Salonen Conducts Beethoven’s “Pastoral”

Principal Cello Rainer Eudeikis takes center stage in Esa-Pekka Salonen’s Cello Concerto. Rich in timbral colors—congas and bongos and layers of loops—the concerto was written for Yo-Yo Ma. Bookending the concerto are two works inspired by the natural world: Beethoven’s unapologetically pictorial Sixth Symphony and Debussy’s roiling, swelling, sparkling oceanic triptych La Mer. Call it surf and turf for the symphonic set.