Springfield Symphony Hall, Springfield, MA
November 2, 2019
by Michael J. Moran
In his “Reflections” on the second concert of the SSO’s 76th
season and his own 19th season as their music director, Kevin Rhodes cites no
other unifying theme for the three pieces on the program than perhaps the best
one of all – the “passion” of the performers to play them.
Continuing the orchestra’s ongoing series of works by
American women composers, the evening began with Missy Mazzoli’s “Sinfonia (for
Orbiting Spheres),” a 2016 piece which the young New York-based composer calls
“music in the shape of a solar system.” Featuring harmonicas played by brass
section members to make the ensemble sound, in Mazzoli’s words, like “a
makeshift hurdy-gurdy flung recklessly into space,” the SSO and Rhodes made it
nine minutes of shimmering, playful adventure.
 |
| Viktor Valkov |
In a smashing SSO debut, rising Bulgarian-born pianist
Viktor Valkov next gave a brilliant account of what Rhodes calls Tchaikovsky’s
“unduly neglected” but “absolutely amazing” second piano concerto in its own
first SSO performance. Conceived on a grand scale, the 47-minute 1880 piece
opens with a commanding fanfare, and the vigorous “Allegro” first movement
includes a huge (six-minute) solo piano cadenza. In the luminous “Andante,”
concertmaster Masako Yanagita and principal cellist Emily Taubl eloquently
soloed with Valkov as a piano trio. He played throughout, including the short
and fleet finale, with dazzling technique and interpretive depth, forcefully
backed by orchestra and conductor.
The program closed after intermission with Brahms’s
magisterial fourth and last symphony. Rhodes calls this 1885 masterpiece
“perhaps the most perfect of works by the man who has no single measure which
is not perfect.” From an autumnal opening “Allegro” through a quietly
reflective “Andante” and a surprisingly exuberant scherzo to a somber closing
series of variations over a ground bass theme, the maestro and his musicians
presented a powerfully convincing rendition.
One reason why Rhodes is so beloved in Springfield was on
particular display tonight. His engaging and informative spoken introduction to
the Mazzoli piece, including brief snippets played by selected orchestra
members, and his clear explanation of the ensemble’s new seating arrangement,
kept the capacity audience at rapt attention all evening long.
