STRAVINSKY, COPLAND, & TCHAIKOVSKY
Location: Sanders Theatre
Date: Oct. 29
Presented by: The Harvard-Radcliffe Orchestra



By EMILY G.W. CHAU

Crimson Staff Writer



In a performance that Harvard-Radcliffe Orchestra (HRO) President James F. Collins ’07 declared would open HRO’s 198th season, the orchestra ably maintained its tradition of musical excellence garnering three standing ovations.

The evening’s program included an oration by Dean of the Harvard College Benedict H. Gross ’71 and a showcase of the virtuoso skill of piano soloist Wei-Jen Yuan ’06, before finally allowing the orchestra to come into their own. Under the direction of Dr. James Yannatos, the HRO passionately performed popular but stylistically diverse orchestra favorites, including Aaron Copland’s “Lincoln Portrait,” Tchaikovsky’s “Piano Concerto No. 1,” and Igor Stravinsky’s “The Rite of Spring.”

Lead by co-concertmasters J.Y. “Ariel” Jeong ’07 and Mathew J. Kan ’07, the HRO began the night with the solemn opening tones of the patriotic Lincoln Portrait. Copland’s music, which incorporates motifs from American folk songs and the spoken words of Abraham Lincoln, was narrated by Dean Gross, a former HRO member.

Dean Gross’s idiosyncratic head tosses and suitably muted intonations made for a quietly passionate narration that reinforced the visions of a golden America inspired by the music. With the timing and grace of an experienced performer, Gross’s stirring final recitation that “this nation under God shall have a new birth of freedom; and that government of the people, by the people, and for the people, shall not perish from the earth” perfectly matched the culminating swell of orchestral music.

In “Lincoln Portrait,” HRO demonstrated a facility in and good sense of dynamics, blend, and balance, especially during the alternating legato and staccato passages.

But the true highlight of the evening came later, in Yuan’s expert performance of Tchaikovsky’s “Piano Concerto No. 1.” Winner of the 2005 HRO Concerto Competition, Yuan played not only emotionally and intensely, but also interacted well with the orchestra as a whole. Yuan most successfully complemented the orchestra’s music during the many cadenzas, when his improvised flourishes fully showcased his talent.

Yuan’s playing evidently roused the audience to such a degree that they forgot their concert etiquette and committed the apparent faux pas of applauding (with a standing ovation, no less) after the first movement. This warm response was a prelude to their reception to the piece as a whole, as the audience leapt to their feet at the last chord of the concerto.

In their technically difficult closing piece, “The Rite of Spring” (known to most audience’s for its inclusion in Disney’s “Fantasia), the orchestra was finally given center stage to demonstrate its strong skills, independent of individual performers. The full orchestra ably captured the dramatic and frenzied mood of the piece. Of special note were the moving opening solo by bassoonist David L. Richmond ’06 and the resounding performance by the brass section, which effectively redeemed the section after their slightly pinched sound in their opening performance of Copland’s “Lincoln Portrait.” Despite some sparse flaws, however, the orchestra deserved its standing ovations.

—Staff writer Emily G.W. Chau can be reached at egchau@fas.harvard.edu.