Out West Arts: Performance at the end of the world

This has been an incredible year for the Los Angeles Philharmonic. And while the future is probably not as bright as many would have you think, the performances from Walt Disney Concert Hall in the early part of the year marked the greatest of the year. Under the leadership of Esa-Pekka Salonen, who concluded his run as music director this year, the orchestra performed a series of incredible world premieres. Among these were Arvo Pärt's Symphony No. 4, Louis Andriessen's double piano concerto The Hague Hacking, and, most importantly, Salonen's own Violin Concerto written for Leila Josefowicz. Salonen's tenure then concluded with a semi-staged evening of Stravinsky's Oedipus Rex and Symphony of Psalms.

The above video is not the L.A. Philharmonic, nor any of the works mentioned above, but another major composition from Salonen, his Piano Concerto performed by Yefim Bronfman. It's another work Los Angeles audiences were treated to under Salonen's leadership, and the clip is a reminder of what we've lost. It will be a long time before the Los Angeles Philharmonic will sound as good as it has under Salonen again. But at least we have our memories.