A DIFFERENCE OF OPINION: One of the world’s most recognizable classical musicians stopped through town Thursday night for a concert with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra. But the critics are sharply divided on Itzhak Perlman’s performance. Chris Shull had a blast. “Perlman’s performances exude warmth and joy. The ease and excitement of his playing project a conviviality — a sharing — that attracts listeners,” he writes in his dfw.com review. But Scott Cantrell was too distracted by a lack of conviviality between guest and orchestra. “Perlman didn’t help by too often pushing the violins at the expense of lower voices, sometimes to harsh effect,” he writes in his dallasnews.com review about the playing in Dvorák’s Serenade in E major. “There were also too many wince-inducing spots where the players just weren’t secure in the notes.”

READY FOR LIFT OFF: Grapevine’s Bryce Avary of the Rocket Summer fame is having a pretty good week. His band’s fourth album, Of Men and Angels, briefly topped the iTunes album download charts. And the Rocket Summer will unveil songs from the new disc at a show tonight at the Granada. Avary’s been making the local media rounds to promote the new album; you can read what he has to say about it on dfw.com,  DC9 at Night and quickdfw.com.

BIGGER AND BETTER: The This Week in the Arts podcast, produced by Fort Worth theater types Justin Flowers and Dana Schultes, is expanding in leaps and bounds these days. This week’s guests include La Reunion TX co-founder and A&S blogger Sarah Jane Semrad; Dallas actress Lindsey Holloway; and D.C. Anderson, part of the touring production of The Phantom of the Opera at the Music Hall at Fair Park.