The first few decades of the 20th century were ripe with musical innovation. The Pittsburgh Symphony’s weekend program selected three particularly colorful and captivating works from that fertile period, helmed by guest conductor Jukka-Pekka Saraste.
There’s hardly a more imposing way to begin a performance than the suite from Bartók’s ballet The Miraculous Mandarin. Raucous and rapid from the opening, it depicted the lurid tale in delirious detail. With chilling ferocity, the orchestra was augmented by piano, celesta and a large brass section. Trombone glissandos added to the striking orchestration, as did the more inward moments from the solo clarinet. The final chase scene kept one at the edge of their seat, as cataclysmic and cacophonous as anything in the repertoire.
Equally inventive but wholly different was Ravel’s Piano Concerto in G major, a platform for the PSO debut of Israeli pianist Tom Borrow. Just 24 years old, Borrow has already developed a distinguished career. A snap of the whip began the concerto, answered by Borrow’s glittering pianism. Bright and brilliant brass added splashes of color, Borrow boasting confident command of the keyboard.
Sultrier material contrasted, but the real lyricism was reserved for the central Adagio assai. Gorgeous and serene, the extended monologue for piano alone was artfully phrased. The orchestra joined in with a touching passage from the flute, and a dialogue between piano and English horn proved a further highlight. The pensive state wasn’t to last, though, as the musicians romped through the scintillating, jazz-inflected finale – great fun for soloist, orchestra and audience alike. As an encore, Borrow offered Bach’s Sheep may safely graze, a tranquil moment in an otherwise tumultuous program. An impressive debut from Borrow, who was also on hand the evening before for a lovely program of chamber music.
Sibelius’ Fourth Symphony is a darkly introspective and often tragic work, quite a different beast than the composer’s symphonies which tend to get performed more regularly. The PSO has only contended with the Fourth once before – over 30 years ago. Menacing low strings began, with the dissonant tritone interval creating an air of unease. A forlorn cello line from principal Anne Martindale Williams evidenced the barren writing, though a choir of brass would interject a metallic sheen into the sparse strings. Showing a deep affinity for the repertoire, Saraste adroitly guided the orchestra through the movement’s complex structure, upending traditional sonata form, to its morendo (dying) close.
A gentle second movement was lighter fare, more of an interlude between the symphony’s pillars than a full-fledged Scherzo. The slow movement that followed saw minimal forward motion, as if frozen in the moment. Tension built over time, burgeoning into an expression of anguish. With arching strings and touches of glockenspiel, the finale seemed to start in higher spirits, but ultimately moved in a darker direction to close this deeply-felt if challenging work.
A special post-concert performance featured the PSO’s pianist Rodrigo Ojeda along with contrabassoonist James Rodgers on the heckelphone – an instrument he will dust off again for next month’s performance of Strauss’ Alpine Symphony. The pair offered the first two of the Three Nocturnes by Robert Rønnes, and suffice to say, this was the first time I have ever attended a heckelphone recital!
