First up on the program was the Hungarian Dance No. 5 in G minor by Johannes Brahms. It might seem surprising to many that Brahms composed this “gypsy music,” but his life circumstances led him to the influence of a great gypsy violinist, and the rest is history.
[aesop_image imgwidth=”500px” img=”http://www.signaltribunenewspaper.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/Screen-Shot-2016-05-26-at-3.11.44-PM.png” align=”right” lightbox=”on” caption=”Eckart Preu” captionposition=”right”] The concert opener was instantly recognizable to most ears. Constant exaggerated dynamic and tempo changes are the favored mode of presentation with the Dance No. 5. Even so, Preu may have overdone it a bit with the schmaltz. Still the audience ate it up. An animated start to the evening!
Next was Chopin’s Piano Concerto No. 1 in E minor, op. 11, performed by the night’s soloist, the mesmerizing Natasha Paremski. Wow, what an artist! Ms. Paremski would impress any listener of one of her recordings. But to view her expressive flare, as she rendered the impossibly difficult piece with ease, was all the more exciting.
Chopin endowed the work with nary a cadenza to showcase the solo piano. But the music, so packed with virtuosic rapid and forceful passages, indeed full of bold and daring content, made the usual “soloist’s solo” hardly necessary.
Ms. Paremski got to the heart of the Chopin with its haunting but optimistic, and alternatively romantic, passages. She pulled every ounce of expression from the master concerto and more. For once, the standing ovations weren’t gratuitous. They were well deserved!
It occurs to me that Preu and Paremski were a perfect musical match, both exemplifying the high end of the range for energy and passion.
After intermission, Maestro Preu at last addressed the audience. He wittily told the story of the part of Tchaikovsky’s tragic life circumstances that so influenced the composer’s Symphony No. 4 in F minor, op. 36, the evening’s final offering.
But the Tchaikovsky 4th has never struck me as tragic. Rather, the music comes across at times whimsical, at other times tempestuous, but never tragic.
The brass and timpani are showcased in this wholly familiar work, as are woodwinds. Iconic recognizable themes abound. And the unusual famed third “pizzicato” movement has all four string sections plucking their way from beginning to end.
Throughout the well rehearsed concert, the orchestra excelled in every way. The symphony’s 4th and final movement, triumphant in its dynamism, was a metaphor for the entire season closing evening. A triumph!
The Long Beach Symphony performs its Classics Series concerts at the Long Beach Terrace Theater, 300 E. Ocean Blvd. Tickets for Classics Series concerts range from $20 to $90. For tickets and concert information, for both Classics and Pops! Series concerts, go to lbso.org .
