Mad Men of Music - Season One

Mad Men begins in the early 1960s at the “Sterling Cooper advertising agency” on New York City's Madison Avenue. The show centers on Don Draper, a high-level advertising creative director, and the people in his life in/out of the office. It also depicts the changing social mores of 1960s America.

So any good ad man like Don, Bertram or Roger would have gone to the New York Philharmonic besides the cool clubs and restaurants we see them on the show.

They would have taken clients, wives and girlfriends over on 57th Street to Carnegie Hall (where the NY Phil played at in 1960) and heard some remarkable music. [Many of the concerts listed here were recorded by the Philharmonic for CBS (now Sony) Masterworks.]

So without further ado, here are the ten concerts that the folks at Sterling Cooper would have gone to see and hear.

Mad Men of Music! Season One

The first concert would have been a no brainer, help out the NYP Musicians' Pension fund with conductor Leonard Bernstein and soloist Issac Stern. The gala was on September 27, 1960 and was quite a program:

Bernstein : Candide Overture

Roy Harris: Symphony No. 3

Ravel: Daphnis et Chloé, Suite No. 2

Intermission

Beethoven: Violin Concerto in D major, Op. 61

Then in October (13-16) the Philharmonic celebrated the 50th birthdays of William

Schuman and Samuel Barber! Bernstein was joined by Aaron Rosand in this program:

Schuman: Symphony No. 3

Barber: Concerto for Violin and Orchestra, Op. 14

Intermission

Schumann: Symphony No. 3 in E-flat major, Rhenish, Op. 97

Also later in October 1960 (20-23) they would have caught a world premiere by Lukas

Foss. Bernstein was joined by Leonard Rose, Lukas Foss and his Improv Chamber Ensemble Ensemble in this program:

Wagner: Siegfried Idyll

Schumann: Cello Concerto in A minor, Op. 129

Intermission

Foss: Time Cycle, for Soprano and Orchestra

Mendelssohn: Overture to Ruy Blas, Op. 95

No doubt before the agency staff took time out to have some turkey, they would have been at this concert in November 1960 with Aaron Copland and concertmaster John Corigliano, Sr.:

Gluck: Iphigénie in Aulis Overture

Franchetti : Largo for Strings, in memoriam

Dvorak: Violin Concerto in A minor, Op. 53

Intermission

Copland: Symphonic Ode

Copland: El Salón México

In December, the weather outside might have been frightful (there were several airline

accidents that winter the area), but the ad men would have warmed up to the Second Viennese School with Hans Rosbaud and pianist Rudolf Firkusny:

Schoenberg: Five Pieces for Orchestra, Op. 16

Webern: Six Pieces for Orchestra, Op. 6

Hindemith: Concerto for Orchestra, Op. 38

Intermission

Brahms: Concerto for Piano and Orchestra, No. 1 in D minor, Op. 15

Early in 1961, Duck and Freddy would have recovered from any New Year's festivities and might have taken the gals to hear Morton Gould play one of his own works, conducted by Paul Paray:

Rossini: La scala di seta (The Silken Ladder) Overture

Sibelius: Symphony No. 2 in D major, Op. 43

Intermission

Gould: Dialogues for Piano and String Orchestra

Berlioz: La Damnation de Faust (The Damnation of Faust), Op. 24 / Ballet Des Sylphes / Menuet de Follets (Minuet of the Will-o'-the-Wisps) / Rakoczy March (Hungarian March)

Liszt: Les Préludes

No doubt everyone would have wanted to catch the hot red head soprano Beverly

Sills (gotta see Bubbles!) when she joined Andre Kostalanetz in early February 1961:

Chabrier: España, Rhapsody for Orchestra

Falla: El Sombrero de Tres Picos (The Three-Cornered Hat) / PART II

Granados: Goyescas / Interlude / The Maja and the Nighting

ale, Rosario (aria)

Rossini: Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Una voce poco fa, Rosina (cavatina)

Intermission

Albéniz: Excerpts for Orchestra, from Iberia / Fête-Dieu à Séville

Marquina: España Cani

Ponce: Estrellita (Little Star)

Lara: Granada

Traditional: La Morena di mi Copla

Rimsky-Korsakov: Capriccio espagnol, Op. 34

Benjamin: Jamaican Rhumba

Traditional: La Bamba de Vera Cruz

Falla: La vida breve, Spanish Dance No. 1

In March 1961, The gals would have been interested in Glenn Gould, and no doubt the guys would have been happy to hear soprano Marni Nixon. Bernstein also had some great new works on the program too:

Boulez: Pli selon pli: Improvisations sur Mallarmé / Une dentelle s'abolit US PREMIERE

Bartók: Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta

Intermission

Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 4 in G major, Op. 58

Thrills were to be had with the April 1961 program that would have made the Sterling Cooper staff give a standing ovation to Lorin Hollander who joined Leonard Bernstein in this program:

Chávez: Sinfonía india (Symphony No. 2)

Khachaturian: Concerto for Piano and Orchestra

Intermission

Prokofiev: Symphony No. 5 in B-flat major,

Op. 100

Father Gill and Peggy might have been soothed and shocked by the program in mid April (Easter was April 17, these concerts were April 13-16) with soloist Zino Francescatti, guest conductor

Seiji Ozawa and Leonard Bernstein:

Mayuzumi: Bacchanale

Brahms: Concerto for Violin and Orchestra in D major, Op. 77

Intermission

Stravinsky: Le Sacre du printemps (The Rite of

Spring)

Ten concerts that Mad Men would have caught with new music in New York City...I also imagine since the

Philharmonic was playing at Carnegie Hall, they might have stopped at The Russian Tea Room. In 1955, the restaurant was purchased by Sidney Kaye, who, in 1967, left the restaurant to his widow, Faith Stewart-Gordon. No doubt Sterling Cooper Agency had a booth, and were known by name when they came in with a client or date.

Stay tuned for Mad Men of Music, Season Two...and coming up in August 2009, the third Season of Mad Men will have another list of concerts with new music!!!!

In the meantime, enjoy this original and mad composer, Peter Maxwell Davies - and one of the Eight Songs for a Mad King!

Concerts were compiled from the NY Philharmonic website.

Hard act to follow

So what should he play?
The New York Philharmonic received a warm reception as it played today in North Korea. The unprecedented concert could mean warmer ties between the country and the West. Guitarist Eric Clapton is the next Western artist invited to play in Pyongyang.

Gilbert Interview

I was happy to read about Alan Gilbert being named the next Music Director of the NY Philharmonic. So I went to the archives and found this interview from 2004, speaking with him about Santa Fe Opera and their then new Don Giovanni. Enjoy!

MP3 File

Testify

So I've been impressed and a little overwhelmed by the American Symphony Orchestra League's new email bulletins. They are chock full of information, and I never knew how much I wanted to attend their events and activities.

The latest one though had me laughing.


Putting a violist in front of Congress for a testimonial just makes me laugh. Really. Nothing personal about the violist that they have picked, it's the instrument, and the words, testify. Call it "Classical Junior High Humor" - the equivalent of fart jokes.


Think about it...


Imagine a distinguished senator from New York asking about the practice habits of violists.


Or the schtick one could lambast a senator from Massachusetts when he saw Cynthia Phelps (above, left) or her stand partner Rebecca Young (right). [Grant you that IS the sexiest and most musical pairing I know of in any orchestra!]


So while arts funding is quite serious and I think the A.S.O.L. and the Americans for the Arts are doing a bang up job, it was ripe for me to have a giggle. And we all need that now and then!

Five Things About the New York Philharmonic

Saturday evening I caught another of my subscription concerts with the New York Philharmonic, with guest conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen.
1. I enjoyed the pre-concert email of notes and snailmail letter inviting me to take a friend to the concert. I did, and he enjoyed it greatly! I think it's a brilliant move to offer subscribers to "take a friend" - on all levels, for exposure for the new audience member, for the orchestra playing to a fuller house, etc.
2. Principal Oboist Liang Wang was in fine form for Ravel's Le tombeau de Couperin. In fact it was a fine opener all around, and the crowd seemed especially into the night's guest, Salonen.
3. Yefim Bronfman was certainly up for the evening's new work, dedicated to him, and Bronfman was indeed a delight to hear and see. For this world premiere performance of Salonen's Piano Concerto, he used music and had a page turner - and what a workout. I had been surprised it was not only recieved favorably, but also got sparkling reviews from the critics! I should clarify my surprise by noting it is a delightful work and am pleased it will be recorded - keep an eye out for it.
4. The second half was as exciting as the first, with Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition getting a fresh and energetic reading. Section by section, players wove great music making with delightful technique.
5. My final surprise of the evening was a standing ovation for the Mussorgsky. New York has been the one place where I haven't seen the ubquitous standing o for every performance...and not to say the Saturday performance wasn't amazing, it just caught me off guard. I truly believe that it mostly came from the visiting Maestro and his dynamicism - desipte all the work from the orchestra. There is something magical about Salonen and it clearly is felt by audiences.
There's another performance of Salonen's Piano Concerto this week, catch it if you can. And if you get a chance to hear Salonen and his normal band, the LA Phil, in concert at Disney Hall, do that as well, you won't be disappointed.