Pianist, Jackson show spirit, dynamics

The evening was filled with excellent music.
By JERRY STEPHENS
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
As played by some soloists and orchestras, the well-known "Concerto for Piano and Orchestra No. 1" by Tchaikovsky could be considered a potboiler.
And it can sound just like one.
That was not the case Saturday at Powers Auditorium when the Youngstown Symphony Orchestra, under Maestro Isaiah Jackson, played it with the Brazilian pianist Arnaldo Cohen as the soloist. I have heard this concerto many times in the 60 years, beginning with the Toccanini-Horowitz recording. While Saturday's performance may not have been the most spectacular I have heard, it ranks near the top.
Cohen played with the economy of motion that the best pianists exhibit. All the dramatics were those of the music. The dynamic spirit and attention to the many nuances of gave the air of perfection that it deserves to the work.
In his and Jackson's hands, this it was no potboiler.
That wasn't all that was on the program. Two of the group of three Nocturnes, "Nuages" (clouds) and "F & ecirc;tes" (festivals), by Debussy were performed.
The third, Sir & egrave;nes, which needs a women's chorus, was not included.
The Nocturnes are tone poems, a composition that is supposed to convey a picture or mood, or both. One particularly notable and popular one is a work that was not presented Saturday. That one is his "Prelude for the Afternoon of a Faun" -- a mythological creature with the head and upper torso of a human, and the lower body and legs of a goat -- which paints a musical picture of it passing a quiet afternoon.
Conveying vision, mood
The two that were spiritedly performed by the orchestra both conveyed the vision and mood of some impressionist paintings I have seen in various museums. Many outdoor scenes, like those of Pissarro, have skies with "clouds dissolving into a vague grayness tinged with white," as described by Debussy. The scene conveyed to me in "F & ecirc;tes" is that of looking down on a festival from a hillside.
As an art form, ballet had fallen into disfavor at the beginning of the 20th century. Diaghileff and Stravinsky changed that. Stravinsky's "Suite No. 2" was taken from his music for Diaghileff's ballet, "The Firebird," which premiered in 1910. It was based on an old Russian legend.
This ballet was successful and brought Stravinsky's name before an international audience. Stravinsky went on to compose many other ballet scores, but this one is the most popular. It might seem repetitive to say so, but Jackson and the orchestra gave us a marvelous performance.
The evening opened with the "Roman Carnival Overture" by Berlioz. This was a very good beginning to what was an evening of excellent music.