“Pianist Garrick Ohlsson joined New and the orchestra for the work, bringing unapologetic athleticism to the starkly dramatic opening passage and later, still in the first movement, to the torrential cadenza. Ohlsson made the piano sing in the gently elusive middle movement, rich with overtones of Rachmaninoff and Schumann with only an occasional nod to the twentieth century; he moved full force into the final movement, in which the piano and orchestra become a giant percussive instrument. An extended audience ovation demanded an encore, which Ohlsson provided in the form of Chopin’s gently dreamy Berceuse, once again making the piano “sing.””

Theater Jones