San Antonio Symphony, Alexander Gavrylyuk
Opulence from '1001 Nights' and 88 keys
October 17, 2011A full menu of popular fare showcasing virtually every section of the orchestra was presented to a large, enthusiastic audience on Oct. 14 as the San Antonio Symphony opened its current season at the Majestic Theater.
Veteran music and theater critic Diane Windeler is known to San Antonio readers for her freelance work in the San Antonio Light, which ceased publication in 1993, and subsequently in the San Antonio Express-News. She is a long-time member of the Music Critics Association of North America.
Leading from memory, the conductor elicited a vast range of colors and pointed rhythms, balanced by interesting use of rubato phrasing and long-held fermatas, perhaps to suggest the mystery of those Arabian Nights. Ah, but all stops were out at the score’s swirling, percussion-driven conclusion.
Exemplary solo work abounded by section principals and others, particularly woodwinds and cellos. Louisiana Philharmonic concertmaster Joseph Meyer, the first of a series of guest concertmasters set to appear this season, was the graceful, confident voice of Scheherazade.
The concert’s center held two scores by Franz Liszt, the first of many salutes to the composer’s 200th birthday year. First up was a delightful, almost zany reading of the orchestral version of his Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2, followed by a resplendent view of the Piano Concerto No. 1 in E-flat Major.
The soloist was Alexander Gavrylyuk, the acclaimed young Ukrainian-born pianist who holds rafts of honors along with an Australian passport, but now lives in Berlin. After those rapid-fire, finger-crunching opening octaves, he settled in to reveal persuasive, thoughtful musicianship and a power-packed technique. He delivered gracefully pearlescent roulades or thundering passages with seeming ease. In short, it was a performance worthy of the prodigiously gifted Liszt.
This listener will follow Mr. Gavrylyuk’s career with interest.
Liszt purposely scored the concerto with the orchestra as an equal partner, and this performance made that abundantly clear. Mr. Lang-Lessing and his forces restated, responded and bounced thematic material back and forth with Wimbledonian flair.
The concert opened with a surprisingly sweeping, cinematic version of Samuel Barber’s Overture to “The School for Scandal,” which spotlights sections and soloists throughout the orchestra. That seemed especially appropriate, given the financial difficulties of the organization and the fact that the musicians were playing without a contract.
That said, they played cohesively, responsively, and with a sound that has become richer and more variegated in the past few years while this listener was away.
Bravi.
Diane
Windeler