Orchestra turns concerto into grand dialogue

By JOHN FLEMING

© St. Petersburg Times, published April 28, 2000

CLEARWATER -- With Garrick Ohlsson at the keyboard, you expect to be wowed by the solo part in Brahms' Piano Concerto No. 2 in B-flat major. What comes as a plus is how substantial the rest of the score is, with penetrating solos by horn, cello and clarinet. The relationship between soloist and orchestra is a true dialogue.

But it's a dialogue on a grand scale. Brahms' concerto seemed symphonic in Thursday night's performance by Ohlsson and the Florida Orchestra, Thomas Wilkins conducting, at Ruth Eckerd Hall. At almost 50 minutes long, it has four movements, which is conventional for a symphony, rare for a concerto.

Wilkins' pacing was brisk rather than dreamy, and that suited Ohlsson, who has the technical firepower needed to give this most difficult of all standard concertos some flair. For the most part, it's Brahms in a good mood, no more so than in lyrical exchanges among piano, winds and strings in the fourth movement. Only the second movement has an unsettled feeling, and Ohlsson's thundering bass chords were sensationally dramatic.

The opening movement was something of an adventure. The tempo changes and transitions from orchestra to soloist and back again started off a bit herky-jerky, but they settled down. Then a piano string snapped, a problem that Ohlsson handled with aplomb in the pause before the second movement. He yanked the offending string out and continued without it. The one time the string was missed was in a quiet passage in the third movement when Ohlsson pressed a treble key and nothing happened.

The first half of the program had an operatic theme, leading off with Mozart's overture to The Magic Flute, followed by Hindemith's symphonic version of his opera Mathis der Maler (Mathis the Painter).

Historically, Mathis der Maler is significant for being banned by the Nazis in 1934. The great conductor Wilhelm Furtwangler got into hot water for championing it, and Hindemith emigrated to the United States. However, it's tough to tell what all the fuss might have been about from the symphonic version. The music is beautifully crafted, notable for its pipe organ-like orchestration, but dramatically, the work felt rather characterless.

Before the concert, two members of the Pinellas Youth Symphony were recognized for their achievements in a program called "Music, Math and More" that encourages string playing. Wilkins awarded violins to Eric Harris, 7, and Marcos Manugan-Wyatt, 8.

The Florida Orchestra repeats its program at 8 p.m. today at Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center and 8 p.m. Saturday at Mahaffey Theater. Tickets are $18-$37.