Classical Concert Reviews Cinci

@cincysymphony offered a pre-Thanksgiving treat with this weekend’s program featuring old and new Spanish treasures and a scintillating performance of one of Beethoven’s most popular concertos.
Tèenek – Invenciones de Territorio by Mexican composer Gabriela Ortiz (@gabrielaortizcomposer) was a wonderfully inventive score to open tonight’s concert, drawing musical inspiration from the modernist music of John Adams and the rhythmic flair of Latin American music, particularly in the final crescendo with instruments such as a guiro, bongos and jawbone. Ortiz’s music is also built around the idea of unity, with outer sections giving off a fiesta-like and a middle section of utter calm.
Soloist Francesco Piemontesi made his debut with the orchestra to perform Beethoven’s Fourth Pisno Concerto. A work which Piemontesi has made his specialty in concert performances over the last couple of years, he tackled it with seamless fluidity and boundless energy. While the communication between orchestra and soloist was wonderful throughout, though there were moments in the first movement where the piano felt more virtuosic than anticipated but its sound gradually became more engaging. Piemontesi then encored with a soaring performance of one of the four Impromptus by Franz Schubert.
Manuel de Falla’s ballet The Three Cornered Hat is a rare commodity in classical music: a work which is encountered with increasing frequency in the concert hall and the recording studio but almost never given a full staging by major ballet companies. First performed in London in 1919, it tells the story of a magistrate who falls in love with the wife of a humble miller.
Guest conductor Carlos Miguel Prieto let the rhythms of Spanish dance that are the foundation of the work burst forth with his concise, energetic leadership. Two added bonus was the small but impactful vocal contributions provided by mezzo-soprano Catalina Cuervo, whose powerful and lush voice rang out all across Music Hall. And as a rare encore, the orchestra then played an orchestral intermezzo from one of the most popular zarzuelas in Spain by the composer Gerónimo Giménez.
Bravi tutti to all!