OVERNIGHT REVIEW: Pasadena Symphony at Ambassador Auditorium

By Robert D. Thomas
Music Critic
Pasadena Star-News/San Gabriel Valley Tribune/Whittier Daily News
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Pasadena Symphony; Rossen Milanov, conductor
Borodin: Polovtsian Dances from Prince Igor;
Saint-Saëns: Piano Concerto No. 5 (Egyptian); Esther Keel, pianist
Rimsky-Korsakov: Scheherazade, Op. 35
Friday, February 18, 2012 • Ambassador Auditorium
Next concert March 31, 2012, 2 p.m. and 8 p.m.
Information: www.pasadenasymphony-pops.org
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Although most people wouldn’t want to make a steady diet of it, there’s something to be said for a concert comprised entirely of late 19th-century romantic music (the three pieces on the program were written within eight years of each other), especially when it’s played as well as what transpired last night in the Pasadena Symphony Concert before a large crowd at Ambassador Auditorium.

Rossen Milanov became the latest in a long train of guest conductors to mount the PSO podium during the past two seasons and he made an impressive local debut. Now age 47, the Sofia, Bulgaria native comes with impressive credentials. In 2010 he became music director of the Princeton (NJ) Symphony Orchestra where he is, by most accounts, doing splendid work. Before that he spent 11 years as the associate conductor of the Philadelphia Orchestra and artistic director of that ensemble during its summer outdoor seasons.

Tall and slim, Milanov cuts an impressive figure on the podium and his conducting style is enthusiastic and demonstrative with the same sort of infectious grin that shows up on a certain curly haired conductor who plies his trade in downtown Los Angeles. Now, that conductor (Gustavo Dudamel) often displays plenty of exuberance on the podium, but whereas I have almost never seen the Venezuelan use a gesture that didn’t make musical sense, Milanov’s swooping arms and hands and overly fussy attention to details occasionally — albeit not very often — seemed to get in the way of the music, particularly in the concluding work on the program, Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade.

Considering that Rimsky-Korsakov’s tone poem is based on the fabled tales found in 1001 Nights, it’s hard to kvetch about a performance being episodic, but by the time we got to the last note I felt as if we had heard all one thousand and one tales, not just four of them.

Part of that problem lies with the composer; Rimsky-Korsakov gave virtually every principal a solo turn and it’s understandable that Milanov would want to luxuriate in the sound, given the luscious Ambassador Auditorium acoustics and how superbly the Pasadena Symphony played throughout the performance.

At the top of the list of principals was concertmaster Aimee Kreston, who spun Scheherazade’s tales seductively and sweetly, but she certainly wasn’t alone. The list of solo stars would certainly include Trevor Handy, cello; Donald Foster, clarinet; Rong-Huey Lin, oboe; David Shostac, flute; Katherine Oliver, bassoon; Marissa Benedict, trumpet (indeed, the entire brass section), Teag Reeves, horn, and, perhaps most notably, Allison Allport, harp.

The evening’s other debutante, 26-year-old Esther Keel, also proved to be special as soloist in Saint-Saëns Piano Concerto No. 5 (Egyptian). Presumably the piece was chosen because it sort of fit into the theme of Middle Eastern/Asian-tinged music, but it proved to be a perfect vehicle for Keel, who now teachers at The Colburn School when she’s not performing on the concert stage.

Considering what we heard last night, her teaching gigs may have to be curtailed. Playing a Steinway piano, Keel displayed pristine runs and trills along with powerhouse octaves throughout the performance. More importantly, she brought sensitive musicality and a very individual take on this not-often performed piece. Although I was delighted to hear her perform this concerto (my favorite of the five), I eagerly look forward to hearing her again in something slightly more mainstream.

Keel’s concept of the concerto wasn’t easy for the conductor and Millanov did an excellent job of both following Keel and shaping the accompaniment sensitively, while the orchestra gets kudos for being right on top of where Millanov and Keel were heading — it wasn’t as easy as it may have looked.

The evening opened with a somewhat raucous performance of Borodin’s Polovtsian Dances. Oboist Lin got things off gloriously with the “Strangers in Paradise” theme and Foster added his usual winsome touch on clarinet, but Millanov drove the final four dances forward relentlessly; a little breathing room would have been nice.
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Hemidemisemiquavers:
• Prior to the concert, the Women’s Committee presented the Pasadena Symphony Association with a check for $100,000, proceeds from funds raised at the 44th annual Holiday Look-in Tour last December. Gloria Turner, who chaired the event, made the presentation to PSA President Melinda Shea and CEO Paul Jan Zdunek.
• For the record: Scheherazade was written in 1888, Borodin’s Polovtsian Dances were written in 1890, and the concerto dates from 1896. Saint-Saéns wrote the concerto while on a trip to Luxor, Egypt but did not append the nickname.
• The PSO’s season continues on March 31 when Nicholas McGegan leads a program of that concludes with Beethoven’s Symphony No. 3 (Eroica). Nareh Arghamanyan will be the soloist in Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 20 in D Minor, K. 466.
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(c) Copyright 2012, Robert D. Thomas. All rights reserved. Portions may be quoted with attribution.