Gidon Kremer, Kremerata Baltica, City Hall

LET'S start at the end, and no pussyfooting. Latvian violinist Gidon Kremer and his amazing Baltic string band tore the City Hall crowd apart with an astonishing (unnamed) encore by Argentinian composer Astor Piazzolla that had all the hurtling, funky, Latin rhythms and inflections familiar from Piazzolla's music, coupled with the immediacy of a jam session and the disciplined playing of a group so well-drilled their integrity was breathtaking. The vibraphone soloist (also unnamed) was out of this world.