Went to PSO on Saturday for Tortelier's Enchanted Journey, an evening of delight from Principal Guest Conductor Yan Pascal Tortelier. He started off with "The Swan of Tuonela" by Sibelius which was exactly what you'd expect: 8 minutes vaguely evocative of a freakin swan. After this pleasant and forgettable piece, an orchestra member stood up and waived a Terrible Towel, which caused the wealthy dowagers sitting next to me to murmur in sharp disapproval.
Anyway, next was Grieg's famous, fool-proof Piano Concerto, which was not fooled up by the wonderful Orion Weiss, whose parents apparently had the chutzpah to name after a constellation. Despite vigorous applause, no encore was given (something I intend to work on in the coming months).
After the intermission, Tortelier conducted his own interesting transcription of Ravel's Trio in A Minor (for piano, violin, and viola), which he recalled playing as a young man with his much-more-impressive-than-your-family musician father and sister. He introduced the piece with a fifteen-minute mini-lecture in which he highlighted themes to listen for and contrasted passages from the original vs. his orchestral version. I, for one, appreciated this intro, not least of which for Tortelier's dirty old French man descriptions worthy of his countryman Serge Gainsbourg: "Are you ready for sensual horns, sexy trumpets, and religious woodwinds? Are you ready for the climax??"
Tortelier scored it for a BIG orchestra-- four trumpets, three trombones, three bassoons, the works. Andrew Druckenbrod of the Post-Gazette wasn't so keen on this big sound, (see "Bigger not better at Heinz Hall"), but as I've lost half my hearing to years of iPod abuse, I appreciated it greatly. The PSO should be this big always, and amplified, to boot.
At half an hour, the transcription is a lot to wrap your head around. Tortelier clearly put some serious work and passion into teasing all kinds of orchestral contrasts from the Trio, with such imaginative touches as transcribing a piano theme for a whimsical harp and flute combo, but it's hard to say how successful the piece is after only one listen. Tortelier recorded the work with the Ulster Orchestra in 1994, but it's only in print as part of a box set and not available for sale as an MP3 download.
Tortelier raised some eyebrows on Friday night when, during his mini-lecture, he illustrated a reference to "Asian-sounding music" by making a slant-eye face using his fingers...! YES! He apologized for causing offense during the Saturday performance, but won some well-deserved applause in explaining that he was "not politically correct, but humanly correct" (as I recall he put it). Druckenbrod wants to put this ugly incident behind us. I say, see Serge Gainsbourg reference above.
The beefed-up PSO finished the night off with The Sorceror's Apprentice, brisk and fun and impossible to picture anything besides Mickey Mouse in Fantasia while listening to. Overall, a great night.
3.5/5 Duchamps
