Terrific Program Ends Paavo's First Four Year "Term" in Office!
Wow! If you weren't one of the many who attended the Cincinnati Symphony's Friday night concert, well--you really should have been! Get thee to the ticket office and be there Saturday night!
Paavo and his players, bolstered by a blistering performance by Georgian pianist Alexander Toradze, set the night on fire--and did so in front of one of the largest Friday night audiences of the season. From the program opener, the engaging Fanfare Rimtico, a percussionists' tour de force, by Jennifer Higdon (one of the classical music world's rare female composers), the audience was clearly digging it.
When Alexander Toradze, clad all in black, strode out, ahead of Paavo, to begin Shostakovich's Concerto for Piano, Trumpet and Strings in C Minor, the excitement level went up -- bam! bam! -- a few notches. I have no clue whether Paavo thinks of Toradze as a "good luck charm", but in an interview in a local paper Thursday, Paavo recalled that it had been Toradze who had been the soloist the first time that Paavo guest conducted the CSO. (See Järvi, CSO sparkle in Sibelius' Fifth by Mary Ellyn Hutton, Cincinnati Post, February 20, 1999.) He also shone in his last performance here, during Paavo's second season, playing the Rach 3 (Pianist shines in knuckle-buster by Mary Ellyn Hutton, Cincinnati Post, November 9, 2002). Clearly, theirs is a wonderful collaboration and one in which Philip Collins, the CSO's lead trumpet, and the orchestra both reveled. Toradze, an imposing figure at the keyboard, clearly took great delight in this piece, at times crouching low like a tiger waiting to pounce, and at other times caressing the keys like a gentle giant. (I can personally attest to the fact that, despite some lightning quick runs, at no time did his fingers actually leave his hands! ROTFL!) The piece culminated in a tear, with the orchestra in off-to-the-races mode at one point (can the Kentucky Derby really be tomorrow?) and the audience exploding in a standing ovation, demanding an encore. Paavo obliged with a gleeful reprise of the last movement, sending this concert into "overtime"!
After intermission, Tchaikovsky's Fourth Symphony provided the final course for this musical feast. Sated by a tremendously satisfying program and passionate performances, the audience rose almost as one at its conclusion and roared its approval.
Paavo and his players, bolstered by a blistering performance by Georgian pianist Alexander Toradze, set the night on fire--and did so in front of one of the largest Friday night audiences of the season. From the program opener, the engaging Fanfare Rimtico, a percussionists' tour de force, by Jennifer Higdon (one of the classical music world's rare female composers), the audience was clearly digging it.
When Alexander Toradze, clad all in black, strode out, ahead of Paavo, to begin Shostakovich's Concerto for Piano, Trumpet and Strings in C Minor, the excitement level went up -- bam! bam! -- a few notches. I have no clue whether Paavo thinks of Toradze as a "good luck charm", but in an interview in a local paper Thursday, Paavo recalled that it had been Toradze who had been the soloist the first time that Paavo guest conducted the CSO. (See Järvi, CSO sparkle in Sibelius' Fifth by Mary Ellyn Hutton, Cincinnati Post, February 20, 1999.) He also shone in his last performance here, during Paavo's second season, playing the Rach 3 (Pianist shines in knuckle-buster by Mary Ellyn Hutton, Cincinnati Post, November 9, 2002). Clearly, theirs is a wonderful collaboration and one in which Philip Collins, the CSO's lead trumpet, and the orchestra both reveled. Toradze, an imposing figure at the keyboard, clearly took great delight in this piece, at times crouching low like a tiger waiting to pounce, and at other times caressing the keys like a gentle giant. (I can personally attest to the fact that, despite some lightning quick runs, at no time did his fingers actually leave his hands! ROTFL!) The piece culminated in a tear, with the orchestra in off-to-the-races mode at one point (can the Kentucky Derby really be tomorrow?) and the audience exploding in a standing ovation, demanding an encore. Paavo obliged with a gleeful reprise of the last movement, sending this concert into "overtime"!
After intermission, Tchaikovsky's Fourth Symphony provided the final course for this musical feast. Sated by a tremendously satisfying program and passionate performances, the audience rose almost as one at its conclusion and roared its approval.
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