Orchestra, soloist present inspiring performance

The soloist knew how to make his piano sing.
By JERRY STEPHENS
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
Sing. Always sing. This was Arturo Toscanini's admonition to those who worked under him.
The Youngstown Symphony Orchestra under Maestro Isaiah Jackson certainly took that to heart Saturday at Edward W. Powers Auditorium, with the first two compositions being among the most melodic in the classical repertoire.
There was also a piano soloist who knew very well how to make his instrument sing. This was the Italian pianist, Fabio Bidini, a young man whose command of his chosen instrument was fabulous.
The composition he and the orchestra played was the Concerto N. 2 in C Minor for Piano and Orchestra, by Serge Rachmaninoff. Its melodious themes have been used for popular songs, a common practice at the time. Tchaikovsky's First Piano Concerto was raided for the pop tune, "Tonight We Love" at about the same time.
The Rachmaninoff concerto is a deservedly popular piece that, because of its popularity, can become too familiar to those playing it, resulting in very uninspired performances. I am happy to say that was not the case Saturday. The performance we heard would rank among the very best.
Fabio Bidini's technically excellent and very spirited playing could wake up the most blas & eacute; orchestras. It was a real privilege to hear him.
Spirited work
"The Capriccio Espagnol," which opened the program, is another very melodic piece by one of the most melodic composers of the late 19th to early 20th century, Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov. It is a very spirited work that was given an added boost by the Youngstown Symphony. It is sort of in the pattern of a Spanish dance suite, and it also gives several of the orchestra's instruments a chance at playing a solo part in the performance.
This, like many of Rimsky-Korsakov's works, is very dazzling but has little content that challenges one's thinking. The same could be said about the short showpiece works of many other composers. This composition was intended to be a fun piece, and no profoundness was intended.
The concluding work of the evening was Modeste Mussorgsky's "Pictures at an Exhibition" as orchestrated by Maurice Ravel. There are other orchestrations, some of which have actually been recorded, but Ravel's stands out above the rest. It is a much more craggy work than those played earlier, but it has many very melodic lines that were very much in keeping with the evening.
I have a recording of the piano version made by Sviatoslav Richter. He played the original version, which appears to be fantastically demanding and difficult. Ravel's transcription was done from the version edited by Rimsky-Korsakov.
The contrast is quite striking. Rimsky-Korsakov was an inveterate meddler in the compositions of his fellow Russian composers. Though he could be commended for completing some of the unfinished works of the others, notably the completion of Borodin's "Prince Igor" in collaboration with Glazounov, there are many he should have left alone.
This is another deservedly popular piece, and one that is hard to do badly. Maestro Jackson and the Youngstown Orchestra gave a more stately performance than what I have been accustomed to, one that was very inspiring without leaving me breathless.