Symphony, Pianist, Beethoven Glorious

Spokane Symphony Orchestra Opera House, Friday night

Lee Luvisi, one of the true aristocrats of the piano, gave a glorious account of Beethoven’s “Emperor” Concerto Friday night with the Spokane Symphony Orchestra.

Conductor Fabio Mechetti and the orchestra collaborated with Luvisi in what was surely one of the best concerts of the season. The all-Beethoven evening was capped by the orchestra’s inspired performance of the “Eroica” Symphony and again in a substantial encore, the composer’s overture to Goethe’s tragedy “Egmont.”

Two qualities were highly evident in Luvisi’s playing: his absolute knowledge of Beethoven’s score and his ability to listen as well as he plays.

Luvisi knew exactly what he wanted to do with this music, and he made the orchestra a full partner in it. The collegiality made an “Emperor” to remember.

Two examples of Luvisi’s skill as a collaborator will have to suffice here.

Deep into the first movement, before the return of those explosive chords which began the movement, there is a hushed moment when the piano figuration climbs higher and higher. The violas, meanwhile, softly reintroduce an anticipatory fragment of the main theme. Luvisi made his filigree fade to nothing as the violas asserted themselves more and more. It was a magic moment.

Fully as spellbinding was the chain of trills late in the Adagio. The trills were as even as pearls on a necklace, each adding to the suspense Beethoven built into the music.

Mechetti was a superb accompanist. There were moments in louder dialogues of orchestra with soloist when I would have liked to have heard a bit more orchestra, and notes from the horn that were imperfectly placed.

Still, the unanimity of purpose Mechetti and Luvisi achieved made theirs a noble “Emperor.”

Mechetti sustained that nobility in the orchestra’s playing of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 3 (“The Eroica.”) Especially impressive was the second-movement Funeral March, the center of gravity (no pun intended) of this symphony. Mechetti’s careful pacing allowed the movement to unfold its somber pages very slowly but without a hint of monotony.

In the throb and bounce of the Scherzo and in the increasing intensity of the Finale, Mechetti never lost sight of the serious character of this work.

The horns recovered their poise and produced glowing sounds in the symphony. There was occasional rushing in the violins in the fast movements, but that was more than compensated for by such splendid effects as the “interruption” in the Finale when a wild gypsy dance abruptly breaks off into a tranquil Andante.

In the hands of a fine conductor, such Beethovenesque effects still come as sudden shocks, even after nearly 200 years. So it was Friday in a stirring and noble concert.

, DataTimes