“It is contract negotiation time at some of the nation’s most important orchestras, when the world’s most exquisitely trained musicians go into hard-hat mode and artistic administrations act like cost-cutting bosses. But this year is unlike any other. In an extraordinary alignment of the stars, four of the so-called Big Five orchestras, including the New York Philharmonic, coincidentally have multiyear contracts expiring now, precisely at a moment of serious economic hardship.”