Hartford Symphony Orchestra, Hartford, CT
February 16–18, 2018
by Michael J. Moran
For the fifth “Masterworks Series” program of the HSO’s 74th
season, Music Director Carolyn Kuan presented what the orchestra’s web site
billed as “a night of epic love” in music for Valentine’s Day weekend.
The concert began with a ravishing performance of the tender
“Intermezzo” from Pietro Mascagni’s beloved 1890 one-act opera of tragic,
doomed love, Cavalleria Rusticana. This was followed by an affectionate account
of Haydn’s last symphony, the fruit of a mutual love affair between the
Austro-Hungarian master and his British admirers. Nicknamed the “London” for
its rapturous reception there in 1795, this 104th symphony features a spacious
opening “Adagio-Allegro,” a gripping theme-and-variations “Andante,” a courtly
“Menuet,” and a sparkling “Spiritoso” finale. It glowed in the warmth of a
classically reduced HSO.
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| Anderson & Roe |
The second half of the evening belonged to the Anderson and
Roe piano duo, formed in 2002 by Greg Anderson and Elizabeth Joy Roe as
students at the Juilliard School with the mission, in their words, “to make
classical music a relevant and powerful force around the world.” Their first
two selections included full orchestral backing. The mercurial opening movement
of Poulenc’s “Concerto for Two Pianos and Orchestra,” reflecting his love of
Parisian popular music, was humorous and unpredictable. Anderson’s imaginative
“Fantasy on Bizet’s Carmen for Two Pianos and Orchestra” showcased even more
virtuosity by all the musicians, especially the soloists, in another story of
love and death.
But they came into their own when the orchestra left the
stage. After a lush “Night of Love” movement from Rachmaninoff’s first suite
for two pianos, the duo moved into livelier territory with four excerpts from
Bernstein’s Romeo-and-Juliet update, West Side Story. By their finale, a
tempestuous “Tango” by Astor Piazzolla, they had switched seats several times
at one piano, reached across each other’s hands at the keyboard, and plumbed
the piano strings in a full-on display of the high spirits that have made them
a YouTube sensation.
Alongside Kuan in Oprah mode, Anderson and Roe introduced
each piece with engaging commentary, earning extra kudos from an enthusiastic
audience that would welcome their early return to Hartford.
