Following last weekend’s gala performance, this Friday night at the Pittsburgh Symphony was down to business with the start of the 2025-26 season in full force. Music Director Manfred Honeck selected repertoire firmly in their comfort zone and the results were robust and rewarding. With the USA’s 250th anniversary coming up next year, this season sees an emphasis on music by American composers, with no fewer than 21 such works on tap.
How fitting it was then for Rainbow Body by Christopher Theofanidis to begin the program. Theofanidis has previously served as a composer-in-residence and Rainbow Body has become one of the most frequently performed contemporary American orchestral works. The enigmatic title comes from a concept in Tibetan Buddhism wherein after death one’s energy is reabsorbed into the universe as light. It further looks to the music of Hildegard von Bingen, whose 900th anniversary was being acknowledged around the time of composition, suggesting the rainbow body relates to the timeless quality of her music. A theme loosely based on one of her chants was given a luminous, exquisite presentation in the strings. The work’s colorful orchestration refracted like an iridescent rainbow, and this music of captivating appeal built to ecstatic heights.
Sibelius’ Violin Concerto in D minor brought back a familiar face to the Heinz Hall stage in Alexi Kenney, who at one point held a guest concertmaster role with the PSO. A Nordic chill began the work, countered by the warmth of Kenney’s tone. Soaring above the orchestra – which offered top-drawer playing in its own right – the violinist delivered impassioned playing and blazing pyrotechnics, colored by a stylistically appropriate use of vibrato.
The sumptuous melodic line in the central slow movement provided a peaceful contrast to the blistering passions of the beginning, upended by the thundering timpani which heralded the finale. The rollicking main theme was given with lively character, punctuated by rhythms sharp as a whip crack. As an encore, Kenney dug up a rarity in the Alia Fantasia by Baroque composer Nicola Matteis, a dazzling work in which endless arpeggios were delivered with a mesmerizing flourish.
Dvořák’s Eighth Symphony, which Honeck has recorded with the PSO, made for a suitably satisfying close. The melancholic introduction quickly gave way to music of such carefree abandon as to bring a smile to one’s face, though moments of weightier drama were interspersed. Honeck was in his element here, with lines artfully shaped and textures deftly balanced. The lilting and longing of the third movement Allegretto grazioso was utterly infectious, and the conductor’s flexible rubato gave it a particular charm. With its touching inward moments, the combustible finale was not all bombast but, at its core, was propelled inexorably forward by driving, dance-inflected rhythms.
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