New York Times Praises New Year's 'Antics' of Alan Gilbert, Phil, Igudesman & Joo

Reviewing the New Year's Eve Celebration featuring Igudesman & Joo in The New York Times, Corinna da Fonseca-Wollheim wrote, "the entire Philharmonic came out to play, in both senses of the word." 

Alan Gilbert, the Philharmonic’s music director, took revenge on the cellphone trolls of concerts past. “Do you ever feel your cellphone ringtone doesn’t match the music you are disturbing?” he asked, before offering a special Philharmonic ringtone potpourri in which the original dee-dee-deeeee-dee “Grand Waltz” kept popping up dressed up as Beethoven, or Ravel or Mozart. I’m downloading mine now.

Mr. Gilbert also joined the orchestra in sobbing theatrically when Mr. Joo segued from the Adagio of Rachmaninoff’s Second Piano Concerto into the pop ballad “All by Myself.” (See photo, by Hiroyuki Ito. Click review link above to see more fun photos.)