Symphony again proves its global quality
Now it needs to reattract audience
If only quality amounted to attendance.
In the fall, the Pittsburgh Symphony averaged about 1,000 listeners per concert, or less than half of the capacity of Heinz Hall. This is at odds with how well the orchestra is playing lately — on Friday, it was firing on all cylinders.
The symphony is the crown jewel of the city’s performing arts offerings, as Friday’s concert demonstrated once again.
What was so inspired about that performance? What separated that night from a typical night?
Well, let’s talk clarity. While the symphony is usually accurate — which is nothing to sneeze at; there are plenty of major orchestras around the world that are a bit messy — on Friday, under the baton of Czech conductor Petr Popelka, there was satisfying sizzle in the music from the opening notes of the first piece. “Thunderbolt” by Bohuslav Martinu (a Czech composer who fled the Nazis and built a new life in the U.S.) was an industrial offering, with simple interlocking melodies and harmonies that whirred and chugged along. Much of the music from these decades was similarly mechanistic.
Next, pianist Yulianna Avdeeva took to the stage for Prokofiev’s third concerto, a caustic, sarcastic work. Ms. Avdeeva, Russian by birth, is based in Germany. Before each performance, she nibbles a square of Polish chocolate in memory of her late grandmother. Her playing on Friday was sprightly and lithe and surprising, infusing cutting melodies with warmth and even optimism. The orchestra provided a contrasting sneer, particularly in the second movement. Mr. Popelka, the conductor, fit the orchestra’s playing with Ms. Avdeeva’s like a custom suit.
My only notes: The opening clarinet solo seemed a touch rushed at the end, and the orchestra occasionally covered the piano.
After intermission, the orchestra launched into “Pictures at an Exhibition,” a classical staple. The composer, Modest Mussorgsky, was talented but mocked by his fellow Russian composers behind his back. A brief stint in the military started him on the path to alcoholism that would ultimately kill him. “Pictures” began its life as a work for solo piano and intersperses “promenades” representing footsteps between paintings at an art gallery with musical depictions of a selection of paintings by his friend, the artist Viktor Hartmann. After Mussorgsky’s death, the French composer Ravel orchestrated the piano music, parceling out melodies and harmonies among different orchestral instruments.
The piece retains some of the simplicity of the piano work. The melodies are clear and direct. (Again, clarity is key in composition and performance.) The form is straightforward. But in Ravel’s hands, the melodies are dressed in the finest orchestral filigree: a trumpet solo for the stately promenade, a saxophone for the painting of the mysterious old castle, a euphonium for the painting of cattle pulling a heavy cart.
Pittsburgh’s orchestra brought the work to life in full color, conjuring each painting with a variety of moods and textures.
The symphony is working to rebuild its audience to pre-pandemic levels through a mixture of community building, programming and marketing changes. On Friday, art by local high school and college students dotted the lobby, with students present to talk about their work and hear the concert. Attendance seemed better than in the fall. Time will tell this spring.
Across the country, organizations programming traditional works are faring well (here, “Nutcracker” at the ballet is breaking records, as is “Marriage of Figaro” at the opera, for example.) Pittsburgh’s symphony is often excellent, and one of the finest in the world at its best.
This program showcases the orchestra at its best.
This concert repeats at 2:30 p.m. Sunday. Tickets begin at $ 20 at pittsburghsymphony.