Those who missed last week’s Portland Symphony Orchestra performance should hope guest conductor Lawrence Loh is a finalist in the symphony's search for a new music director. He held the orchestra’s attention, exacting precision and confidence with communicative gestures absent excessive showmanship.
During the Emperor concerto (for piano and orchestra) by Ludwig van Beethoven (see "Symphonic Wars," by Ben Meiklejohn, January 26), the silence between notes revealed orchestral unity in how perfectly together notes were played and ended. The invisible curtain dividing the audience and orchestra, stifling the sound, was likely the piano’s stage placement, blocking the wind instruments. Despite starting warmly, the concerto lacked the orchestral color of Samuel Barber’s Second Essay and Sergei Prokofiev’s Fifth Symphony. Because of this, pianist Kirill Gerstein’s crystalline-fluid playing quite literally lacked the wind to keep its icicles crisp. Loh’s return permanently, or as a future guest, will receive welcome receptions from musicians and audiences.
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