It’s enough to ruin your day. You are guest conducting in a city for the very first time and everything is going reasonably well. As you head down the home stretch in the Schumann Symphony No. 4, not a ritardando in sight, aiming for that final chord. And just when you get there, someone in the brass or horn section muffs it.
Conductor James Gaffigan deserved better, and he got it through most of the program in an impressive debut with the San Diego Symphony Friday at Copley Symphony Hall.
Jahja Ling’s schedule with the orchestra allows relatively few guest conductors, but Gaffigan was a welcome presence, even if Ling was not far off.
Ling, a Juilliard-trained pianist, and his wife, Jessie Chang, were the equally welcome soloists for Poulenc’s Concerto for Two Pianos in a program that included the Schumann symphony and Bach’s Orchestral
Article source: http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2013/mar/16/guest-conductor-gaffigan-soars-with-sd-symphony/