Great music exists all over this country: from the northern plains, to southern California, and everywhere in between. Cross a couple of rivers west from New York and you’ll reach the medium-large state of Pennsylvania, anchored by a pair of historic – if not always front of mind – cities some 300 miles apart. Due to an unexpected confluence of events, I was able to hear the resident orchestras of both cities within the same week: one at their home concert hall, and another here in New York. Which made for an interesting – if not necessarily fair – juxtaposition: a Keystone State Battle of the Bands, if you will. Here’s my recap.
11/29/25, Kimmel Center, Philadelphia: It may only be 90 minutes away, but when you live in New York City, it’s sometimes easy to overlook Philadelphia, with its world-class collection of museums, restaurants, and other cultural amenities. Then, there’s the Philadelphia Orchestra, which for 125 years now has been one of the best orchestras in the country, regardless of whether you believe in its status as one of the so-called “Big 5” orchestras. Which, you would think would be reason enough to draw music-loving New Yorkers down to the City of Brotherly Love. But, since the Philadelphians ride up the New Jersey Turnpike 3 or 4 times each season to perform at Carnegie Hall – what’s referred to in the orchestra world as a “run-out” concert – there’s little motivation for New Yorkers to return the favor.
But, I was overdue for a trip to Philly, so I timed a visit there last weekend to coincide with their last subscription concert of the year, before the onslaught of Messiah’s and other holiday-themed fare. My first impression upon entering the Kimmel Center’s lobby on Saturday night was that it felt less like a concert hall than a shopping mall, which was the last place I wanted to be on Black Friday weekend. A barrel-vaulted glass ceiling creates an atrium that encloses several bars and restaurants that are open to all, following the recent trend of turning concert venues into hangout spaces. (An annoying casualty of this setup is that both the coat check and box office have been placed in the crowded basement, with no direct access to the performance venues.)
The atrium also encloses two theaters, including the main Marian Anderson Hall, recently renamed after the Philadelphia-born contralto and civil rights icon. The 2,500 seat hall, now more than 20 years old, is open and modern, yet warm and inviting, with lots of cherry wood accented with brass and colored LED lights. There’s even an organ! I can’t speak for the sight lines and acoustics at the upper reaches of the three-tiered horseshoe-shaped hall – the architect, Rafael Viñoly, said he designed it to resemble a cello – but from where I sat in the seventh row, the sound was clear, if lacking resonance. (The hall underwent an acoustical renovation in 2011, which modestly improved its initially poor sound.)
The concert was led by Yannick Nézet-Séguin, who has been the Philadelphia Orchestra’s music director for the past 14 years; he added the title of Artistic Director in 2023. Despite being increasingly stretched by his concurrent leadership roles at the Met Opera and his hometown Orchestre Métropolitain of Montreal – not to mention regularly guest conducting the Chamber Orchestra of Europe (they’l be at Carnegie next week) and the Berlin and Vienna Philharmonics – Yannick, 50, truly seems to enjoy Philly, recently extending his contract until 2030.
With his familiar ebullience, Yannick bounded onstage in a chinois black silk shirt to lead Terence Blanchard’s Orchestral Suite from his 2019 opera Fire Shut Up In My Bones, which the orchestra commissioned and premiered last year. Blanchard, who has spent the past four decades leading a dual life as both a leading jazz trumpeter (he was named an NEA Jazz Master in 2024) and a prolific composer (he’s written the scores for all 17 of Spike Lee’s films) writes lyrical, jazz-inflected scores that integrate elements of both classical and popular music. Yannick, who conducted the opera’s Met premiere back in 2021, led with enthusiasm and conviction, but without any context or even a general idea of the opera’s story, the music came off as just a medley of sounds.
I first heard the young Spanish violinist Maria Dueñas at Tanglewood this past summer, where she dispatched the Mendelssohn violin concerto with the Boston Symphony in a performance that was effortlessly virtuosic, if not particularly moving. Dueñas, who turned 23 on Thursday, is one of classical music’s bright young stars, as talented as she is photogenic; it’s no coincidence that she’s signed to a long term contract with Deutsche Grammophon. Here, she played one of her signature pieces: Eduard Lalo’s Symphonie Espagnole, one of the earliest of several French works besotted with Spanish music – think Bizet’s Carmen or Ravel’s Bolero. More than a violin concerto, Lalo’s music is a true symphony in structure, unfolding over five movements: from the dancey, Sevillan Scherzando, to the dark, vaguely Andalusian Intermezzo. Most impressive was the Rondo finale, which Dueñas flew through with passion and precision: even after 40 minutes of nonstop playing, her fingers moved faster than I could follow. Ah, to be 22 and tireless! As a change up, Dueñas played Johan Halvorsen’s subdued, heartfelt Veslemøys Sang as an encore.
After intermission, Yannick conducted Sibelius 5, one of the most unusual and musically satisfying symphonies in the entire repertoire. Written in 1914 and revised five years later, the symphony is full of astonishing moments: a majestic brass chorale followed by a breathless string-driven crescendo in the opening movement (Allegro moderato); the chirping Andante marked by strange, haunting dissonances; the finale’s famous Swan Calls, ending with six staggered chords separated by awkwardly-long silences. Yannick took it at full tilt with his usual showy gesturing, which was exciting if somewhat lacking in nuance; one reviewer theorized a bout of holiday-related fatigue or a lack of rehearsal time may have been to blame. Regardless, the audience responded enthusiastically, calling Yannick back several times before heading home along Spruce or Broad Streets. Unless they first decided to partake in one of Kimmel’s post-concert happy hour specials.
12/3/25, Carnegie Hall: On Wednesday night, I was at Carnegie to hear Pennsylvania’s other storied ensemble, the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, whose concerts I’ve attended for the past three decades, mostly at their home base of Heinz Hall in downtown Pittsburgh. Not necessarily by choice: despite once being a regular visitor to New York, this week’s concert was Pittsburgh’s first at Carnegie since 2014 (they performed at Lincoln Center in 2019), a casualty both of the economics of touring – unlike Philly, Pittsburgh is a two hour flight from NYC – and the hall’s own programming shift from domestic to international ensembles over the past two decades.
There are many reasons why orchestras want to play Carnegie Hall, not the least of which are the hall’s superb aesthetic and acoustic qualities, which often outshine their home halls. (Heinz Hall is a converted movie palace, with a faux-organ, average acoustics and too much capacity – 2,661 seats – for a city of Pittsburgh’s modest size.) But, perhaps more importantly, it’s a chance for orchestras to showcase their wares before a discriminating New York audience, including influential critics who, rightly or not, can have an outsized impact on an orchestra’s fortunes.
PSO co-founder Andrew Carnegie, who financed the orchestra’s first trips to perform at his New York hall in the early 1900’s, said at the time: “We need not be ashamed to take this orchestra to New York. I think it is the best orchestra, with the exception of possibly the Boston Symphony, in the United States…. I would like just to see our (enthusiastic) audience go to New York with the orchestra.” (From my vantage point in the Parquet, several did.)
That may have been a bit of self-promoting hyperbole, but it must have been validating for the PSO board members who funded this week’s trip to see that Wednesday’s concert was sold out (though that may have had more to do with the evening’s soloist – superstar pianist Seong-Jin Cho, winner of the 2015 Chopin International Piano Competition – than the PSO’s own reputation.) Still, for discriminating listeners, the real draw here was conductor Manfred Honeck, now in his 18th season as the PSO’s music director. Honeck, 67, is a charismatic Austrian and former violist with the Vienna Philharmonic who has placed his own identifiable stamp on the orchestra with illuminating performances that reach well beyond the score, plumbing the most minute biographical and historical details in order to better grasp the composer’s intent.
In order to execute his vision, Honeck has hired more than half of the current PSO players, including concertmaster David McCarroll, who replaced Noah Bendix-Balgley when he left to fill the same role with the Berlin Philharmonic. Honeck, who currently holds no other music directorships, has staked his reputation in Pittsburgh on frequent tours of Europe and Asia, as well as on a string of highly-acclaimed recordings, celebrated both for Honeck’s in-depth liner notes and his exacting takes on everything from standard repertory like Beethoven and Bruckner, to new works by Mason Bates and James MacMillan. To date, Honeck and the PSO have been nominated for a total of 20 Grammys, winning three.
From the opening moments of Lera Auerbach’s Frozen Dreams, a PSO commission and her second New York premiere in as many weeks, Honeck displayed total command, signaling his intent with subtle gestures that the Pittsburgh players responded to with rapt attention. Based on an earlier string quartet, Auerbach’s music evolved from ominous atmospherics to what sounded to me like John Williams-esque chase music. Auerbach, whose Icarus was performed by the NY Philharmonic last weekend, stuck around the city to be able to take her curtain call at Carnegie.
Cho rightly got all of the attention in Rachmaninoff’s Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, investing the fiendishly difficult piano part with passion and drama. But, Honeck and the PSO were no less impressive, displaying tight phrasing and fluid transitions: this was a true meeting of equals, playing with an incredible attention to detail. At the signature 18th variation (Andante cantabile), Honeck jacked up the dynamics in the strings, building an enormous tension before finally releasing them in an ecstatic crescendo. It was all seamless – and spectacular. After a few curtain calls, Cho, another bestselling artist for Deutsche Grammophon, rewarded his eager fans with an introspective take on Chopin’s famous Waltz in C-sharp minor, Op. 64.
It didn’t take long for it to become clear why the PSO’s 2017 recording of Shostakovich’s 5th symphony, which ended Wednesday’s program, won two Grammys, including Best Orchestral Performance. This was as terrifying and tightly controlled a performance as I’ve ever heard of this 20th century warhorse, written in the menacing shadow of Stalin’s Soviet Union. Honeck kept the players in reserve until the ferocious finale, when he unleashed the brass and percussion with full, feral force. In his Times review, David Allen reflected on the deeply insightful performance Honeck and the PSO delivered: “This was an unsparing demonstration of how orchestral sophistication of the highest order can be put to profound aesthetic ends — a testament not only to what musicians can do, but also to why they must do it.”
That’s the standard every orchestra should aspire to. It takes time, dedication, perseverance – and perhaps the luxury of living somewhere outside the spotlight. For me, and for an increasing number of others, Pittsburgh is that kind of place.
So, who wins? In terms of sound quality, I’d say it’s a draw – remarkable in itself when you consider that Pittsburgh’s budget is roughly half that of Philly’s – but you can judge for yourself: WRTI archives its live broadcasts of the Philadelphia Orchestra here, while WQXR will do the same with Wednesday’s Pittsburgh Symphony concert here.
