“The New York Philharmonic has a problem, which is that it doesn’t believe it has any problems. The accountants are content; the seats are almost full. The New York Philharmonic brand is intact, even aglow. But the New York Philharmonic exists, or should exist, to reflect today’s creative musical life and to continually reinvigorate the past. On many nights, it gives perfectionist executions, pedantically ‘great’ interpretations of certifiably great works–but not performances full of the feverish urgency that comes from an encounter with mind-altering music.”