Classical Concert Reviews Cinci

@cincysymphony thrilled a near-capacity audience at @musichallcincy with a program featuring one of the most popular of all Russian symphonic works, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov’s suite Scheherazade.
Under the direction of guest conductor Keitaro Harada (@khconductor), former CSO associate conductor and incoming music director of @daytonphilharmonic, the orchestra opened with a thrilling performance ofvine of the most popular pieces of Japanese classical music, the late Yuzo Toyama’s Rhapsody for Orchestra. Drawing inspiration primarily from traditional Japanese folk songs and incorporating native drums in its orchestration, Herada lived and breathed the joyful and soulful spirit of the music, heightened by an extended flute solo beautifully played by principal flute Randolph Bowman.
Violin virtuoso Anne Akiko Meyers (@anneakikomeyers) then joined the CSO to give the Cincinnati premiere of Fandango, a new violin concerto written for her and the Los Angeles Philharmonic in 2021 by the Mexican composer Arturo Márquez. Cast in three distinct movements, it serves both as a celebration of the fandango dance form and of the sonic possibilities of the violin, the composer’s first instrument. While all three movements were full of rhythmic ideas that were firmly rooted in the traditional fandango style, including extensive use of guiro and other similar instruments, there was also a distinctive freshness about it, no doubt thanks to the technical virtuosity Meyers put on display calling to mind composers such as Samuel Barber and Aram Khachaturian. Tonight’s audience was no doubt incredibly pleased with the final results of this fantastic journey.
Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade suite is perhaps the most popular of his orchestral works and one of the best programmatic works in today’s repertoire. Composed in 1888, the suite’s four interconnected movements are based on stories found in the collection One Thousand and One Nights. Maestro Harada spectacularly brought each detail of the piece to life, including lushly soaring violin, bassoon and clarinet solos as well as exuberant oercussion and brass in the final tale of the Festival at Baghdad.
Bravi tutti!