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Andrew von Oeyen doesn't look like a standard concert pianist. Tall and lanky with boyish good looks, a modern hairstyle and a plain black suit, he would appear to be distancing himself from the image of classical music as stuffy and pretentious. Yet, in his performance Thursday of Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 1 that opened the Stockton Symphony's 81st season, von Oeyen confidently inserted himself into the tradition of concert pianist, transforming an established work into something new. With his body often curled up close to the keyboard during the more intricate passages, von Oeyen's performance quickly brought the listener into the sound world of the piece. Throughout, his interpretation meshed nicely with Peter Jaffe's direction of the orchestra, and the two navigated the piece's more poetic moments well. This composition does not call for the kind of power that would mark Beethoven's later concertos and significantly influence the genre throughout the 19th century. Still, von Oeyen seemed to restrain himself too much at times, particularly at the climax of the first movement. What should have been a forceful return of the main theme fell a bit flat. However, his playing in the lively third movement was quite impressive, with a robust piano fanfare at the beginning. In the midst of the near non-stop activity of the movement, von Oeyen was careful to bring out the rhythmic subtleties in Beethoven's writing. Framing the concerto were two orchestral works originating in the early part of the past century. On one side stood Ravel's "Vales nobles et sentimentales," a series of short waltzes and waltzlike vignettes originally written for piano, but which Ravel later orchestrated for use in a ballet. Ravel's music remains intriguing and is recognizable as being in the familiar classical world but, with its restrained approach to tone color and form, not of that world. All the hallmarks that have made the French composer so admired as an orchestrator are here, and Jaffe's attention to detail was finely supported by the orchestra. On the other side was Strauss' "Der Rosenkavalier Suite." Though it also contains a waltz at its core, the piece takes the post-Wagnerian symphonic language in the opposite direction, toward even greater extremes of pitch range, dynamics and lush romantic sentiment. Along with the very large orchestral sound, the piece featured some fine solo work by Christian Mok, Ionut Zamfir and Thomas Nugent. The rousing fanfares of the full brass section at the end of the piece were enough to produce an especially satisfying conclusion to an enjoyable and intelligent program. Contact Glenn Pillsbury at features@recordnet.com.
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