The long and short of last Thursday’s LA Phil concert with Ludovic Morlot and Emanuel Ax

Emanuel Ax (photo by Lisa Marie Mazzucco)Just to prove to myself that I could summarize into three bullet points my thoughts on last Thursday’s Los Angeles Philharmonic concert:

  • Emanuel Ax played Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 25:  Spectacular.  Flawless.  Brilliant.  Dare I say, “Perfect.”
  • Conductor Ludovic Morlot:  Solid in Dutilleux’s The Shadows of Time and Beethoven’s 5th Symphony.
  • The orchestra:   Very good the whole night.

There, I did it.

Of course, there’s no fun in keeping things limited to three bullet points. . . .

Read more of this post

DSO streaming Mahler 5th, with Manny Ax playing the Mozart 22nd

Happy Friday.  In case you don’t make it out to any concerts this weekend, the concert can come to you:

Between now and Monday at 12noon Eastern Time, the Detroit Symphony is streaming their recent performance of Music Director Leonard Slatkin conducting  the Mahler Fifth Symphony and the Mozart Piano Concerto No. 22 with Emanuel Ax serving as soloist.  Click HERE, enter a little bit of registration information, and voila!  You’re in.

Read more of this post

Listening to “Sirens” without being tied to a mast: Salonen and the LA Phil with Ax, Hillborg, and Beethoven

Esa-Pekka Salonen, in a rare moment without a black polo shirt or Nehru jacket

Esa-Pekka Salonen is back, and there is much rejoicing.

All the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s Conductor Laureate had to do was merely walk on stage Sunday afternoon, and the applause was enthusiastic and loud cheers were already audible. He didn’t disappoint. The first series of his two week stint was vintage Salonen.

Read more of this post

%d bloggers like this: