THE BASICS: JoAnn Falletta, Music Director of the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, conducts the first of a two-weekend Tchaikovsky Festival (Part 2 will be Feb. 21-22). Tonight’s concert (this Saturday evening, February 8, 2025 at 7:30) at Kleinhans Music Hall encores yesterday morning’s “Coffee Concert” and features Tchaikovsky’s “Capriccio Italien,” followed by Stravinsky’s homage to Tchaikovsky, the four-movement Divertimento from the ballet “The Fairy’s Kiss,” and after intermission, concludes with Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 2 as Canadian pianist Sheng Cai performs on the BPO’s new Steinway concert grand piano.
Runtime: 2 hours including one intermission
It sometimes seems odd to me that, as a classical music radio host, I would be telling readers to yank out those earbuds and ear pods and turn off that radio, smart speaker, or whatever you use to hear recorded music, and go hear live performances, but honestly, with an acoustical gem like Kleinhans Music Hall and a world-class symphony orchestra right here in town, there’s no better way to experience what secrets the great composers wanted to whisper to you before you shuffle off this mortal coil.
I was immediately made aware of this during the opening notes of Tchaikovsky’s “Capriccio Italien,” often programmed on WNED Classical, when I realized that the powerful sound was coming from “just” four trumpets, two trumpets in D and two in A, not trumpets and trombones as I’d always thought. Yes, the trombones play a major role later, but having those two different trumpet voices creates a sound that can only be appreciated live. I’ve always felt that if Ravel was the greatest orchestrator, then it was that he stood on the shoulders of Tchaikovsky.
Most people are familiar with Tchaikovsky’s ballet, “The Nutcracker,” with its sweeping melodies and gorgeous finale to Act I and, of course, the variety of all those ethnic dances in Act II. So I can say that if you like that ballet music, you’ll like the “Capriccio Italien” which is sort of a tour of Italy, and like Act II of “The Nutcracker,” is constantly revealing something new.
Usually at a symphony concert, the big concerto with the visiting artist is programmed second, before the intermission. But this time, Falletta took a trick from chamber music organizers, where the standard order of things is to open with something light, fun, and accessible (say a Mozart quartet) and, after intermission, promise something big, meaty, and profound, perhaps something by Schubert, Brahms, or Beethoven. But before intermission, introduce the audience to something new, or unfamiliar, or not often programmed. Here are excerpts from Stravinsky’s ballet titled “The Fairy’s Kiss: Divertimento,” an homage to Tchaikovsky that uses many themes from Tchaikovsky’s lesser-known works. “Kiss” has only been programmed by the BPO four times before.
It’s fun the way Stravinsky, the modern 20th-century composer who generally rejected the Romantic era (Tchaikovsky’s era) in favor of what came to be called “Neo-classicism,” plays a tug of war with himself: sometimes Romantic, sometimes Classical, and sometimes it’s just what I’ll call “Stravinsky Silly” where he has fun bringing in unexpected sounds.
In contrast to Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 1, which has been on a BPO program almost 20 times, his Piano Concerto No. 2 has only been performed two times in the past (once with Buffalo’s Claudia Hoca and once with William Wolfram). When you go tonight, you might recognize from the radio the third (final) movement, sometimes aired as a stand-alone, a high-energy romp reminiscent of the finale of Tchaikovsky’s Piano Trio in A minor. And while I no longer make a habit (as I did when I was younger) of sitting to the left side of the audience so that I can see the pianist’s hands, this time I really wished that I had. While it’s true that Sheng Cai had to press down on the piano keys (that’s how pianos work, obviously), it seemed that the piano keys were actively launching Mr. Cai’s body upwards. That third movement, marked Allegro con fuoco (Fast with fire), was everything that tempo marking desires: it was lively, spirited, intense, passionate, and energetic. But wait, there’s more.
The second movement, the slow, beautiful Andante, turns the piano concerto into what’s known as a “triple concerto,” a form used by Beethoven and Brahms, with three soloists – violin (here Nikki Chooi), cello (Roman Mekinulov) and piano (Sheng Cai). For this, Nikki Chooi stood out front next to the piano, and Roman Mekinulov turned his chair to face the audience. It was one of those sublime moments that I didn’t see coming and, by itself, was worth the price of admission.
Kleinhans Music Hall is at “3 Symphony Circle” Buffalo, 14201 where Porter Avenue, Richmond Avenue, North Street and Wadsworth meet at a traffic circle. Visit www.bpo.org or call 716-885-5000. Full-service bar in the lobby or across the lobby in the Mary Seaton Room. Masks are optional.