Ukrainian Pianist Conquers Emperor Concerto in His OC Return
/By Truman C. Wang
6/11/2022
Pianist Alexander Romanovsky (Photo credit: Ugo Dalla Porta)
It was a full house at the OC’s Segerstrom Concert Hall last night. Carl St. Clair and the Pacific Symphony played Beethoven Symphony No. 8 with easy, unforced ebb and flow and a keen sense of Haydnesque humor (e.g. the zany syncopated accents before the first movement development). The Allegretto scherzando was scrumptiously light with an underlying sweetness. The finale, Allegro vivace, crackled with life and vivacious energy. Also memorable were the orchestra's individual sections - the lush but agile strings, the clarinet's rustic colors and the horns' lavish legato.
The "Emperor" is the only Beethoven piano concerto not to have been premiered by Beethoven himself. By 1811 his deafness was too acute to make ensemble playing possible. As a consequence, it is more closely annotated than any of its predecessors. The cadenzas are also fully integrated, including the thrilling cadenza-like passage at the start of the work where Beethoven views the home key of E-flat major from three different perspectives.
The 38-year-old pianist Alexander Romanovsky, hailing from Ukraine by way of Italy, is an estimable artist possessing a forceful, sparkling right hand and a supremely lyrical left hand, heard to great effects in the rapid firings of the first theme following the famous opening ‘emperial’ flourish. One could hear in his playing the old Russian school of Gilels, Richter and Rubinstein. In the beautiful serenity of the Adagio un poco mosso, the piano floated long filigree lines in a soft, dreamy orchestral backdrop, suddenly waking up to the frenzied swirl and energy of the final rondo.
Following the tumultuous reception of the E-flat major concerto, Mr. Romanovsky aptly offered Chopin’s E-flat major Nocturne as an encore, playing with a delicate singing tone and poetic expression.
Truman C. Wang is Editor-in-Chief of Classical Voice, whose articles have appeared in the Pasadena Star-News, San Gabriel Valley Tribune, other Southern California publications, as well as the Hawaiian Chinese Daily. He studied Integrative Biology and Music at U.C. Berkeley.