In Debussy’s “La Mer,” you can almost hear the heaving sea speckled with dawn sunlight, the dancing waves, the gusty winds. In the final movement, Ms. Malkki deftly balanced the music’s tumultuous frenzy with symphonic majesty, driving headlong to the brassy climax without a trace of cinematic excess. She preceded “La Mer” with the New York concert premiere of Esa-Pekka Salonen’s “Helix,” from 2005, which the composer has described as a nine-minute accelerando. And, with the alert Ms. Malkki there to keep the orchestra right with her, Ms. Skride tore through the breathless finale with impetuous energy and impressive precision. This season Ms. Malkki began her tenure as principal guest conductor of the Los Angeles Philharmonic.

Source: New York Times January 12, 2018 16:18 UTC