Vladimir Jurowski

The Philadelphia Orchestra's search for a music director is, in all likelihood, over. That doesn't mean a decision has been made, much less an offer extended or accepted. The search committees may dither for months or - damagingly - years. But all the relevant evidence likely to come in is, in fact, in. Vladimir Jurowski's last visit with the orchestra ended the need to look any further - if in fact he would accept the job. Is an unknown name still a possibility? It could happen, but that would mean a protracted search.

Out of the blue Thursday night, the Philadelphia Orchestra hosted a guest conductor whose debut emphatically disproved the theory that chemistry is something that must distill over time. In the mysterious realm of conductor-orchestra relationships, chemistry can develop - in months or the painfully glacial span of years. But for Vladimir Jurowski, 33, who led the orchestra in an astonishingly gorgeous Tchaikovsky Manfred Symphony, the connection with this ensemble was immediate.

No schadenfreude intended, but it's hard not to notice that the Philadelphia Orchestra's podium decision dismissed by some critics a few years ago as a caretaker move is turning out to be both prescient and wise. The orchestras of Boston and Chicago may have generated high levels of excitement in those cities and beyond by choosing James Levine and Riccardo Muti, respectively, and yet here in Philadelphia we have a chief conductor who is a living, growing artistic force. And who actually shows up for work.

Any conductor out to make a splash isn't likely to program pieces that more or less play themselves, such as Rossini's Barber of Seville overture and Mendelssohn's Symphony No. 4 ("Italian"). Yet that's just what Daniele Gatti did in his first Philadelphia Orchestra visit since 1993. Maybe he didn't realize when the program was devised that the orchestra was looking for a music director. Maybe he's just so single-minded in his musical zeal that splash-making doesn't occur to him. Nonetheless, Gatti's Thursday outing with the orchestra, which he topped off with Brahms' Symphony No. 1, left little doubt: He's a contender, one with more age (47)

While the leadership of the Philadelphia Orchestra has been getting its fiscal and administrative house in order, the ensemble has had its own work to do. Up to this point, musical standards have generally held steady. Thursday night, however, the group was in a different state altogether. In a program of Stravinsky, Tchaikovsky, and Prokofiev that looked promising but hardly assured any particular outcome, the orchestra soared to a level of sculpted detail, exactitude, and nimble expressiveness that functioned as the next step in its evolution.

Think of a music-director search as a train. One minute everyone is on board, heading down one track with all deliberate speed, then a switch is thrown that causes a sudden change in direction. At the moment, the Philadelphia Orchestra's search is headed this way: Look for an announcement sometime this season that gives Charles Dutoit, 72, the full title of music director for a short and finite period. Dutoit, currently chief conductor and artistic adviser, would succeed Christoph Eschenbach, who left the post last year and currently is leading the orchestra on a three-week, 14-concert European tour through the Canary Islands, the Iberian peninsula and Central Europe.

Moscow-born conductor Vladimir Jurowski has enjoyed a meteoric career, initially studying with his father at the Moscow Conservatory and soon conducting opera throughout Europe. Now principal guest conductor of the London Philharmonic and music director of the Glyndebourne Festival Opera, with the music directorship of the Russian National Orchestra coming next season, he'll make his Philadelphia Orchestra debut this weekend. Jurowski will lead two Russian works, Mussorgky's Overture to the opera "Khovanschina" and the passionate Tchaikovsky tone poem "Manfred," based on the epic poem of Lord Byron.

A magnificent question mark has hovered in the atmosphere above the Philadelphia Orchestra since Vladimir Jurowski's debut here 15 months ago. The orchestra's relationship history with guest conductors, after all, is a curious one, littered with false leads (Roberto Abbado), mysterious disappearances (Riccardo Chailly), and a rush to judgment of some extraordinary podium talent (Ingo Metzmacher). But Thursday night, in his first performance since the one that stunned musicians and listeners, Jurowski absolutely established that the magic of his debut was no fluke.

All eyes were on conductor Vladimir Jurowski's return visit to the Philadelphia Orchestra on Thursday - or at least enough to fill most seats at the Kimmel Center's Verizon Hall (for a change). Since the orchestra began courting him as a possible music director, classical music circles have been buzzing about his breadth of repertoire. His Tchaikovsky can be thrilling, but what about heavyweight Beethoven (always a good barometer of musical depth)? Answer: The Symphony No. 3 ("Eroica")

Some conductors believe, above all, in the Rehearsal. They balance and tune chords, bring out some voices and subdue others. They charm and educate players with spoken poetry and imagery to achieve various effects. They even make adjustments in response to the acoustics of a particular hall. Others do plenty of preparation in rehearsal, but the main thing they bring to the party is a performance pumped with energy. Conductors on the highest level are a substantive amalgamation of the two: They did their homework before curtain time, and they have the skillful gestures to write new ideas in performance and the sensitivity to react spontaneously to events (good and bad)

There's no getting around the fact that what makes the Philadelphia Orchestra the Philadelphia Orchestra is a certain skillful manipulation of sound. And why would you want to get around it? This trademark sonority, much remarked on over the years, is a dear asset. With change in the air at the orchestra and so much at stake, this seems a good moment for an identity verification. "There is no such thing as the Philadelphia sound. The sound is the sound of the conductor," Eugene Ormandy reportedly once said.

Charles Dutoit will conduct a concert performance of Strauss' Elektra ; Simon Rattle leads a week of Brahms and Schumann; Christoph Eschenbach returns; and pianists Maurizio Pollini, Nikolaï Lugansky, and Yuja Wang perform core repertoire in the Philadelphia Orchestra's 2011-12 season. Next year, the orchestra, grappling with soft attendance, will offer slightly fewer core-subscription concerts. And some ticket prices will be lower, though an orchestra spokeswoman said she could not calculate how much, on average, prices would drop.

No schadenfreude intended, but it's hard not to notice that the Philadelphia Orchestra's podium decision dismissed by some critics a few years ago as a caretaker move is turning out to be both prescient and wise. The orchestras of Boston and Chicago may have generated high levels of excitement in those cities and beyond by choosing James Levine and Riccardo Muti, respectively, and yet here in Philadelphia we have a chief conductor who is a living, growing artistic force. And who actually shows up for work.

Somebody in Verizon Hall tried to make Vladimir Jurowski shut up on Friday - and failed. One of the Philadelphia Orchestra's favorite guest conductors (among musicians and audiences), Jurowski was giving a preperformance explication of Prokofiev's Symphony No. 6 that was going on a bit longer than usual. Then from the hall, somebody began applauding, as if to say, "That's enough. " Coolly, the conductor explained why these matters are important, and assured the heckler, "The symphony is short.

The news traveled fast. Minutes after the appointment of Yannick Nézet-Séguin to the Philadelphia Orchestra began appearing on websites in the United States and Canada on Sunday morning, reaction began bouncing among BlackBerrys. In the airport lounges of LAX, people returning from the Opera America conference in Los Angeles cursed the Philadelphians bitterly: The more time Nézet-Séguin spends here, the less time he'll be at the Metropolitan Opera (or so the reasoning goes).

Some conductors believe, above all, in the Rehearsal. They balance and tune chords, bring out some voices and subdue others. They charm and educate players with spoken poetry and imagery to achieve various effects. They even make adjustments in response to the acoustics of a particular hall. Others do plenty of preparation in rehearsal, but the main thing they bring to the party is a performance pumped with energy. Conductors on the highest level are a substantive amalgamation of the two: They did their homework before curtain time, and they have the skillful gestures to write new ideas in performance and the sensitivity to react spontaneously to events (good and bad)

Some conductors believe, above all, in The Rehearsal. They balance and tune chords, bring out some voices and subdue others, they charm and educate players with spoken poetry and imagery to achieve various effects. They even make adjustments in response to the acoustic of a particular hall. Others do plenty of preparation in rehearsal, but the main thing they bring to the party is a performance pumped with energy. Conductors operating on the highest level are a substantive amalgamation of the two - they did their homework before curtain time, and they have the skillful gestures to write new ideas in performance and the sensitivity to react spontaneously to events (good and bad)

All eyes were on conductor Vladimir Jurowski's return visit to the Philadelphia Orchestra on Thursday - or at least enough to fill most seats at the Kimmel Center's Verizon Hall (for a change). Since the orchestra began courting him as a possible music director, classical music circles have been buzzing about his breadth of repertoire. His Tchaikovsky can be thrilling, but what about heavyweight Beethoven (always a good barometer of musical depth)? Answer: The Symphony No. 3 ("Eroica")

While the leadership of the Philadelphia Orchestra has been getting its fiscal and administrative house in order, the ensemble has had its own work to do. Up to this point, musical standards have generally held steady. Thursday night, however, the group was in a different state altogether. In a program of Stravinsky, Tchaikovsky, and Prokofiev that looked promising but hardly assured any particular outcome, the orchestra soared to a level of sculpted detail, exactitude, and nimble expressiveness that functioned as the next step in its evolution.

Any conductor out to make a splash isn't likely to program pieces that more or less play themselves, such as Rossini's Barber of Seville overture and Mendelssohn's Symphony No. 4 ("Italian"). Yet that's just what Daniele Gatti did in his first Philadelphia Orchestra visit since 1993. Maybe he didn't realize when the program was devised that the orchestra was looking for a music director. Maybe he's just so single-minded in his musical zeal that splash-making doesn't occur to him. Nonetheless, Gatti's Thursday outing with the orchestra, which he topped off with Brahms' Symphony No. 1, left little doubt: He's a contender, one with more age (47)