November 11, 2015

Princeton Symphony Orchestra Presents Superstar Pianist Joyce Yang

Princeton Symphony Orchestra continued its journey through “significant voices of our time” with a concert of appealing yet complex music Sunday afternoon in Richardson Auditorium. For this concert, in a season dedicated to women’s creativity, PSO Music Director Rossen Milanov chose to explore the topic through guest solo pianist Joyce Yang, an international superstar who mesmerized Sunday afternoon’s audience with demonically virtuosic playing.

Concerts featuring guest stars often ‘warm up’ the audience with a familiar work before the star attraction. PSO put a great deal of faith in its audience on Sunday afternoon by beginning the concert with a full-length symphony by Princeton composer Edward T. Cone. Cone’s 1953 Symphony showed the musical influence on Cone of the early 20th-century Second Viennese School in its use of small melodic fragments passed around among the players of the orchestra. In the opening Sostenuto random pitches seemed to come from throughout the stage, as conductor Mr. Milanov maintained steady control over the building intensity. The texture continually changed as different instruments came to the forefront during the course of the work. 

Cone seemed to have an affinity for lower instruments, including such unique combinations as tuba and contrabassoon and a contrasting flute against contrabassoon. A decisive piano part well executed by Elise Auerbach added drive to the swing of the second movement, even from the piano’s position so far to the side of the stage. Wind solos and duets added graceful colors to the orchestral palette, including from flutist Niles Watson, oboist Nicholas Masterson, and clarinetist Anton Rist.

Mr. Milanov paired Sergei Rachmaninoff’s Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, featuring guest soloist Ms. Yang with Franz Schubert’s familiar Unfinished Symphony No. 8 in B Minor for the second half of the concert. The nearly full house at Richardson Auditorium could easily settle into the grace and elegance of Schubert’s symphonic writing, and the players no doubt felt this was a chance to relax after the intensity of Cone’s work. Mr. Milanov achieved a good sense of drama in the first of the only two movements extant from this symphony, easing into the well-known tune with a great deal of rubato. The six celli played the melody as if they were one instrument, aided by agile melodic playing by clarinetist Mr. Rist and oboist Mr. Masterson. Mr. Milanov found peace and serenity in the second movement, which allowed another great melody to be heard from the celli. Mr. List was especially effective in sustaining long notes which changed harmonic function against the other players, yet his playing seemed to subtly adjust the pitch to always be in the right place in the chord.

In Ms. Yang, Mr. Milanov saved the best for last. Based on the technical difficulty for the solo pianist, Rachmaninoff’s Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini can be interpreted as a musical conversation between composer and the devil, but Ms. Yang had no trouble maintaining the dialog between the piano and the orchestra. Anything connected with Paganini would naturally lend itself to virtuosity, and from the beginning, the 24 variations on Paganini’s theme required precision and technical facility from both soloist and instrumentalists. Ms. Yang and the players of the PSO were always exactly in time as the variations flowed one into another. Adding especially refined color was English horn player Nathan Mills and in a short solo, concertmistress Basia Danilow.

Ms. Yang truly brought the Rhapsody to life with flawless technique and quick-fire playing, especially in the upper register of the piano. She was always able to find musical direction in all the technical filigree, and brought out the lush Romantic character in the central variation composed almost as a piano solo. Required to play with lightning speed, Ms. Yang was nevertheless able to find lyricism when necessary. Saving such a stellar performance until last gave the Princeton Symphony Orchestra the opportunity to close the concert on a spectacular high note and leave the audience definitely wanting more.