Weekend concerts by Manfred Honeck and the Pittsburgh Symphony seem designed to be a sweet supplement to Thanksgiving celebrations.
The program at Heinz Hall includes one of the most popular of virtuoso piano concerti followed by a longer second half of delicious music by the Strauss family.
Honeck began his Strauss selections Friday night with the "Voices of Spring" Waltzes, which coming on a day with snow showers in Pittsburgh, as he noted, was a hopeful offering.
The three polkas which followed -- each only a few minutes long -- were fresh demonstrations of Honeck's mastery of miniatures. "Frauenherz" (A Woman's Heart) was dedicated by Josef Strauss to his wife and is deeply affectionate. The "Tritsch-Tratsch" (Chit-Chat) Polka by Johann Strauss Jr. was precise in its charms, including amusing focus for the horn parts. The "Annen" Polka, which Johann Jr.dedicated to his wife, was lighter than his brother's polka.
Perhaps surprisingly, Honeck cut nearly all of the introduction to Johann Jr.'s "Wein, Weib und Gesang" (Wine, Women and Song) Waltzes, but it was a more winning, more settled performance than the "Voices of Spring" had been.
Polkas and marches completed the concert with elegance, virtuosity, wit. There was also a little singing by the orchestra and clapping along by the audience.
Two guest musicians played with the orchestra in chairs the symphony needs to fill. The concertmaster was Stephen Rose, principal second violin of the Cleveland Orchestra. Principal flute was Brook Ferguson of the New World Symphony in Miami Beach. Ferguson studied at Carnegie Mellon University.
Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No. 1, which opened the concert, gives the soloist plenty of opportunities to make impressive virtuoso sounds and has climaxes virtually guaranteed to elicit a standing ovation.
Nevertheless, the performance by soloist Sa Chen was by turns irksome and boring. Given the way she slowed the pacing in the first movement to milk lyrical passages, one hoped the slow movement might soar, but it didn't. The outer sections of the "Andantino semplice" dragged, while the faster section was heavy handed.
The soloist was so self-centered that when she played with an oboe solo it sounded as if she thought she had the lead.
Thus, the Pittsburgh Symphony presented its third consecutive frustrating account of Tchaikovsky's First Piano Concerto in the current decade. Many in the audience gave it a standing ovation.
The concert will be repeated Saturday night and Sunday afternoon at Heinz Hall.
