Two putative highlights of the NYC midwinter season begin this weekend: the New Jersey Symphony's Northern Lights Festival and the Takacs Quartet's six-concert Beethoven series. The latter event, explosively titled ULTIMATE BEETHOVEN: A JOURNEY THROUGH GENIUS, is self-recommending; the Takacs' recorded Beethoven cycle, just finished with a volume of the Lates, is the best of the last decade. The NJ event marks the entrance into New York life of the indefatigable Estonian conductor Neeme Järvi, who probably has a larger discography than any conductor alive (357 CDs to date), and has also done outstanding work in the field of procreation, fathering two international conductors and a flutist (don't miss the cowboy hat picture). After a stint at the Detroit Symphony, Järvi now leads the New Jersey Symphony, and the Northern Lights festival brings a not at all surprising but very welcome focus on the conductor's beloved Scandinavians. Tonight's program (continuing through Sunday) unloads Sibelius, Stenhammar, Tobias, and Svendsen. Notice the Interplay on Jan. 21, which will feature authentic Finnish recitation of the Kalevala legends. If you're not familiar with the New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC), it is, despite the ugly name, the second-loveliest orchestra hall in the New York region, just after Carnegie.
