The Murderer's Row of classical music

In baseball terms the classical music lineup this week could be called Murderer’s Row because there are some heavy hitters in town.

As mentioned in the symphony review from Saturday night’s concert, Jeremy Denk is performing Bach’s Goldberg Variations at Symphony Hall on Tuesday, January 19, at 7:30 p.m. Should you doubt Mr. Denk’s status as a classical baller, his recording of the Goldberg Variations reached No. 1 on the Billboard Classical Chart.

On Wednesday night, January 20, at 8 p.m. the La Jolla Music Society presents none other than Itzhak Perlman and pianist Emanuel Ax. It could be argued that Mr. Perlman is the greatest violinist of the past 50 years. I will not make that argument here because all such arguments are ultimately pointless. Perlman and Ax will perform music by Mozart, Faure, and Richard Strauss, with other selections announced from the stage of Symphony Hall.

Hitting clean-up is the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra with music by Mozart and Tchaikovsky. The last time the RPO was here they performed Tchaikovsky as well and were conducted by their music director Charles Dutoit.

This time around the conductor is Pinchas Zukerman. Considering his several guest appearances with the San Diego Symphony, Mr. Zukerman is a familiar face. The concert includes Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 21, which will be played by Vadym Kholodenko. Kholodenko performed Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto No. 2 with The San Diego Symphony back in 2014.

The RPO concert is Friday, January 22, at 8:00 p.m. The venue is also Symphony Hall.