Heard him last night in the Brahms 2nd with Klauspeter Seibel and the
Louisiana Phil.  Wonderful performance, extremely lyrical, singing, almost
chamber-like (except for the *really* loud parts).  The audience burst into
applause after the first movement and a little after the scherzo and rose
like a mightly wave in a spontaneous standing O after the whole thing.  He
actually gave an encore (Chopin's Waltz in c#).  One of the things I loved
about Ohlssen's playing was his control of dynamics.  He could start from
a pianississimo and crescendo naturally to any louder part of the dynamic
spectrum, as the tone seemed to get fuller and fuller.

Seibel's reading of this war horse was, again, one of the best I've heard
(I prefer it to Szell's, actually), especially in the problematic (for me)
last movement, whose opening theme usually strikes me as annoyingly fey.
LA Phil, for some reason, always play better than their best in Brahms,
for some reason.  You forget that they're about 20 strings short.

I amazed that the hall was only half full.  Knowing New Orleans as I do,
I suspect the concert probably competed with monster trucks.

Steve Schwartz