For someone who loves the musical intensity of Dmitri Shostakovich as much as I do, Friday night’s program at Boettcher Concert Hall was bliss.
With guest conductor Edward Gardner on the podium, the Colorado Symphony Orchestra delivered brilliant performances of early works by the 20th-century Russian master.
Opening with incidental music from a 1932 stage production of “Hamlet,” Gardner’s musical prowess, charm and enormous energy were immediately evident. As easy on the eyes as his musicality is compelling, the young British maestro introduced each piece with droll remarks that humanized the composer and demystified his art.
A thoroughly accessible and enchanting reading of the “Hamlet” suite, which is really a drunken, vaudevillian spoof of Shakespeare’s tragic drama, paved the way for Shostakovich’s Concerto No. 1 for Piano, Trumpet and Strings, featuring soloists Antonio Pompa-Baldi and Alison Balsom.
The Italian pianist is a musical marvel whose slight appearance belies his endurance to tackle the tricky fingerwork throughout the sweet-and-sour concerto. Playing the fast tempos at full throttle, Pompa-Baldi never missed a note or nuance in a poised and persuasive performance.
Synchronized in their interpretation of the richly melodic work, Gardner and Pompa-Baldi underpinned Balsom’s remarkably swift and crisp articulations on trumpet. Especially memorable is her ability to achieve a warm, pleasing tone without compromising precision in the sometimes thorny trumpet passages.
The Lento second movement – a musical panorama of exquisitely romantic themes – was also delivered with impassioned tenderness by the youthful trio and the accompanying CSO strings.
The full orchestra then proved why Shostakovich is counted among history’s greatest symphonists with a vigorous interpretation of his rarely-performed Symphony No. 1. While its general mood is lighthearted, it hints at the sense of desolation and irony that is so pronounced in his later works.
Also on the program was a sample of Shostakovich’s ballet music. In a deliciously sassy presentation of the suite from “The Age of Gold,” the exquisite lyricism of Jun Watabe on saxophone stole the show.
Other first-rate solos throughout the evening were delivered by concertmaster YuMi Hwang- Williams, principal cellist Jurgen deLemos, principal flutist Pamela Endsley, oboist Peter Cooper, principal timpanist William Hill and pianist Alice Rybak.
