Joyce Yang & Tchaikovsky @ Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra
Photos by KT Kim and Jesse Willems
—Wayne Lee Gay
Two of the most familiar and beloved works in the symphonic repertoire make up the entirety of the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra's concerts this weekend, with two superstars of the classical music world—pianist Joyce Yang and conductor Edo de Waart—at front stage at Bass Performance Hall for an all-Tchaikovsky program.
That particular stage has special meaning for pianist Yang. It was here, in the 2005 Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, that Yang (at 19, the youngest competitor) stepped into international acclaim, winning over-all second place (silver medalist) with her adventurous repertoire and sometimes distinctive musicality.
This time around, she's not so adventurous in repertoire. This listener, for one, would much rather hear her in something besides Tchaikovsky's First Piano Concerto, a work I've experienced more times that I can count in my forty-plus years as a professional concert-goer.
But Yang reminds in her performance that there are good reasons for the Concerto's place in audience affection, even beyond its famous opening barrage. Indeed, even in that introduction, Yang finds subtle give-and-take of dynamic. She continues in that vein throughout the monumental first movement, nurturing every phrase but without allowing any lapse in momentum.
Yang makes the piano sing in the hypnotically serene main theme of the second movement, but, interestingly, opts for an almost dry sound in the note-packed middle section, creating an effect that glows all the more. She takes the Finale—a furious Russian dance—as fast as anyone ever, to round out a performance that justifies the work's enduring popularity.
In the midst of an agenda devoted to Russian romanticism, Yang turns for her encore to popular music of the American jazz age, in the form of Gershwin's "The Man I Love." Yang swims easily through the opulent flood of notes in Earl Wild's Lisztian arrangement, enveloping the tune in a rich blanket of sound.
The orchestra seemed a little insecure in the opening bars of the Concerto at Friday night's performance. For Tchaikovsky's Fifth Symphony, guest conductor De Waart pulled the ensemble securely on track. In this four-movement work, more so than in the Piano Concerto No. 1, Tchaikovsky successfully weds his lavish melodic material to a tight extended structure.
A veteran of sixty years as a conductor, De Waart knows every secret in this score, and guides orchestra and audience through the emotional highs and lows of this quintessential romantic masterpiece. The orchestra's string section produces a consistently attractive and precise sound; the horn solo in the second movement floats resonantly through the hall; and the final moments, as always in a good performance of this work, thrill absolutely.
WHEN: March 15 & 16, 2024
WHERE: Bass Performance Hall, Fort Worth
WEB: fwsymphony.org
