Photo Credit: KT-Kim
Joyce Yang
Last weekend, the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra (MSO) presented the second of the three programs of its Russian Festival. Pianist Joyce Yang, an MSO favorite, returned to deliver a fetching account of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s Concerto No. 1 in B-flat Minor for Piano and Orchestra, Op. 23.
Many may remember Yang’s five-year commitment a few years ago to perform all four of Sergei Rachmaninoff concertos plus his Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini with Edo de Waart and the MSO. Her always exciting playing has matured since then and grown in depth. There was brilliance on Sunday afternoon in the Tchaikovsky concerto in her blazingly fast octaves and fast chords chattering up and down the piano. Soulful phrasing, handsome tone and silvery delicacy also were plenty present. Yang has always had charisma on stage, not in a small part due to her playful joy as a musician.
Why not follow one Russian warhorse with another? For an encore, Yang opened Rachmaninoff’s Prelude in C-sharp Minor, Op. 3, No. 2, with subdued consideration as the music warmed up to its stirring momentum.
In remarks from the stage guest conductor Stefan Asbury made a case for programming Sergei Prokofiev’s seldom-played Symphony No. 3 in C Minor, Op. 44. Then he led an engrossing performance of it that proved his point. The composer used material from his opera, The Fiery Angel, about sorcery and demonic possession, in composing the symphony. With its theatrical roots ever evident, the hair-raising music sounds like the score to an artful, scary horror movie.
Stay on top of the news of the day
Subscribe to our free, daily e-newsletter to get Milwaukee's latest local news, restaurants, music, arts and entertainment and events delivered right to your inbox every weekday, plus a bonus Week in Review email on Saturdays.
Even in quieter sections, a sense of suspense and dread is ever present in this music. It had never been performed at the MSO, and I would guess many of the players had not played it before. That didn’t prevent them in creating a dazzling performance, full of color. It was quite a ride, up until the inevitable terror of the final movement, ending in magnificent full volume crunching dissonance.
Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov was one of the great orchestrators, and his Russian Easter Festival Overture, Op. 36, displays this persuasively. Each of the several soloists—too many to mention here—rose to the occasion in this convincing performance.
