The Baltimore Symphony Orchestra is reveling in revolution this week and, from the sound of things last night, is clearly playing on the winning side.
Music director Yuri Temirkanov has come up with a program full of explosive possibilities. The most obvious item is Stravinsky's ballet score The Rite of Spring, which started not just a famous upheaval at its premiere in 1913 but a still-reverberating shake-up in perceptions of melody, harmony and, above all, rhythm.
Beethoven's expansive Piano Concerto No. 5 moved the bar for all future piano concertos. And, given the surprise attack by the soloist at the beginning and again as the second movement melts into the third, it's easy to hear the piece as revolutionary.
Even the curtain-raiser for the program fits the picture, since Kevin Puts' short, snappy Network pays homage to one of the last musical revolutions of the 20th century - minimalism.
A week ago, Temirkanov lavished keen attention on the music of Gershwin; it was gratifying to find him devoting similar care to a 30-year-old American composer. He had the orchestra digging energetically into the John Adams-like pulsations and reiterations, rich chords and percussive punctuation marks of this late-'90s showpiece. A longer taste of what the Missouri-born Puts has to offer would be welcome.
To the Beethoven concerto, local favorite Lang Lang brought the intensity and variety of expression that have propelled him to the front rank of today's young keyboard artists.
In an age of cookie-cutter performers, Lang Lang stands out for his willingness to take chances, to produce a prism of tone colors (well beyond what Beethoven could have imagined with the instruments of his time), to stretch a tempo just a tad or even all out of proportion. His performances cannot be to every taste, but they are never lifeless. What he did last night was often magical.
The double-octaves passage in the first movement suddenly sounded like Tchaikovsky, the whole second movement like Chopin (Lang Lang and Temirkanov gave it a very slow pace). The bouncing finale was full of engaging touches, including right-hand filigree articulated with exceptional lightness. This was compelling pianism.
Temirkanov provided the soloist with beautifully dovetailed support; the orchestra fulfilled its role in the concerto with expressive power.
The broadly paced opening of the Stravinsky warhorse signaled a riveting account was at hand. Temirkanov had the thorny music in a secure grasp but let it unfold with a sense of spontaneous combustion. His virtuosity was well matched by the BSO, which produced plenty of muscle and emotional weight to make the notes sound as bold and fresh as ever.
BSO
Where: Meyerhoff Hall, 1212 Cathedral St.
When: 8 tonight, 11 a.m. tomorrow, 3 p.m. Sunday
Tickets: $23 to $78
Call: 410-783-8000