|
Stage: Hot Ticket
By JOHN FLEMING
© St. Petersburg Times, published March 22, 2001
Pratt plays Grieg
Awadagin Pratt plays the Grieg piano concerto with the Florida Orchestra this weekend. The Grieg is frequently paired on disc with Schumann's piano concerto, but Pratt is not quite sure why.
"Other than sharing the same key -- they're both in A minor -- and both having fantastic cadenzas, the Grieg and Schumann are completely different psychologically," said the pianist, who has played the Grieg about eight years but is just now learning the Schumann.
In February, Orli Shaham was the soloist in the Schumann with the orchestra.
"There's more of an evolution in the Schumann," Pratt said last week from his home in Albuquerque, N.M. "There's a dramatic element and a lyrical element, and I think those tensions get resolved throughout the piece. The Schumann is darker. There's much more buoyancy to the Grieg. It's kind of a fun piece. The melodies are beautiful, it has a good spirit rhythmically, and audiences really like it."
The orchestra, conducted by Thomas Wilkins, fills out a Scandinavian theme with Stravinsky's Four Norwegian Moods and Nielsen's Symphony No. 4 also on the agenda. Concerts are at 8 tonight and Friday night in Ferguson Hall of Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center, 8 p.m. Saturday at Mahaffey Theater and 7:30 p.m. Sunday at Ruth Eckerd Hall. Tickets: $20-$38. (813) 286-2403.
Pratt gives a master class from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday at the Music Center of St. Petersburg Junior College, 6605 Fifth Ave. N, St. Petersburg. Tickets are $5 and must be purchased in advance. Call Mercedes Cadena at (813) 286-1170, ext. 316.
-- JOHN FLEMING, Times performing arts critic
Championing new music
Scott Kluksdahl is a premier cellist, and not just in the Tampa Bay area or Florida. He is one of the best anywhere, winner of a Naumberg prize a decade ago, member of the Lions Gate Trio, marathon performer of the Bach cello suites, professor of music at the University of South Florida.
A champion of new music, Kluksdahl, along with pianist Noreen Cassidy-Polera, premieres 'Nor a Memory, a piece by William Wiedrich, also a USF professor, Sunday at the Museum of Fine Arts in St. Petersburg. The rest of the program includes Britten's Cello Sonata and Mendelssohn's Sonata in D. The concert begins at 2 p.m. in the Marly Room. Tickets: $7 and $15. (727) 896-2667.
-- JOHN FLEMING, Times performing arts critic
Back to Weekend
© 2006 • All Rights Reserved • St. Petersburg Times
490 First Avenue South • St. Petersburg, FL 33701 • 727-893-8111
|
