Review for the L.A. Times: “They must come back, and next time let it be big time. Hello, Hollywood Bowl. We need them maybe more than we know.”

Excerpts of the review by Mark Swed for the L.A. Times: Bernard Haitink and Gustavo Dudamel are big fans. Gidon Kremer is a sometime co-conspirator. Emanuel Ax has chased Joo around the piano and shoved him off the bench. The team turns the severe Russian violinist Viktoria Mullova into “Viktoria’s Secret.” I was hoping, to no avail, Saturday for a surprise appearance by John Malkovich; a YouTube clip of his strait-laced music critic send-up with the pair is side-splitting. Since one clip is worth a thousand words, describing the Igudesman & Joo humor in detail would be to deflate its brilliance. For the put-upon Igudesman, think Jack Benny and Jascha Heifetz rolled into one. For the zany Joo, try an unholy Chico Marx, Vladimir Horowitz and Jerry Lewis mash-up. Through it all, Igudesman & Joo personify the idea that with skill and devotion and a good nature and prefect comic timing, we can do more than merely survive, but enjoy ourselves. The violinist and cellist, it should be mentioned, are music education advocates. They preceded Saturday’s show with master classes at UCLA and the Santa Monica Academy of Music. They must come back, and next time let it be big time. Hello, Hollywood Bowl. We need them maybe more than we know. CLICK HERE TO READ THE WHOLE ARTICLE