This ‘piano man’ is poetry in motion
TCHAIKOVSKY’S SIXTH Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra Marko Letonja, conductor Simon Trpceski, piano Federation Concert Hall, Hobart July 28
ITwas good to have the TSO’s chief conductor and artistic director back after his appearances at the season’s opening concerts in March.
Managing director Nicholas Heyward was on hand to announce that Marko Letonja has been appointed the orchestra’s first conductor laureate following the end of his current contract this year. This will involve him returning to lead concerts over the next three years.
The opener was the expansively gorgeous Love Scene from Berlioz’s Romeo et Juliette: symphonie dramatique, Op.17, played with real vision and breadth of expression.
Even more remarkable was a wonderfully satisfying rendition of Liszt’s Piano Concerto No.2 in A, S125, the soloist dedicating his performance to a former TSO chief conductor in the 1970s, Vanco Cavdarski.
Simon Trpceski performed with poetic brilliance, orchestra and pianist achieving a striking cohesion.
The encore was Rachmaninoff’s haunting Vocalise, Op.34/14 featuring principal cellist SueEllen Paulsen.
Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No.6 in B minor, Op.74, Pathetique was also a great success. The playing was again most distinguished, with moments such as the climax of the first movement conveying real passion.
The third-movement march was spine-tingling and exhilarating, and the desperation of the final movement was genuinely moving.