MUSIC
THURSDAY & FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 27 & 28, 2018
7:30 PM THURSDAY
8:00 PM FRIDAY

New York Philharmonic
David Geffen Hall
10 Lincoln Center Plaza, Upper West Side, Manhattan

$52-$105

Conrad Tao is very far from one of my favorite current composers -- his work seems toothless to me -- but the Phil gets points for programming new works on its two initial subscription runs this season.  As much as it pains me to say so, the real draw here is the standard-rep part of the program -- as if there's anything standard about Bruckner, the most radical of Late Romantic composers, whose cosmically expansive works seem more relevant than ever in this age of John Luther Adams.  On this program is Bruckner's Eighth Symphony, the most sublime thing Bruckner ever wrote.  The Phil's new music director, Jaap von Zweden, strikes me as much too brash in approach for this music -- but friends tell me he is in fact a distinguished Brucknerian (he certainly has a way with Bruckner's idol Wagner).  We'll see.

MAKE A NIGHT OF IT:  I'm rekindling my like affair with pan-Mediterranean Boulud Sud -- and invite you to join me.