Evansville Philharmonic Orchestra

• Evansville Courier & Press
• Posted November 14, 2010 at 1:33 a.m.

TO HEAR MORE

A digital recording of Saturday's Evansville Philharmonic concert will air at 7 p.m. Nov. 28, on radio station WNIN-88.3FM.

Years ago, our local public radio station, WNIN-88.3FM, had a weekly program called "Russian Classics", an hour of Russian music which might feature "Scheherazade" one week, choral music by Alexander Tcherepnin the next week, and Sergei Rachmaninoff piano music after that.

It was a great show, consistently interesting and always engaging and clever. And I'm not just saying that because it was my show. Someone had to say it sooner or later.

Anyway, the point I was headed toward is that Russian music has a special place in my heart, and Saturday evening's concert by the Evansville Philharmonic Orchestra was one that I have been looking forward to since last spring - an evening of Russian music. And it was just great.

The evening opened with Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov's "Procession of the Nobles" from "Mlada," probably the best entry march ever written by anyone anywhere. It's about as grand a little piece as there is in the standard repertoire and always sends a chill up my spine at the end. Although there were a couple of unfortunate missed notes by the trumpets at the beginning, this was a fine beginning to the evening.

The centerpiece of the evening was the Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No. 2, with pianist Davide Cabassi as the soloist. Cabassi is a fine pianist, and he brought down the house.

Of course, this concerto is familiar to everyone with even a passing interest in concert music, a situation that can, as they say, breed contempt but hasn't in this case. It's a sturdy, old chestnut with the right mix of late Romantic schmalz and thundering pyrotechnics, a gorgeous slow movement and lots of singable tunes. So it is consistently an audience favorite, a crowd pleaser unless totally butchered.

And butcher the piece Cabassi did not. I don't think Cabassi is going to make his reputation as an interpreter of Rachmaninoff, but this was certainly a very nice performance indeed, focusing on the poetics of the music rather than just Rachmaninoff's knuckle-busting challenges for the soloist.

The second movement most effectively showed Mr. Cabassi's poetic, almost introspective approach to this music. It was touching and gorgeous from beginning to end.

The evening ended with Dmitri Shostakovich's smoldering Symphony No. 5, another concert warhorse and crowd-pleaser, and incidentally, one of the truly monumental pieces of music to come out of the unfortunate 20th century.

From the beginning surge of the basses to the overwhelming ending driven by the tympani, this is a piece that demands and rewards repeated listening.

The orchestra's performance was at times as limpid and clear as a stream, and at other times as powerful and dramatic as a thunderstorm, and compelling from the first note to the last.

As in the Rachmaninoff, the slow movement was distinguished by some of the most delicate and nuanced playing I've heard from the orchestra in quite some time. It was just lovely.

The fourth movement, all swagger and bravado, blazes and glory, brought the evening to an end and generated a fully deserved standing ovation from the full house.

This was, in short, an exciting, interesting evening of great music well played. Glad I went.

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