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In the back is the Academy of Music, where the Philadelphia Orchestra used to play, back when Eugene Normandy and Ricardo Muti were conductors. Living in Philly 25 years altogether, I've seen the orchestra perform live just once. In 1987, I happened to walk by when I saw that Lutoslawski was in town to conduct his own work in about 20 minutes, and Yo Yo Ma was a soloist on top of that, so I had to dash in and grab the cheapest seat. The music was apparently too much for nearly half of the audience, for they left at intermission. The Philadelphia Inquirer's critic, though, chose to ignore that to write:

The Philadelphia Orchestra audience couldn't help feeling that history was being made in front of it last night as Witold Lutoslawski led the orchestra in a full evening of his music at the Academy of Music. Joining composer and orchestra together for a full evening is an event that has been managed only four or five times in the orchestra's 87 seasons.

The 74-year-old Polish composer had been represented rarely in the orchestra's programs until now, but this concert showed his works to have been formed from the central living trunk of music's tradition. His choices were relatively recent works, his Symphony No. 3 (1983), Cello Concerto (1970) and Mi-Parti (1976).

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Done with his solo work in the Cello Concerto, Ma played in the cello section for Mi-Parti.



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