Sergei Rachmaninoff’s “Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini” is perhaps the most popular of the many sets of variations on the last of Niccolo Paganini’s 24 caprices for violin.
While the lush, romantic score is arguably clichéd – especially the 18th variation, widely familiar from “Somewhere in Time” and other films – pianist Olga Kern nevertheless illuminates its rich harmonies and quiet corners in ways that make it uniquely her own.
Opening the Colorado Symphony Orchestra’s 2007-2008 season at Boettcher Concert Hall tonight, the young Russian virtuoso embraced the warm, passionate sensibility of the work’s post-Romantic tenor.
Beyond the obvious descriptors of beauty, charm, deft technique and easy audience rapport that have become synonymous with her name since she won the 2001 Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, she continues to evolve the emotional aspects of her musical interpretations, evidenced by her tender, deeply felt delivery of the Rhapsody’s slower melodies.
With Music Director Jeffrey Kahane at the podium, the orchestra moved easily alongside Kern’s self-assured progression from gentle, shimmering passages to bold, rhythmic exclamations. Several brief, but luminous solos by various members of the orchestra added depth to the work, as did the consistently unified playing by the cello and bass sections.
Dressed in a sparking crimson gown, Kern responded to multiple standing ovations with two encores, including an unfortunately slapdash sprint through “Flight of the Bumblebee.”
After intermission, the CSO rendered a fierce and forceful interpretation of Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 5 in E minor – an elaborate, sometimes ominous work interrupted by lighter themes, even a lilting waltz that comprises an entire movement. The palpable cohesion between Kahane and the orchestra, particularly in the symphony’s Allegro Vivace conclusion – proved his third season is off to a strong, running start.
The all-Russian lineup opened with a swift and vigorous reading of Mikhail Glinka’s overture to the opera “Russlan and Ludmilla.”
The concert repeats Saturday at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday at 2:30 p.m.
