This concert by the Buffalo Philharmonic and its Music Director JoAnn Falletta featured brilliant showpieces from 1920s France, Italy and America. The program opened with Jacques Ibert’s colorfully impressionistic musical “travelogue” Escales. With its evocative storytelling and audience-friendly appeal, it’s little surprise that the piece remains Ibert’s most famous work. Falletta’s French repertoire bona fides were plainly evident in the Rome-Palermo opening. The important oboe solo in Tunis-Nefta, played with sinuous passion by Henry Ward, conjured up Eastern atmospherics in spades. And in the Spanish-inflected Valencia, Falletta and the BPO delivered Technicolor excitement while taking a few unorthodox liberties with tempi along the way (these worked well). Importantly, contrasts were well-calibrated such that the frenzied conclusion became all the more thrilling.
Respighi’s Vetrate di Chiesa (Church Windows) is somewhat overshadowed by the composer’s famous Roman trilogy, but is every bit as deserving in terms of tone painting. Falletta has long advocated for this music. The key themes in the work come from Gregorian chant, and each of its four movements is descriptive of Biblical events. In The Flight into Egypt, the pensive character of the Holy Family’s night journey was palpable. The great battle in the heavens (St Michael the Archangel) was forcefully depicted, with the Buffalo brass more than delivering on all fronts. Falletta chose to have the trumpet solo in the middle of the movement played antiphonally – a good choice considering the sonic characteristics of Kleinhans Music Hall – and it was played with singular aplomb by Principal Trumpet Alex Jokipii.
The tranquility of the Matins of St Clare could not be more contrasting to the preceding movement, making it sometimes feel anti-climactic. Not so here: Falletta shaped it beautifully, employing Respighi’s ‘tuneful percussion’ to best effect while turning this movement into the emotional high-point of the entire suite. This is not to take anything away from St Gregory the Great. Here the famous Gloria chant was bathed in Respighi’s lush orchestration, building up to a tremendous climax of sound. The only drawback of this impressive performance was the disappointing sound of the important organ part, which sounded pre-recorded and lacked depth of sound.
Following intermission, Joyce Yang joined the orchestra in presenting Gershwin’s Piano Concerto in F. The piece is probably Gershwin’s most “classical” in form, but of course the jazz influences are ever-present. It’s America’s most famous and best-loved piano concerto, and it’s easy to understand why. But interpretations of the piece can vary – some pianists emphasize its classical foundations while others treat it as a virtual clone of the Rhapsody in Blue. Yang’s approach was nicely balanced between these two poles, and it served the music well. In particular, the introspective Adagio movement, so reminiscent of the blues, began with its melody poignantly intoned by a lonely trumpet (Jokipii again). I’ve never heard the final moments of the second movement played in such a spellbinding way. As expected, the final Allegro agitato movement was pulsating, energetic and jazzy – but never coarse. Overall, this performance proved once again that Gershwin’s music, for all its jazz and pop influences, best belongs in the concert hall.
As an encore, Yang treated the appreciative audience to Earl Wild’s lush transcription of Gershwin’s The Man I Love from the show Lady, Be Good. Wild’s über-sophisticated arrangement sounds like a mashup of “Jazz and Rach,” but it actually works and the pianist made the most of the music.
