Philharmonic pianist stellar on Brahms piano concerto | CONCERT REVIEW
By WILLIAM NESMITH, Courier & Press correspondent
Sunday, January 18, 2009
I am not a pianist, and I am unqualified to discuss the fine points of virtuoso piano technique. I only can describe what I see and hear, and what I saw and heard at Saturday evening's concert by the Evansville Philharmonic was impressive indeed.
Brahms and Wallick
ON THE AIR
A digital recording of Saturday's concert will air at 7 p.m. Feb. 1 on WNIN-88.3FM.
And, as part of a two-year focus on the Beethoven symphonies, next week the philharmonic will make a digital recording of its performance of Symphony No. 1 available for free download off its Web site at www.evansvillephilharmonic.org.
STORY TOOLS
Pianist Bryan Wallick brought both an impressive resume and a simply stunning performance of Brahms' First Piano Concerto to The Victory and brought the crowd to its feet.
(Of course, the Evansville standing ovation is routinely given to every performance of everything, but Wallick DESERVED it!)
This has never been a favorite piece of mine, but I may have been converted.
Not usually a big enthusiast for concertos of any kind, this was really the first good listening I have given this piece as an adult, and Wallick's playing was a revelation.
Very often compared to a symphony, the soloist, until the third movement, is virtually part of the orchestra. It's only in the last movement that Brahms gives the soloist the kind of pyrotechnics you expect in a Romantic concerto.
Wallick made the most of the third movement with astonishing fluency and power, but more pleasing was his flawless integration of his playing with the orchestra's.
If you have read any of my other reviews, you know I dislike hearing the soloist swamped by the orchestra - this was different.
This was a seamless fabric of sound.
Wallick has synesthesia - he sees colors when he hears music - and I would love to know what he saw Saturday evening.
I'm sure it was rich and deep.
Berlioz
The evening began with Berlioz' Love Scene from Romeo and Juliet, and very pretty indeed. A music professor once told me he thought that all of Berioz' music was either exciting or tedious. He must not have been familiar with this, as I found it to be tender and lovely throughout.
Beethoven
The balance of the program was given to a performance of Beethoven's Symphony No. 1, part of the EPO's ongoing Beethoven cycle.
I caught a little muddy ensemble playing in the first movement, and some ragged attacks, but the third and fourth movements were as energetic and jolly as you could wish.
Groucho Marx said, "I've had a perfectly wonderful evening, but this wasn't it." But he wasn't there Saturday night.
http://www.courierpress.com/news/2009/jan/18/philharmonic-pianist-stellaron-brahms-piano/
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