From the moment he walked onto the stage of the Peristyle on Friday evening, it was clear that Maestro Giordano Bellincampi, guest conductor of the opening Classics Concert of the Toledo Symphony, had clear a musical direction and artistic intent.
The concert, a textbook example of symphonic programming, was attuned to the visionary lines of TSO CEO and President Zak Vassar: get the orchestra back to the core of symphonic literature, engage the audience of northwest Ohio, and deliver a simple message, “the TSO is here for everyone.”
In keeping with this purpose, the upcoming season will feature perennial favorites of the orchestral literature, as well the TSO in HD, video projection of the players in action flanking both sides of the stage during Classics Concerts.
Rossini’s Overture to ‘La Gazza Ladra”(The Thieving Magpie) opened the concert with martial alacrity which gave way to a spritely frolic. The woodwinds snapped with pizzaz; the strings responded with sass; the trombone section commanded with statements of low brass grit. The performance was Rossini in all his coloratura operatic glory.
Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto no. 3 in C major followed. It is a beast: technically demanding, running the musical gamut from sublimely intense to outright physical hysterics. Soloist Leonardo Colafelice was the quintessential lion tamer in every respect.
His performance was sheer brilliance. Flying scalar passages gave way to chordal forays with hands ablur, sensitively handled melodic lines ceded to herculean feats of crosshand gymnastics. The performance was astoundingly musical, breathtakingly energetic, and left the audience roaring -- pure artistic genius. He encored with a whimsical adaptation of the March from the Nutcracker suite.
The work which defined the modern symphony, Beethoven’s Symphony no. 3, “Eroica” closed the program. Bellincampi brought his own creative insight to the table, imbuing the timeworn classic with new artistic life.
His interpretation sang with romantic energy, however, the first movement suffered from inconsistent tempi and lack of precision. The second seethed wonderfully with petulant turbulence, plagued however with persistent intonation problems in the French horns. The scherzo romped with playful abandon; the fourth wended crisp fugal wanderings to a bombastically heroic conclusion.
The concert will be repeated 8 p.m. Saturday in the Toledo Museum of Art Peristyle, 2445 Monroe St., Toledo. Tickets and more information 419-246-8000 or toledosymphony.com.
First Published September 30, 2017, 2:50 a.m.
