Pianist Dazzles Symphony Audience

Spokane Symphony Orchestra Friday, Oct. 8, Opera House;

Saturday, Oct. 9, Schuller Auditorium in Coeur d’Alene

Terrence Wilson treated Friday’s Opera House audience to a grand display of good, old-fashioned virtuoso piano playing. Wilson was the Spokane Symphony’s guest soloist in a brilliant performance of Grieg’s Piano Concerto. Guest conductor Peter McCoppin led the orchestra in a program that also included Beethoven’s “Pastorale” Symphony and “Egmont” Overture.

The Grieg Concerto, with its combination of technical fireworks and heart-on-the-sleeve lyrical moments, does not seem to suit the analytical temperament of most pianists nowadays. Wilson, 23, seems like a throwback to the age of Horowitz and Rubinstein. From the opening torrent of octaves, listeners knew they were hearing something special. First impressions were confirmed when Wilson showed that he could make the piano sing as well as sparkle in the work’s second theme, and even more so in the nocturne-like Adagio.

The audience was on its feet at the concerto’s conclusion - one of those times when there was no doubt that a standing ovation was called for. Wilson responded with a sizable encore, Mily Balakirev’s “Islamey.” This 1869 “Oriental fantasy” was once thought the most difficult piano piece ever written. Maybe so. Wilson’s glittering performance of it was greeted with another standing ovation. He probably could have played encores all evening.

Playing like this is all too rare. In too many cases, the spectacle of performing overwhelms the music. Not so with Wilson. He was absolutely unashamed of the virtuoso dazzle of Grieg and Balakirev and of their romantic songfulness. But there was nothing exaggerated about his playing; it seemed like natural magic.

McCoppin sought that magic, too, but it did not often materialize. The problem was one of details. I found the conductor’s portrait of the 16th-century hero Egmont and the rural landscapes in the “Pastorale” Symphony too generalized, as though Beethoven’s pictures were a little out of focus along with the symphonic aspects of the concerto.

McCoppin often let balances among the instruments go unattended, thus the ear lost such details as the oboe echo of a lyric theme in the first movement of the Grieg concerto. His sweeping gestures conveyed the spirit of the music, all right, but did not elicit precise ensemble playing. And the rising figure that spins repeatedly through the violins and into the winds in the symphony’s “Scene by the Brook” never seemed quite seamless.

McCoppin showed a genuine love for the music, though. Even without the ultimate attention to details, his Beethoven could still suggest the triumphant heroism of Egmont. And the countryside murmurings, buzzings and twitterings - to say nothing of the noisy storm in the fourth movement - that Beethoven distilled into the music of the “Pastorale” Symphony still worked their own magic.