PSO to tempt audience with Tchaikovsky works on fate
Manfred Honeck and the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra begin gearing up for their European tour, which begins later this month, with two programs this weekend emphasizing the ever-popular music of Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky.
Tour programs are centered on Tchaikovsky's last three symphonies, Nos. 4 to 6. The orchestra's newest recording, which will be released May 13, is of the Sixth (“Pathetique”) coupled with Honeck's “Rusalka Fantasy,” based on Antonin Dvorak's opera.
In addition, the upcoming concerts and tour will feature the young pianist Daniil Trifonov, whose career is off to a meteoric start that includes two previous appearances at Heinz Hall.
Honeck will conduct the Pittsburgh Symphony for the May 6 to 8 concerts at Heinz Hall, Downtown. The program for May 6 and 8 is Franz Joseph Haydn's Symphony No. 93, Franz Liszt's Piano Concerto No. 1 with Trifonov as soloist and Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 4. Tchaikovsky's Symphonies Nos. 4 and 5 will be played May 7.
Tchaikovsky's final three symphonies are concerned with fate. The Fourth, which he wrote in 1877 and 1878, begins with brass fanfares. “This is fate, which hinders one in the pursuit of happiness,” the composer wrote in a letter after the premiere.
“The first movement is, for me, the most potent,” says Honeck, before adding that the other three also are great. The wide-ranging main body of the first movement is 9/8 time, which could have been a waltz as Sergei Rachmaninoff used that meter in the second movement of “Symphonic Dances.” But Honeck emphasizes that, for him, Tchaikovsky's music in the first movement, despite a certain swing and dance feel, does “not necessarily have waltz feeling.”
The second movement is Tchaikovsky's picture of sweet dreams of the past, nostalgia fueled perhaps by a little wine, starting with a famous oboe solo. The Scherzo is one of the composer's most brilliant, starting with all the strings playing pizzicato and later adding woodwinds and then brass with timpani for contrast. The finale is “a picture of a folk holiday,” according to Tchaikovsky.
While those attending May 7 will get a double dose of Tchaikovsky, the mixed program on the other nights includes what could be one of the highlights of the season when pianist Trifonov plays Liszt's Piano Concerto No. 1.
“He is one of the most exciting young pianists today. I don't see any other pianist who might have such a big career in such a short time,” Honeck says.
The music director says when he suggested a few years ago that Trifonov be a soloist for the upcoming tour, “some people said, ‘Oh no, because he is not known yet.' Now he is the soloist most wanted on the tour,” on which he'll play Sergei Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 2.
“His style of playing has very deep thinking and feeling behind the virtuoso elements. He has the sensitivity of a round sound yet is also brilliant. I can't wait to do (the Liszt and Rachmaninoff) with him.”
Mark Kanny is the Tribune-Review classical music critic. Reach him at 412-320-7877 or mkanny@tribweb.com.
