Photo: © Felix Broede / Deutsche Grammophone
Well, for the orchestra, the anticipation came to an end around 11:00 a.m. this morning. The unassuming, young, Armani-clad Asian pianist strode onto the stage, was introduced to the orchestra to polite applause, and then proceeded to mesmerize much of the orchestra with his off-the-beaten-path approach to the beginning of Rachmaninoff’s Second Piano Concerto. I won’t give away how he does the beginning – it’s probably not much of a secret, but it’s better experienced with no advance knowledge, so I’ll leave it for you to discover if you have tickets to tonight’s sold out performance.