By Glenn Pillsbury

Special to The Record

February 01, 2007 6:00 AM

For pianist Richard Ormrod, success as a performer has taken him all over the world, from his native Wales to Bosnia, Morocco, Israel, and Panama.

Spending so much time on the road might seem a tiresome part of the job, but in Ormrod's opinion it's one of the perks.

"There is a lot of traveling to do, and it's easier if you don't find it too tiresome," he said. "As it happens, I am fascinated by travel and finding out about the world, so it's a huge bonus to me."

This weekend Ormrod makes a return engagement to the Stockton Symphony, opening the second half of the symphony's 80th season with performances of Liszt's "Piano Concerto No. 1."

The program also features Copland's "Appalachian Spring," Stokowski's orchestral transcription of Bach's famous "Toccata and Fugue in D minor," and Ravel's "Rapsodie espagnole." Virgil Thomson's "Stockton Fanfare," composed for the Stockton Arts Commission in 1985, opens the concert. Peter Jaffe conducts.

Ormrod has the distinction of also having opened the symphony's 70th season in 1996 when he played Beethoven's "Emperor" piano concerto, a work that shares the same musical key as Liszt's concerto.

"I guess one of the connections about Richard's performances is that every piano concerto he's played in Stockton has been in E-flat," said Jaffe jokingly. "It's high time we had him back though. He's a phenomenal talent."

First performed in 1855 with Liszt himself at the keyboard, the concerto takes a different approach to the Romantic piano concerto than other well-known large-scale works, such as those by Tchaikovsky or Brahms.

A flamboyant virtuoso with an ego and sexual allure matched only by his technical brilliance, Liszt chose to align his concerto along the lines of freely connected musical forms. Played as one continuous movement, the work hints at four smaller sections.

"It's a sort of giant Rhapsody for piano and orchestra," Ormrod explained. "Full of color and great themes, but certainly not a huge and architectural structure, like many others."

Though the concerto is a compact example of musical form, it contains some of the most virtuosic piano writing in the repertoire.

"It starts off with these thundering octaves, but before you know it dumps you right into the second movement, which is quite slow and songful," Jaffe said.

"Liszt is a pianists' composer," Ormrod added. "He writes wonderfully for the instrument. Not everybody agrees on his qualities as a composer, but as a writer for the piano, his achievements are uncontroversial," he said.

Ormrod juggles his solo career with piano faculty positions at three universities in the United Kingdom and a chamber music schedule made lively thanks to his position as the permanent pianist for the Salzburg Hyperion Ensemble.

"I will be playing quite a bit of chamber music in the coming months, which I enjoy immensely," he said.

Ormrod described himself as an intellectually curious and philosophically probing musician. In addition to his performance studies, he holds a master's degree in musicology - music history - from Kings College, Cambridge.

That historical experience helps a great deal to discuss with students the way musical works are put together. "I am interested, and always have been, in how music works," Ormrod said.

Indeed, Ormrod will discuss that topic with young local pianists as part of a free master class at 5 p.m. Friday at Pacific's Faye Spanos Concert Hall. The public is invited to attend.

"The way music works, the way it is put together, can be discussed, and hopefully passed on to students," he said.

Contact Glenn Pillsbury at features@recordnet.com.