Guest pianist ‘Rachs’ hall at Friday’s PSO concert

Rachmaninoff opens his third piano concerto with a deceptively simple tune. But immediately after this gambit, the music turns pyrotechnic, and the pianist begins embellishing and adorning that gentle melody with whizzing scales and arpeggios.

At Friday’s Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra concert, Czech pianist Lukas Vondracek leaned into this contrast, snapping from grace and tranquility in the opening to fierce, fervent virtuosity with apparent ease. His technical precision was well matched by his emotive range, turning on a dime throughout the concerto from breezy to tempestuous, from restrained to rampant.

Guest conductor Juraj Valcuha conducted the performance, which also featured music from Respighi’s “Roman Trilogy.”

Mr. Vondracek’s Friday debut was magnificent indeed. The PSO has already performed the first two Rachmaninoff concertos with pianists Inon Barnatan and Behzod Abduraimov respectively. While these pieces are meritorious in their own way, neither comes close to the sheer emotional scope of the third concerto, and Friday’s soloist took full advantage.

As he moved through the first movement, the cadenza stood out in particular, his pounding, forceful interpretation of the opening tune acting as a miniclimax. The second movement was at once melancholic and lighthearted, a somber tune offset by jaunty orchestration and gilding. And the finale ... what a finale! The music kicks off with a literal bang before racing through the composer’s vigorous final themes. My only caution is that the pianist was occasionally just ahead of Mr. Valcuha and the orchestra, although the ensemble fit his tempo (speed) and mood changes like a glove the majority of the performance. ‘Twould be wonderful to hear more of Mr. Vondracek in future seasons.

After intermission Mr. Valcuha eased into Respighi’s “Fountains of Rome,” a work

punctuated by vivid moments of orchestral color, though overall tranquil (even a bit dull, though excellently performed). “The Pines of Rome,” however, begins with giddy, childish energy and finishes with a blaze of brass and percussion. Clarinetist Michael Rusinek’s solos were especially gorgeous, decorating the “Pines of the Janiculum” with lyrical sweetness. Brass players placed in the balcony amplified the finale and filled the hall with a ringing warmth, closing the evening out with a sensation most triumphant.