Lush pictures created in Classics performance
There was no "Bond, James Bond" at the Toledo Symphony's third Classics Series concert last night, but still the rich and evocative program was definitely from Russia, with love.
Mussorgsky and Rachmaninoff in the same evening promised lavish color, artful effect, and the kind of musical drama that echoes in the ear long after the lights are turned down. Russian pianist Kirill Gerstein was in town for the first time to offer his version of the Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No. 3.
Samuel Adler's intriguing Lux Perpetua, a petite concerto for organ and orchestra, was a fitting opener and a local premiere that introduced organist S. Wayne Foster at the museum's historic Skinner organ.
The composer, who has taught at Bowling Green State University, was also in the house. Adler created Lux for organist Wayne Foster, winner of a Dallas Symphony Orchestra contest.
The work opens Strauss-like with deep chords from the organ echoed in the low brass. Over its 15-minute life it progresses upward tonally through the entire orchestra in a dialogue with the organ, then finally returns to its sonic origins. While Foster, whose prizewinning style made the most of melody and harmony on the various ranks of pipes - as well as some elaborate ornamentation - the orchestra supplied percussive drama and musical accent.
Stefan Sanderling personally thanked Rita Barbour Kern, who had subsidized this weekend's concerts, and Jonathan Orser, who provided the new Steinway grand piano.
The maestro's choice of a newer arrangement of Pictures at an Exhibition by Vladimir Ashkenazy was inspired. Drawn from the original piano score by Modest Mussorgsky, this version of the popular programmatic piece is punchier, darker, and a bit more grotesque, effects which the symphony delivered artfully.
What a treat to watch and hear Gerstein gobble up the keyboard to pull out Rachmaninoff's elegant and tightly knit work - written for the American audiences he was to perform before in 1909. Gerstein seemed to disappear into the music, a slight form bending up and down the keyboard following agile fingers. His understated style was perfect for the florid music.
Thunderous applause and shouts after the final notes kept Gerstein on stage, where he showed his dual penchant for popular music with a thrillingly liquid performance of George Gershwin's "Embraceable You," the Earl Wild arrangement.
The Classics program will repeat at 8 p.m. today in the Peristyle. The Lifestyles concert at 3 p.m. will include selections from the original piano score by Mussorgsky plus the orchestral version and the final movement of the Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No. 3.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Contact Sally Vallongo at: svallongo@theblade.com.
http://www.toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20081122/ART10/811220398