Esa-Pekka Salonen returns to conduct Philadelphia Orchestra after long absence

In his first Philadelphia Orchestra appearance in 26 years, Esa-Pekka Salonen conducted exactly the sort of program Thursday at the Kimmel Center that one most wants from this musical free thinker — in performances that exclaimed (momentarily) that this music is the best in the world. And some of it was music he wrote himself — the 2009 Violin Concerto that, typical of his compositions, didn't challenge the comfort zone of any reasonably up-to-date 21st-century ears, but was so much itself that one strained to hear it through any preexisting context.

Ceaselessly inventive and with layer upon layer of wit, the concerto begins with much postminimalist busy-ness — though such passages are full of too many zigs and zags in the musical fine print to be truly minimal. Strangely blended percussion effects involving harp and celesta created sounds that shimmered decisively, and were unlike anything I'd heard. The final movement is mesmerizing but most difficult to describe: The violin soloist is like monologuist in the manner of Shostakovich or Schnittke (though minus the moroseness), searching along uncertain avenues, suggesting a modern Orpheus in the overworld.

The concerto's unexpected conclusion felt more disarming in a Chicago Symphony radio broadcast I've heard. But there's no doubt that this is a major work — especially as performed with much passionate comprehension by Leila Josefowicz. So superior was this performance to any standard repertoire I've heard from her that I couldn't help wishing she'd drop all her obligatory concertos and just play works she does better than anybody.

Equally defiant of context is Bartok's Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta: Though written in 1936, there's still nothing remotely similar out there, partly because the instrumentation spelled out by the title remains unique in the mainstream repertoire. Also, the piece follows no typical symphonic form; Bartok's later string quartets come close. The opening fugue has rarely felt more arresting or, in the nonfugal details, so eerie. Music this intensely contrapuntal or rhythmically idiosyncratic is hardly what the Philadelphia Orchestra does best, though it played with more security than a lot of new-music ensembles.

Salonen has long delivered descriptive effects in three dimensions; his La Mer was almost holographic. He also generated plenty of tension by alternately stretching and compressing the pacing. A plethora of fine details added up to a gripping La Mer, teetering on the verge of violence. Such performances leave you spoiled.

Salonen's absence from Philadelphia was mostly due to his exclusivity agreement with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, which he led for 17 years — and ended thanks to a chance dinner with Dutoit, who urged his return. Even though his publicity photos are looking strangely like wanted posters — well, he is wanted — we hope his elegant, youthful presence will become regular.

Additional performance: 8 p.m. Saturday at the Kimmel Center. Information: 215-893-1999 or www.philorch.org. Contact music critic David Patrick Stearns at dstearns@phillynews.com.