Sonically monumental: Esa-Pekka Salonen’s organ concerto plays Disney Hall, where it belongs

Does last week’s news that Los Angeles Philharmonic Chief Executive Chad Smith will leave the orchestra to head the Boston Symphony, coming on top of Gustavo Dudamel’s announcement that he will become music director of the New York Philharmonic in 2026, create worrisome uncertainty for an otherwise successful orchestra? Salonen’s Sinfonia Concertante, a potent organ concerto, uniquely filled the hall and a listener’s spirit. When Salonen was last in L.A. to conduct his old orchestra, he included the premiere of Gabriela Smith’s “Breathing Spirits,” an organ concerto. The inescapable real world then invades Salonen’s reverie at the beginning of “Ghost Montage.” Organ riffs are inspired by, of all things, those played at NHL ice hockey games. Perotin, not an ice hockey player but the radical 13th century polyphonist, makes a riotous entrance, a reminder that in another of Salonen’s recent Perotin-originated pieces, “Saltat Sobrius” for chamber ensemble, its Latin title is taken from Cicero’s quotation, “No one dances sober, unless he is insane.” The Sinfonia Concertante is sober and sane, but barely.