Let the Other Conductor Candidates Contend

October 20, 2021 by Elisa Birdseye for The Boston Musical Intelligencer

Eric Nathan (Rebecca Fay photo)

The New England Philharmonic opened its 45th season on Saturday at All Saints Parish, Brookline under the direction of Composer-in-Residence Eric Nathan in his Boston conducting debut. He led a vibrant, sophisticated, and subtle concert that fittingly celebrated the return of the orchestra to live performance after the Covid. This occasion also marked the beginning of a search to replace longtime Music Director, Richard Pittman, who for 23 years, had nurtured the NEP into an orchestra that can hold its place with any in town. In a marriage made in heaven, NEP and Pittman have consistently championed living composers. He should take ample pride that this ensemble is the better for his quarter century of leadership.

The orchestra commissioned five fanfares to celebrate Pittman; the first of these came from a longtime friend of the orchestra Bernard Hoffer. He gave a few remarks about the genesis of the themes in Fanfare for Dick (2021). It proved appropriately celebratory, alternating satisfying sweeps of sound with dialogues between single winds and temple blocks, which had a prominent part.

Read the full review at The Boston Musical Intelligencer