PATRICIA C. SYAK | Symphony notes Andr & eacute; Watts to perform at Grand Finale concert

Pianist Andr & eacute; Watts joins the Youngstown Symphony Orchestra and Isaiah Jackson for the final concert of the season at 8 p.m. Saturday at Powers Auditorium in a performance of Beethoven's "Fifth Piano Concerto."
"Piano playing doesn't get better than this." So wrote the Dallas Morning News of Watts, but it could have been written of Beethoven's own playing two centuries ago. One of the composer's contemporaries was so in awe of "Beethoven's magnificent playing" of his own composition that "I found myself ... profoundly bowed down [and] did not touch my pianoforte for several days." Fortunately for us, Watts has not been similarly affected.
International fame: Since his now legendary televised appearance at the age of 16 with Leonard Bernstein and the New York Philharmonic, Watts has become one of today's most sought-after and beloved superstars. His recordings and numerous live television broadcasts have brought him into the homes of millions of enthusiastic fans worldwide, and his more than 100 performances each year find him in the most celebrated concert halls in recital and as a guest of the world's greatest orchestras.
"A formidable technical arsenal, a still more powerful intellect. It would be hard to ask more of a pianist and musician," reported The Washington Post.
Beethoven's piano concerto No. 5, titled "Emperor," is without a doubt one of the most original, imaginative and most effective but also one of the most difficult of all concertos. In the concerto, Beethoven overthrows the belief that the pianist in a concerto should dazzle the audience with his technical brilliance while the orchestra is restricted to a modest accompaniment and creates a new style -- the symphonic concerto. In his new style, Beethoven masterly pens a solo part and an orchestral part which face each other with a dynamic force.
Paying tribute: Bach's works must remain for us a monument to one of music's greatest talents. The orchestra concludes its yearlong tribute to the 250th Bach year by opening its program with the Webern translation of Bach's "Ricercare."
From the Italian "to search out," the ricercare during the 16th century described an instrumental piece written in direct imitation of the motet technique. Just as in the motet, where one motive after another was imitatively developed, according to the demands of the text, so the early ricercare was not based on a single theme, but on a series of motives.
In the 17th century when unity of thematic material was achieved, the ricercare became the fugue. For Johann Sebastian Bach, a ricercare was a particularly strict fugue.
The Grand Finale concert concludes with Brahms' "Symphony No. 4." As was his habit, Brahms talked about his symphony before hand as if it were a trifle, calling it an interlude. But more characteristic was another description that he gave to it: "a choral work without text."
Perfect harmony: "Symphony No. 4" was the composer's last, combining the epic and the melancholy, a symphony in E-minor. The anti-Brahms block found much to complain about in the choice of that key for a symphony. As Sir Donald Francis Tovey said of the 4th, "The listener need not worry about tracing the theme in the variations but concern himself with the force of the music and the sweep of the ideas," for in the 4th Brahms has created an eloquent statement flowing with a perfect symphonic unity.
Midday Musicale Friday presents another perspective of the Grand Finale concert when Isaiah Jackson and guest artist Andr & eacute; Watts discuss the program and Watts' career. The Youngstown Symphony String Quartet will be on hand to send a musical message. Luncheon reservations can be made by calling the symphony office at (330) 744-4269.
Tickets for the YSO Masterworks concert underwritten in part by Youngstown Thermal are available by calling the box office at (330) 744-0264.
Concert Conversation with Dr. Theodore Albrecht begins at 7 p.m. the evening of the performance. The conversation is open to all concert attendees free of charge.
XPatricia C. Syak is executive director of the Youngstown Symphony Society.