Those fortunate enough to be in the Tivoli Theatre on Thursday night were treated to a three-course musical feast presented by the Chattanooga Symphony Orchestra.
The concert included masterpieces by three Russian composers from the mid-19th through mid-20th centuries. Putting all three of these extraordinary works in one program offered a special opportunity to hear how, and to what degree, each of these composers managed to infuse their works with their unique musical dentity.
The program began with a rousing and heartfelt performance of Russian Festival Easter Overture by Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov in 1888 and based on themes from the “Obikhod,” a collection of hymns and chants associated with the Russian Orthodox Church. Rimsky-Korsakov was a member of a group of composers in St. Petersburg known as the “Russian Five” whose aim was the creation of a truly Russian music. There can be no doubt that Rimsky-Korsakov succeeded – perhaps better than anyone before or since.
What a joy it was to hear the Chattanooga Symphony Orchestra, under the capable and steady leadership of music director Kayoko Dan, do justice to this music. The frequent and often subtle changes in tempo were cleanly negotiated, and the orchestra produced a warm instrumental blend.
After the Rimsky-Korsakov work, featured soloist for the evening pianist Alexander Schimpf (recent winner of the Vienna Beethoven Piano Competition) presented a powerful, passionate and virtuosic performance of one of Tchaikovsky’s most popular and enduring works, Piano Concerto No. 1, composed in 1875. Schimpf selected a lovely, gentle waltz by Tchaikovsky to perform as an encore, a marked and effective contrast to the thunderous concerto.