Yannick Nézet-Séguin at NJPAC.

1-30-15 SHORT HILLS: Yannick Nézet-Séguin, a Quebecois, is the new, two-plus years, Conductor of The Philadelphia Orchestra, and is credited with bringing it out of bankruptcy and restoring it to prominence. He is young, ever-smiling, buzz cut, short, muscular bundle of energy on the podium. We heard them last night at NJPAC.

They did Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony and Shostalovich’s Piano Concerto No. 2 Op 102, and Selections from the Suite from the Gadfly, Op 97A. YN-S got a lot out of TPO and the piano soloist, Kirill Gerstein.

For once, the audience at NJPAC didn’t applaud between movements. The house was one-quarter empty, and we were almost alone in the second row. You, who didn’t come, missed a great concert. We haven’t heard much Shostalovich in the past, but will look for him in the future as well as our new hero Yannick Nézet-Séguin.

We got a new inch of snow last night, which got me outside this morning to shovel the driveway. Deep freeze predicted for tonight.


Sunset after the big storm, nice sunsets often seem to happen after storms.