Susanna Malkki Making Her NYPhil Conducting Debut Featuring a Brahms Prog.

As the Philharmonic's season winds to a close, guest conductor Susanna Malkki, recently appointed Chief Conductor of the Helsinki Philharmonic Orch, lead the NYPhil in a magnificent program including Brahms Piano Concerto #1 & Brahms Variatons on a Theme by Haydin.  Ms. Malkki was a principal cellist with Sweden's Gothenburg Symph Orch prior to her recent conducting career.  She has been elected a Fellow of the Royal Acad of Music in London ('10) and has been awarded the Order of the Lion, one of Finland's highest honors ('11.)  It was a privilege to be amongst the 1st audience to hear Ms. Malkki debut with our NYPhil.  Brahm's appropriation on Haydn themes pay tribute to Haydn's genuis with masterful innovative disparities.  British composer Jonathan Harvey's Tranquil Abiding (1998) was placed comfortably between Brahm's compositions.  I discerned the relationship between Brahms & Haydn as well as a connection between Harvey (1939-2012) & Brahms.  Tranquil Abiding used bamboo clusters, gongs, bells & wood block in his instrumentation along with bassoons, oboes, flutes & clarinets for an added, modern percussive element.  Brahms dynamic & robust Piano Concerto #1 ended a magnificient program that introduced Conductor Susanna Malkki with Amer. audiences and made a resounding link between 18th &19th C composers as well as 19th & 20th C compositions.