The secret, the very single secret.

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.

The establishment. 50-year-old book, Adam Smith's The Wealth of Nations.

It had four sold-out performances by the New York Philharmonic, conducted by Gustavo Doudemel.

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.

To...

Afterward, we spoke with some audience members in the lobby.

I'm here on a band trip, and this was one of the activities, so yeah.

I really like all of the crescendos and how it was all building up to a really big moment at the end.

I think it actually speaks to what is most beautiful about humans, that we feel better

when we help others.

I think that's a beautiful, emotional and pragmatic loop.

This is the kind of piece that Philharmonic should be doing.

It was also interesting watching Gustavo Dutamel up close.

He was really into it. I mean, he was

really inside the piece. The published reviews were also positive. Stacey Vanek-Smith,

writing for Bloomberg, said that David Lang had shown that economics, often reduced to stock

tickers and earnings reports,

can, in fact, be profoundly human. And what about Lang himself? How did he feel about the first

performances of his new composition? Well, he was pleased and proud, at least for a little while.

Last week, I was a superstar.

This week, I'm nothing.

...