I neglected to mention the terrific Mostly Mozart matinee I attended a week ago Sunday at Alice Tully, which featured Pierre-Laurent Aimard doing his playing/conducting/explaining-thing (just like he did last year) with the crisp, sharp Chamber Orchestra of Europe. The connections Aimard drew between Bach and Boulez, or Bach and Elliott Carter, were admittedly lost on me, but just listening to Aimard try to convince us (under the aegis that they all used polyphonic techniques) proved to be its own entertainment. If Chicago would offer up its directorship to someone with a similarly polymusical background but far less charm, one can assume it's only a matter of time before Aimard has his own orchestra.

More pics on Flickr.