Saturday's program was one where I have a hard time choosing a most or least favorite piece. I have to say that Debussy's La Mer didn't live up to my expectations -- not to say that it was bad or that I didn't enjoy it-- I just wasn't moved. That was countered by being very pleasantly surprised with both the Overture from Le Corsaire (Berloz) and the Suite from Pelléas and Mélisande (Faure).
The real gem, though was Ravel's Piano Concerto for the Left Hand. I generally dread seeing a pianist on a Cleveland Orchestra program; I treat it as a necessary evil, as awful as that may sound. This is for the simple reason that I don't think I've ever heard* a piano concerto where the piano has felt like a natural part of the overall work--to my ear or to my eye--always seeming like the orchestral work is glued onto a piano piece or a piano piece is glued onto an orchestral work. Ravel's concerto held my interest and felt like a unified piece with passages for the piano being reflected in the orchestra and vice versa.
Lincoln
* - This is not to imply that I am well read in the subject; I have perhaps a half dozen piano concertos under my belt.
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