Soloist Chen Halevi rehearses at the Volkswagen Phaeton sedan assembly plant.
The New York Philharmonic created another level of musical drama entirely this week, when it performed Finnish composer Magnus Lindberg’s "Kraft" using parts of a luxury sedan as percussion instruments, and with a Volkswagen suspended above them.
14 May 2013 . DRESDEN, Germany. REUTERS/Fabrizio Bensch
The NYPO under its first native New York music director, Alan Gilbert, showed during two concerts at the Dresden Music Festival in central Germany why the 46-year-old conductor has a reputation for brushing off the cobwebs at one of America's most distinguished orchestras.
"Whatever you do, you have to do it with conviction and you actually have to believe in it," Gilbert told Reuters in an interview after a super-charged rehearsal.
This may not be the New York Philharmonic that someone's father, mother or grandparents bought a matinee subscription for, but it is an orchestra that Gilbert says stands up for what it believes in.
14 May 2013 . DRESDEN, Germany. REUTERS/Fabrizio Bensch
Composer Magnus Lindberg hammered away on assorted car parts, including coil springs, part of a spare wheel assembly and a cylinder used in the Phaeton's air suspension.
Lindberg said he aimed to go beyond experimenting with the clanging sounds of car parts that might only be familiar to fans of Japanese techno and electronic music.
"But on top of this we have the full symphony orchestra here so at moments it goes to a very classical orchestral sound, using the whole span from very classical to the extreme."