Last night I attended a performance of the Utah Symphony, which featured
a program consisting of Mozart's Piano Concert No. 22 and Rachmaninov's
Symphony No. 3, but what was hard for me to understand was that Esa-Pekka
Salonen's 'Gambit' preceded these two excellent works.

I found 'Gambit' to be a slightly disturbing piece.  I was constantly
reminded of George Crumb's 'Black Angels', which I find very provocative.
I eventually warmed up to the Salonen piece, but I must say that it caught
me off guard.  Now I have to see if there is a recording of it somewhere so
I can further enjoy it.

The egdiness of 'Gambit' was completely subdued by Mozart's Piano Concert
No. 22, especially at the hands of conductor Jeffrey Kahane (who was also
the soloist).  This, I must say, was a masterful performance.  At the end
I just kept telling myself, "THIS is Mozart!"

I wish I had such feeling for the Rachmaninov Symphony though.  This
was an excellent performance, but it was slightly flawed.  I had some
conflicts with the tempo at certain places throughout, especially in the
3rd Movement.  I thought that it could have had more contrast between the
main and second themes.  I suppose this is all my fault, I was expecting
Stokowski.

Joseph Everett
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