MTT and Yuja Are Out, But Celebration Continues in High Gear
/By Truman C. Wang
2/3/2025
pianist jon kimura parker, conductor susanna Mälkki
First the bad news from PR: “Due to illness, both Michael Tilson Thomas and Yuja Wang must cancel their appearances on February 1 with the LA Phil. Susanna Mälkki, Edwin Outwater, and Jon Kimura Parker are performing in their places in this celebration of MTT.” Ticket holders were offered a refund or exchange if they desired, and many obliged, as I saw rows and rows of empty seats in the hall. One wishes the 80-year-old cancer survivor MTT a speedy recovery (he took ill after a dinner, according to conductor Outwater, but we did not know what ailed Yuja.) For fans of both MTT and Yuja, they will get a chance on April 26 to decide whom they like best – MTT in San Francisco, or Yuja in L.A.
Good news was the concert went on as planned. Two works originally scheduled for Yuja were omitted: Poulenc’s Sonata for Four Hands, and MTT’s song “You Come Here Often?” transcribed for piano. Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue got reassigned to Jon Kimura Parker, an estimable pianist who won Gold at 1984 Leeds. The remaining three orchestral works were conducted by Susanna Mälkki, an MTT protégé (Ibéria, Young Person’s Guide) and Edwin Outwater, an MTT pal (Agnegram).
Different people, same spirit of celebration in the works featured (celebrating an arts patron, a Spanish city, an orchestra and, of course, MTT himself) The concert opened with a video introduction of MTT’s career, followed by his composition Agnegram, a short 7-minute work scored for a massive orchestra. I am no fan of most contemporary music, but this was an eminently accessible piece full of joy, optimism and good humor (quoting Tchaikovsky, Verdi, etc.) The same massive orchestra, adding castanets and tambourine, stayed on for the next piece, Debussy’s Spain-inspired Ibéria. Conductor Mälkki gave an exciting, atmospheric account of this Impressionist tone poem, featuring memorable playing from the winds and an impressive battery of percussion instruments.
Jon Kimura Parker is an excellent pianist for the mainstream classical repertory, but a jazz pianist he is not. Makoto Ozone, a true jazz pianist playing the Rhapsody reviewed on this blog in 2023, was incredibly exhilarating with “long, extended sessions of jazzy improvisations with infectious riffs and licks that seemed to go off the rails at times but always managed to return with a wink and a chuckle.” Those episodes were entirely missing in Mr. Parker’s playing, with the cadenzas being short, unexciting and humorless. Much more interesting was the extra-jazzy embellished clarinet glissando which was a surprising opening shot from Principal Clarinet Boris Allakhverdyan. Mr. Parker gave an encore of self-transcribed MTT song “Grace”, in a wistful hushed rendition.
Mälkki returned to conduct a dynamic Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra by Benjamin Britten. It showcased the brilliance of Britten’s variations on Henry Purcell’s theme, each section of the orchestra shining in its moment to impress: from the playful woodwinds to the majestic brass, the lush strings to the percussion's fireworks, every instrument was given its due in this musical journey. A cheering audience at the end showed this was really a celebration of a great orchestra, with or without MTT.
Truman C. Wang is Editor-in-Chief of Classical Voice, whose articles have appeared in the Pasadena Star-News, San Gabriel Valley Tribune, other Southern California publications, as well as the Hawaiian Chinese Daily. He studied Integrative Biology and Music at U.C. Berkeley.