New Century at Carnegie

Striding from premiere to premiere and (sometimes even on the same occasions) from triumph to triumph, Carnegie Hall’s centennial season reached its epic conclusion on May 5, with a two-part gala of galas. Incredibly, the party is not over. June brings a coda: a three-concert visit by the Berlin Philharmonic under Bernard Haitink. Haitink, as record collectors know, built his fame with Amsterdam’s venerable Royal Coneertgebouw Orchestra, in his native Holland. He has never been the most poetic or temperamental of maestros, but in certain music—especially in Mahler—his sobriety has acquired the depth and somber radiance of the Dutch masters. The Berlin Philharmonic has, of course, its own Mahler tradition from the glory years under the late Herbert von Karajan. Haitink’s traversal of the composer’s Sixth Symphony (June 7), with its heart-crushing final strokes, promises to take its place among the finest concerts of Carnegie Hall’s year of marvels—and set a standard for a 101st season that on paper looks scarcely less stellar. For tickets call 212-247-7800.