LINCOLN CENTER

Avery Fisher Hall
New York Philharmonic

A rehearsal...

Listen to the two soloists... Listen.

Alan Gilbert - Conductor
Lisa Batiashvili - Violin
Francois Leleux - Oboe

Bach - Concerto for Violin and Oboe
Thierry Escaich - Concerto for Violin and Oboe (U. S. Premier)
Shostakovich - Symphony No. 10

Artist-in-Residence Lisa Batiashvili and her husband, François Leleux, perform Bach’s sublime Concerto for Violin and Oboe, and Thierry Escaich’s work inspired by it. Plus: Shostakovich’s Tenth Symphony, called “heart-pounding [and] intense” by The New York Timesthe last time the Philharmonic performed it. Alan Gilbert conducts.

We are learning to appreciate and enjoy Shostakovich.  He make a full orchestra "work."  Great sounds!

NY CULTURE

How a Happy Marriage Sounds

Violinist Lisa Batiashvili and oboist François Leleux play with the N.Y. Philharmonic

By CORINNE RAMEY

April 9, 2015 8:07 p.m. ET

The repertoire for violin and oboe is relatively small. So when violinist Lisa Batiashvili and oboist François Leleux perform together, the married couple often turns to an old favorite.

“The first piece we started playing together is the Bach double concerto,” said Ms. Batiashvili. “It’s followed us through our relationship and our life together.”

Both members of the classical-music power couple have busy, and separate, international solo careers. Ms. Batiashvili, who at age 16 was the youngest-ever competitor and second-prize winner in the prestigious Sibelius Competition, is this season’s artist-in-residence at the New York Philharmonic. Mr. Leleux is also a conductor and professor at Munich’s Hochschule für Musik und Theater.

She records for Deutsche Grammophon, and he for Sony Classical. He has appeared on her albums, and she on his.

This week, that Bach concerto emerged once again at a notable moment for the couple: Mr. Leleux’s first concert with the New York Philharmonic was on Wednesday, and Ms. Batiashvili’s 50th appearance with the orchestra on the following day. In addition to the Bach piece, the couple gave the U.S. premiere of Thierry Escaich ’s “Concerto for Violin and Oboe.” The concerts, conducted by music director Alan Gilbert, continue through Saturday.

When asked about the Bach earlier this week, backstage after a rehearsal at Avery Fisher Hall, Mr. Leleux leapt out of his chair. “Let me show you something!” he said, running to the other room.

He brought back his well-worn score to Bach’s concerto. On the taped-up title page was a handwritten list of more than two dozen dates and places where the couple had performed the work.

“So we start in ’04—she was pregnant with Anna,” said Mr. Leleux, pointing to the first notation. His finger inched down the page. “Here, Lisa was pregnant with Louis.” Several inches later: “We played it in the [BBC] Proms and at a wonderful festival in Amsterdam.”

In addition to performing Bach, both musicians advocate for new music and work with composers to enlarge the musical options for their unusual pairing, said Ms. Batiashvili.

The couple showed high interest in the inner workings of Mr. Escaich’s piece, which uses melodic fragments from the Bach concerto.

“It’s not just ‘I ask you for a commission,’ ” said Mr. Escaich. “They wanted to know what do you do, how you transform that. They asked questions before, during and after.”

Ms. Batiashvili, 36 years old, was born in Tbilisi, in what is now Georgia, and Mr. Leleux, 43, is from northern France. The couple met briefly when she was a teenager and he played in an orchestra with her father; but they didn’t get together until after meeting in a chamber-music festival in Finland, in 2002.

Georgia remains important for both musicians: She has family there, and both have worked to further music education and access to instruments in the country.

“It’s very important to give the message to the young people in Georgia that people should take responsibility for themselves,” said Ms. Batiashvili, adding that the Soviet system made it impossible to do so.

The couple now lives in Munich with their children, ages 6 and 10. “It’s a chess game, but it’s worth it,” said Mr. Leleux of the work-family juggle, as his daughter fiddled with an iPhone on a nearby couch. Ms. Batiashvili said she tries to restrict her travel to just eight to 10 days a month, and a nanny and grandparents help with child care.

“People think that because we are traveling musicians, we never see our kids,” said Ms. Batiashvili. “But we have more flexibility. We try to do our work when the kids are in school.”

Still, the career of a classical artist can be all consuming, Mr. Leleux said: “Music is a like a jealous woman.”

“I’m the nice girl,” said Ms. Batiashvili, with a laugh. “But it’s true, because in some ways when you’re with music, you have to be 100%. You cannot give 95%.”

The cellist Sebastian Klinger, a friend and regular collaborator, described chamber-music rehearsals with the couple as more musical collaboration than verbal discussion, and “basically, just fun all the time.”

“He’s extremely communicative and very inspired, always,” said Mr. Klinger, of the oboist’s seemingly endless enthusiasm—for everything. “I never saw him when he was not inspired or having energy.”

Upon meeting Ms. Batiashvili, “you think she’s more calm,” Mr. Klinger said. “But there’s quite a strong flame in her, musically and personally. You cannot always see it if you just talk to her, but it comes out immediately on stage.”

At the end of the conversation, Mr. Leleux became concerned for his wife’s image in an impending article. “There will be a picture, I guess?” he said. “If you say 50th concert, they’ll think she’s 70.”

Ms. Batiashvili, who made her debut with the Philharmonic in 2005, appeared unperturbed.

“It’s like a family thing,” she said, of those 50 concerts. “Also, my family is here. It all feels so close.”

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