David Geffen Hall at Lincoln Center Brooklyn tickets

New York Philharmonic at Tilles Center

We had second row seats and it was a treat to see the musicians and especially the conductor display their craft. Alan Gilbert was simply amazing, every move of his hand or baton was fraught with emotion, and he had a wonderful rapport with his orchestra. The pieces chosen were unusual and alluring. The first piece, Polaris by Ades, was a 13-minute futuristic-type arrangement that was at first grating and discordant, and by the time it grew on me, it was over. The second 79-minute piece was Mahler's ninth symphony, with which I was not familiar, and was varied in its range from quietly sweet strings to rolling timpani to full orchestra crescendoes and then ending with a whisper of strings. Altogether beautiful. The only negative were the seats themselves - while the location was great the seats were banquet chairs and I thought I was paying for real seats. Don't ever accept the double or triple letter rows (I was in BBB).