Orchestra opens 24th season in grand fashion

Musical precociousness can manifest itself in countless ways, from the gifted child who loves to boast about his accomplishments to those who channel their talents into more productive outcomes.

Conrad Tao clearly belongs to the latter group, a pianist of exceptional talent who made a spectacular debut on the Oklahoma City Philharmonic’s 2012-13 season opener. In a lifetime of concertgoing, I’ve encountered many artists who use music to play the piano. Tao uses the piano to make music.

From the moment he took center stage, Tao gave the impression of barely being able to contain his excitement about the task that lay ahead. And while most artists give a nod to the conductor as a green light to proceed, Tao smiled and gave Joel Levine a thumb’s up.

Tao wasted little time demonstrating his brilliant technique. Whether maneuvering through the musical complexities of Dohnanyi’s “Variations on a Nursery Song” or dealing with the work’s evershifting moods, Tao exuded a confidence far beyond his 18 years.

The collaboration between orchestra and soloist cast both camps in a flattering light, most evident in an attractive swagger to the work’s waltz variation and a grand variation that culminated in a triumphant restatement of the familiar nursery tune.

One also had to be impressed with the remarkable clarity of Tao’s playing. Each new phrase was meticulously prepared, his hands carefully poised to enter the work’s forward motion. Tao would finish a phrase with a similar fluidity of motion.

The Dohnanyi can easily sound hackneyed — it is after all, a set of variations on “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star” — but Tao clearly understood the composer’s sly sense of humor. He was in on the joke but kept his own amusement in check. The results were magical.

Tao turned next to Liszt’s “Totentanz,” another set of variations, this time on the “Dies Irae,” the “Day of Wrath.” This is Liszt at his most gregarious: a big, splashy work that might be described as a pianist’s version of a body builder flexing his brawny muscles.

In lesser hands, it could turn into 15 minutes of hammering to see how much sound the piano is capable of producing. Tao tempered those effects without losing their potential to impress, but also managed to find some musical merit in even the most garish displays.

After numerous curtain calls, Tao made his way back to the piano and endeared himself further by saying “sorry to keep you” before launching into his encore, one of Liszt’s “Hungarian Rhapsodies.” Don’t forget this remarkable pianist’s name; he’s destined for a big career.

For the concert’s first half, Levine programmed “Autumn” from Glazunov’s ballet “The Seasons,” a work that demonstrated the composer’s skills as a master orchestrator. In this fine curtain raiser, the orchestra conveyed both the work’s vitality and its many coloristic hues.

Finally, there was Elgar’s “Enigma Variations,” a musical portrait of the composer’s friends. As the work unfolded, one heard an occasional ragged entrance, a brass statement that emerged too strongly or the timpani sounding too faint in the Romanza variation. But these were nothing more than the need to sweep away the musical cobwebs after not playing together for three months.

Those moments were offset by carefully gauged balances in the opening, an impressive G.R.S. variation and a finale whose rich sonorities reverberated throughout the hall. Of course, any performance of the “Enigma Variations” succeeds or fails on the strength of the “Nimrod” variation, one of music’s loveliest and most heartfelt creations.

Here, conductor and orchestra offered a spacious yet unhurried account that vividly captured the “nobilmente” quality that marks so much of Elgar’s music. Levine introduced the piece as one of the British repertoire’s great masterworks. I’m inclined to drop the British from that statement and characterize it as an unqualified orchestral masterpiece.