By Nancy Plum
Princeton Symphony Orchestra left a Richardson Auditorium audience awestruck this past weekend with concerts featuring one of the most phenomenal pianists to come through the area recently. Conducted by Music Director Rossen Milanov, the Orchestra and pianist Maxim Lando revealed the depth and grandeur of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s symphonic writing, as well as the grace and humor of Gioachino Rossini and Felix Mendelssohn.
The Orchestra opened Saturday night’s program (which was repeated Sunday afternoon) with a bit of operatic playfulness. Rossini’s operas traditionally commenced with an overture encapsulating the action to follow, and the 1813 L’italiana in Algeri was no exception. Rossini’s dramma giocoso was full of mischief and plot twists, with an “Overture” which captured it all.
The performance began with a suspenseful pizzicato from the strings, leading to a languorous solo oboe melody played by Liam Boisset. Abrupt sforzandi kept listeners on their toes, as Boisset’s lines were gracefully answered by clarinetist Pascal Archer. Winds were clean as the music launched into Rossini’s trademark humor and sauciness, with a trio of Boisset, Archer, and flutist Sooyun Kim leading the full ensemble in bringing out the opera’s farce. As the piece drew to a close, Milanov effectively whipped the music into a high-spirited frenzy.
Felix Mendelssohn loved to travel. Always intrigued by the architecture and landscapes of Italy, he spent time in the country in the 1830s, leading to a composition he called “the happiest piece I have written.” Despite its sunniness, Symphony No. 4 in A Major, known as the “Italian” symphony, was technically complex. Milanov and the Orchestra opened the work in a refreshing and lively tempo, with light upper strings and crystalline flutes played by Kim and Hilary Jones. Archer appeared to turn the opening motive into a hunting call, and the full orchestra easily executed the driving repeated rhythms.
The subsequent “Andante” was marked by an elegant dialogue as oboes, clarinets, and violas conversed with flutes and violins over somber and pulsating celli. A processional inspired by religious parades Mendelssohn observed in Italy, this “Andante” was played expressively. Milanov wasted no time between movements, leading the closing “Saltarello” in an animated tempo, with shades of Mendelssohn’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream apparent in the interplay among the winds and running string lines.
In 2025, American pianist Lando won an international award for “Excellence and Innovation.” These two words do not even begin to describe his extraordinary abilities, as heard in Saturday night’s presentation of Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 2 in G Major. Tchaikovsky was never one to sit idle; even when compositional assignments were scarce, he was, as he wrote to a family member, “absolutely incapable of living long without work.” Piano Concerto No. 2 was born of one of these periods, when the composer was in residence at a country estate in Ukraine.
Opening with a martial theme, the “Allegro brillante” was joyous and majestic. Playing close to the keyboard, Lando was always in tandem with the Orchestra, and his solo passages seamlessly emerged from the texture. A very physical player, Lando often seemed to dramatically lift himself off the bench. A theme announced by principal horn Steven Harmon was answered by clarinetist Archer against a lyrical keyboard accompaniment. The first movement provided opportunities for a duet between piano and flute, with piano melodies sweetly echoed by flutist Kim. Milanov consistently maintained an effortless flow with the strings against Lando’s nonstop solo playing.
A cadenza placed unconventionally in the middle of the movement was played sensitively by Lando, with cascading right-hand scales and silences which teased the audience. It became apparent not long into the Concerto why one pianist simplified the work after its premiere — the music incessantly shifted from ferocious to gentle, all the while demanding virtuosic technique. Lando continually mesmerized the Richardson audience with his complete absorption into the music and hypnotizing technique, and the audience was brought to its feet following the conclusion of the piece. Lando further showed his innovative skills with an encore of his “own little take” transcription of Rossini’s “Overture” to The Barber of Seville, creating a dazzling orchestral reduction, with a touch of Bugs Bunny, from his own two hands and the keyboard.
Princeton Symphony Orchestra will present its next Classical series concerts on Saturday, January 10 at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday, January 11 at 4 p.m. at Richardson Auditorium. Featuring violinist Bella Hristova, these performances will include music of Andreia Pinto Correia, Sergei Prokofiev, and Dmitri Shostakovich. Ticket information can be obtained by visiting princetonsymphony.org.