and Lewis will play Beethoven’s Piano Sonata No. 32. Worth noting on Wednesday is a 6:45pm pre-concert chat with Golijov hosted by Anastasia Tsioulcas, of Billboard and Cafe Aman renown, also taking place in the Kaplan Penthouse.

Sad to say, I’ll be missing all of it. But getting to watch Golijov singing rhythms to Jamey Haddad and Cyro Baptista in a Lincoln Center rehearsal studio was a pretty memorable experience all by itself. (A funny side note: Googling around for a photo reminded me that the last time I heard Weilerstein play live was probably in this, photos of which are here.)

Playlist:

Napalm Death – Utopia Banished (Earache)

Philip Glass – Music in Twelve Parts – Philip Glass Ensemble (Virgin)

Fairground Attraction – Ay Fond Kiss (RCA; U.K.)