Alasdair Neale

PIANIST WEISS CAPTIVATES MARIN SYMPHONY AUDIENCE

The Marin Symphony’s second concert of the 2008-09 concert season welcomed the return of the American pianist Orion Weiss, who previously performed Rachmaninoff’s Third Piano Concerto with the symphony during the 2007 season. The youthful Weiss once again demonstrated his artistic maturity with Beethoven’s sublime Fourth Piano Concerto, Op. 58. Weiss’s sensitive phrasing and impeccable technique communicated to the very back rows of the Marin Civic Center auditorium, captivating the large audience. The conventional Beethoven cadenzas were selected, forsaking the later ones by Reinecke and Busoni. Weiss was rewarded with a well-earned standing ovation.

Of the five piano concertos Beethoven composed, the fourth is the composer’s first to completely break away from the eighteenth century’s classical style. The second movement (Andante Con Moto) is a moving discourse between soloist and orchestra underscoring the Bonn master’s formidable poetic expression. In this performance, the dialogue between the solo instrument and the symphony was elegant, deftly led by conductor Alasdair Neale. Weiss chose to use a rare instrument for the concerto, a Henry F. Miller concert grand recently rebuilt by the local JB Piano firm, rather than the standard house Steinway. The circa 1899 piano had a treble with long sustain and a growling bass.

While the Beethoven Concerto was the main event for the evening, the orchestra’s performances of excerpts from Mendelssohn’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” and Mozart’s Symphony No. 36 in C Major, K. 425 (“Linz”), were also memorable. The juxtaposition of the romantic Mendelssohn work with the classical Mozart symphony was engaging. Both were played with rhythmic flexibility and diffuse colors. Special mention should be made of the solos of Principal French Horn Alex Camphouse and Principal Flutist Monica Daniel-Barker in the Mendelssohn.