IN New York

Opening night at Carnegie Hall is always a gas. Everyone in their best bib and tucker and on their best behavior. But last night was beyond extraordinary. Not the crowd, but the sound emanating from the stage: An all-Russian program with the Mariinsky Orchestra, conducted by Valery Gergiev and featuring Yo-Yo Ma. Gergiev is a study: He doesn’t use a podium and never conducts with a baton. Ramrod straight, a strong vertical, he lets his hands do the work. The right flutters ever-so eloquently. Yo-Yo Ma is a study, too. His body envelopes the music as it does the cello, moving this way, then that; his face records every thought, emotion. But I don’t think I’ve ever felt such an interloper at a concert as I did when he descended into the depths of Tchaikovsky’s Variations on a Rococo Theme. This was Intense, personal playing, a dialogue with the composer so intimate that I felt like a voyeur, but privileged for the opportunity to witness it. What tone. The program’s bon bon was Rimsky-Korsakov’s Orientalist fantasy, Scheherazade. Whenever I hear it, I’m Sinbad the Sailor. The Mariinsky is in residence at Carnegie Hall tonight and Oct. 9 thru 11. Tchaikovsky symphonies are on the bill. Don’t miss.