Word: melnyk
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...Harvard-Radcliffe Orchestra's concert Saturday night was a relatively good performance of an intriguing program that could have been played in just a slightly more inspired fashion. The orchestra, under conductor Yames Yannatos, gave a generally spirited performance of Britten, Gershwin and Mussorgsky. Soloist John Melnyk's performance of the Gershwin Piano Concerto in F was a fine combination of control and verve which highlighted the evening. But the feeling and dynamic playing which a work such as "Pictures at an Exhibition" can evoke even in its less energetic passages did not always appear in what otherwise...
...Soloist Melnyk, winner of this year's HRO concerto competition, teamed with the orchestra in a fine performance of Gershwin's Piano Concerto in F. Melnyk's confident playing brought a luster to the interesting and varied passages of this work. His lucid style contrasted unfortunately with the orchestra's occasionally less than clear playing, but the rendering was fine on the whole, particularly in its relentless last stages...
...concerto's first movement Allegro signalled some of the unusual, if dubious instrumentation which Gershwin wrote into the work. Elegant piano flurries, which Melnyk delivered with consummate clearness and excitement, seemed more than once gratuitously marred by chopping sounds from the tympani. But Gershwin's orchestration is extolled as clever or charming by many; there's no point in carping about something which many people inveterately enjoy. The performance of such unusual sections and of the rest of the piece was usually quite exciting, due in large part to the pianist's resounding and sensitive execution. The orchestra was particularly...
Although the orchestra sometimes seemed uninspired during the evening, there was no dragging feeling in the last two movements. Melnyk's acutely sensitive solo passages were matched by the orchestra's dramatic surges, held together by Yannatos. Shifting smoothly from soft piano stretches to rousing tuttis, the orchestra and soloist cooperated perfectly to make the sudden contrasts quite striking. Similarly, the concluding Allegro agitato was quick and smooth, all the more effective because of the nice transitions from piano to ensemble. Melnyk's and the orchestra's playing were especially forceful and resolute right from the beginning. Indeed...
Harvard-Radcliffe Orchestra, conducted by James Yannatos, performs Mussorgsky: "Pictures at an Exhibition," Britten: "Suite on English Folk Tunes" and Gershwin Piano Concerto in F (with soloist John Melnyk, winner of the 1976-77 HRO Concerto Competition). Sanders Theatre. 8:30 p.m. Tickets at $2, 1.50 for senior citizens or with students ID. For info...