Review: RESPIGHI'S PINES OF ROME & JOYCE YANG at Colorado Symphony

In their recent concert, the Colorado Symphony opened with Apu: Tone Poem for Orchestra before moving on to Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 24, K. 491 featuring guest artist Joyce Yang, piano. Yang was a delight to watch in addition to her playing. She does more than just memorize the music - she embodies the music to a point of feigned improvisation, as if she is playing what she feels in the moment and it just so happens to match the orchestra. It was really quite fascinating to watch. Yang rounded out the first half of the concert with an solo encore performance that continued to highlight this idea. I'm not one to use such phrases, but she really knows how to tickle the ivories.

The second of the concert highlights 20th century Italian composer Ottorino Respighi. The symphony triumphantly played 2 of his 3 related compositions inspired by his beloved country, Fountains of Rome and Pines of Rome. The first piece not only takes you on a tour of different notable fountains throughout the city, it also moves chronologically through a day starting with dawn and ending with sunset. The music gives such an authentic depiction of the scene that is brought to life further by the high quality musicianship of the Colorado Symphony. In the second suite, Respighi again sets a time and place for each movement, though instead of moving chronologically, he highlights the importance of the time of day and/or the setting. The vehicle for these are pine trees spread throughout Rome and what they see; what they protect: children playing at Villa Borghese, The Remains of those departed resting in Roman catacombs, a moonlit nocturne on Janiculum Hill, and soldiers marching along the Appian Way at dawn. Again, the symphony plays the suite beautifully, truly encapsulating what Respighi himself heard when first composing the piece.

Overall, this concert, more than others I have seen from the Colorado Symphony, did a great job of highlighting many, if not all, of the different sections that make up the orchestra. It is very easy to program pieces where the violins traditionally have the major melody. In this concert, not only did the violins and other string instruments have a moment to lead the music, so too did various woodwinds, brass, and percussion step into the spotlight including Jason Shafer, clarinet and Peter Cooper, oboe. My only real critique is the overall programming of this concert. I don't entirely see the through-line that connects each piece they played. I would've opted to play all three of Respighi's Roman symphonic poems instead of the first piece they played, in part because Yang also added an unlisted encore after the Mozart concerto. Though I must say, I missed her during the second half.

For a full listing of upcoming Colorado Symphony events and performances, visit https://tickets.coloradosymphony.org/events.