As vaccines became more readily available, reconnecting with friends and family after a year or more of virtual contact became a hallmark of daily life. Two old friends came knocking this afternoon: Tchaikovsky’s First Piano Concerto and Dvořák’s Seventh Symphony. Frequent visitors in the past, they brought along two new acquaintances who will definitely be welcome visitors in the future: pianist Beatrice Rana and conductor Dima Slobodeniouk.
Hans von Bülow decided to premiere Tchaikovsky’s concerto in Boston while on tour in 1875, five years before the founding of the BSO. The public was enthusiastic; the local critics less so, a division which persists to some extent to this day. Had Rana and Slobodeniouk been the debutantes, it’s likely the critics would have been more convinced. A favorite piece for pianists to introduce themselves to new audiences, Tchaikovsky’s concerto is often reduced to an opportunistic display of one’s skills, bombarding the ears with sound and virtuosity for their own sakes. Rarely do such performances betray as deep and thoughtful an engagement with the score as Rana’s or accompaniment as hand-in- glove as that of Slobodeniouk and the BSO. A continual alternating current of inspiration passed between the two creating an ensemble performance which deserved to be preserved.
Rana is a fierce advocate for this piece, yet the forcefulness of her execution was always in service to an overarching concept of the score as a whole and didn’t preclude introspection. There was virtuosity galore, but everything she did had an expressive purpose within that concept. Her approach was both visceral and subtle and most evident when the piano played solo. Imaginative use of dynamics and rubato characterized these passages in unaccustomed ways. A prolonged standing ovation from the packed house yielded more Tchaikovsky as an encore – October (Autumn Song) from The Seasons – a cascade of Fall colors singing Summer to sleep.