Friday’s Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra performance saw the orchestra in fine form but far from its finest.
Guest conductor Juanjo Mena, last at the podium in Pittsburgh in 2015, led the orchestra in its first post-holiday concert with music by Debussy, Ravel, Stravinsky and Ibert.
PSO principal flute Lorna McGhee closed the first half of the program with the Ibert Concerto for Flute and Orchestra, the standout performance of the night. Ibert’s three-movement work is technically vivacious, and Ms. McGhee proved herself more than up to the challenge, clearing blistering runs with room to spare. Her melodies were conversational, chatty even, dipping conspiratorially at times and ringing stridently through the hall at others. Her tone, especially in the more relaxed second movement and the gentler passages of the finale, was just the right balance of wispy and full.
Ms. McGhee dedicated her weekend performances to the memory of former PSO principal flute Bernard Goldberg, who played with the orchestra for more than 40 years and died in November.
The PSO’s performance of Debussy’s “Printemps” never quite coalesced into a unified sound — The brass were a bit loud, and violin articulation wasn’t clean in some of the quicker passages. Ravel’s “Valses nobles et sentimentales” fared better, with fine solos from the principal winds in the various miniature waltzes that make up the piece, and Mr. Mena found a more equal balance between the sections, allowing each to shine.
A crowd-pleaser on any program, Stravinsky’s “Suite from ‘The Firebird’” (the 1919 version) capped the evening. Although overall it was an enjoyable performance, small slips distracted throughout the piece, beginning with some inconsistency in rhythm in the opening wind burbles.
Mr. Mena coaxed some engaging colors from the orchestra, generally making the most of Stravinsky’s lurid orchestration. The “Infernal Dance” movement was exciting (although here, too, the trumpets weren’t quite together at a couple of points). Max Blair, associate principal oboe, distinguished himself in the “Dance of the Princesses” with exceptionally lyrical playing.
Friday’s performance was mostly but not up to the orchestra’s typically exceptional standards.
This program repeats Sunday at 2:30 p.m.
Jeremy Reynolds: jreynolds@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1634; twitter: @Reynolds_PG. Mr. Reynolds’ work at the Post-Gazette is supported in part by a grant from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, the Getty Foundation, and the Rubin Institute.
First Published: January 13, 2018, 5:00 a.m.
