674. How Does a Composer Feel After the World Premiere?
5/8/202645 min
Great. Then depressed. Then great again. Stephen Dubner gets the full story from David Lang; we also hear from some fans, and the New York Philharmonic’s president. The math and the aftermath of wealth of nations. (Part two of a series.)
-
SOURCES:
- David Lang, composer and professor at the Yale School of Music.
- Matías Tarnopolsky, president and C.E.O. of the New York Philharmonic.
-
RESOURCES:
- "Finally, an Opera About Economics," by Stacey Vanek Smith (Bloomberg, 2026).
- "The Little Match Girl Passion," by David Lang (2023).
- The Wealth of Nations, by Adam Smith (1776).
-
EXTRAS:
- "David Lang’s the wealth of nations," series by Freakonomics Radio (2026).
- "In Search of the Real Adam Smith," series by Freakonomics Radio (2022).
Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
Clips
Transcript preview
First 90 secondsSpeaker 00:00
Play the Heart and Stroke Lottery with incredible one to two odds of winning thousands of prizes. Buy your tickets today to win one of two VIP prizes: $15,000 cash for a holiday in Italy, Paris, or anywhere else you can dream of. Visit heartandstrokelottery.ca today and start packing for the trip of a lifetime. Hurry, the VIP deadline is May 22nd. Lottery license RAF1527913. Must be 18 plus. Please play responsibly.
Speaker 10:29
[singing] The secret, the very simple secret.
Stephen Dubner· Host0:40
At the end of March, the composer David Lang debuted a modern piece of music set to a 250-year-old book, Adam Smith's The Wealth of Nations.
Speaker 10:50
[singing] The establishment. The establishment.
Stephen Dubner· Host0:55
It had four sold-out performances by the New York Philharmonic, conducted by Gustavo Dudamel. Last week on the show, we heard from Lang about the origins of the piece, and we sat in on a few rehearsals. We also attended one of the performances. [singing] [applauding] Afterward, we spoke with some audience members in the lobby.
Speaker 31:27
I'm here on a band trip, and this