Its title might sound like the beginning of a nursery rhyme: “One Hand, Two Hands, Four Hands, Eight Hands.”
But the Colorado Symphony’s concert Sunday afternoon was hardly child’s play, as appealing as it no doubt was to the many children in the audience.
The fun, wonderfully imaginative program featured five distinctive takes on pianism, ending with the closest thing that classical music has to a circus stunt. The afternoon’s four pianists – a pair seated side by side at each of two keyboards – offered a thundering version of Richard Wagner’s ever-popular “Ride of the Valkyries.”
It was all part of the orchestra’s family series – one of the best classical-musical bargains in Denver.
Unlike the symphony’s regular subscription programs, family concerts last just one hour. But Sunday, at least, the audience got its money’s worth – a bounty of musical combinations and commentary to boot.
It was O’Riley week in Denver, with pianist Christopher O’Riley giving a recital Wednesday, performing with the orchestra Friday and Saturday and then returning Sunday in yet another context.
He served as soloist for the opening work – Maurice Ravel’s Piano Concerto in D for the Left Hand, offering a vivid, suitably sensuous performance of this short, alluring work with its sense of mystery, even exoticism at times.
There was no feeling that anything was missing, especially with the orchestra’s vibrant accompaniment, led by conductor Scott O’Neil (later one of the four pianists). In O’Riley’s encompassing interpretation, it was easy to believe there were two hands on the keyboard.
Demonstrating that his right hand was just as good as his left, O’Riley returned for the last movement from Dmitri Shostakovich’s Piano Concerto No. 2 in F major.
Next came 18-year-old Boulder pianist Jeffrey Lee, who took on the daunting opening movement of Sergei Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 1 in F sharp minor. If his playing was a bit overblown, it was hard not to be wowed by his dazzling technique and sheer bravado.
As showy encores, O’Riley and David Korevaar, a University of Colorado at Boulder pianist, tackled the Tarantella from Rachmaninoff’s Suite No. 2 for Two Pianos, and then came the eight-handed finale.
Fine arts critic Kyle MacMillan can be reached at 303-954-1675 or kmacmillan@denverpost.com.
