Tag: piemontesi

Robin Ticciati makes notable Pittsburgh debut with impassioned Berlioz

On By Sam JacobsonIn pittsburghLeave a comment

Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra
Robin Ticciati, conductor
Francesco Piemontesi, piano
Heinz Hall
Pittsburgh, PA
October 10, 2025

Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 4 in G major, Op. 58
 Encore:
 Mozart: Piano Sonata No. 12 in F major, K332 – 2. Adagio
Berlioz: Symphonie fantastique, Op. 14

The second week of the Pittsburgh Symphony’s 2025-26 subscription season saw the first of several debuts on tap in British conductor Robin Ticciati. The program was comprised of two major and deeply rewarding works, one at the precipice of Romanticism, the other, the epitome of Romanticism. Beethoven’s genial Piano Concerto No. 4 brought back pianist Francesco Piemontesi, last appearing on this stage just a few months ago.

Offstage bells used in the Symphonie fantastique

The solo piano opened the work with a gentle resonance, followed by a long-breathed orchestral exposition. The most intimate and personal of Beethoven’s five piano concertos, Piemontesi drew deep reserves of expression. His thoughtful, probing playing perhaps recalled that of his mentor, Alfred Brendel, and he found great drama in the cadenza. In the Andante con moto, coarse strings introduced the plaintive piano, arriving at a spiritual stasis amidst moments of agitation. As if unsure what direction to go after, the closing rondo started in hesitation before robustly bursting forth with vigor and abandon. For an encore, the pianist selected a lovely slow movement from a Mozart sonata.

Revolutionary a work as it may be, Berlioz’s Symphonie fantastique was written only three years after Beethoven’s death. Tentative beginnings introduced a dreamlike trance, and Ticciati teased out the richness of the strings, favoring minimal vibrato. I was struck by his energetic conducting, nearly using his entire body as his baton danced along to the music. Still, at times the orchestral balance left something to be desired. The first presentation of the idée fixe that binds the work was graceful and filled with longing.

In Un bal, the harps introduced an elegant waltz theme; a striking dialogue between English horn and offstage oboe opened the central Scène aux champs. A widely contrasting portrait of nature, matters went from the calm to the passionate to the stormy, ending with the forlorn English horn all alone. Matters came alive in the iconic Marche au supplice, given an energetic workout in all its brassy splendor. The closing Songe d’une nuit du sabbat opened in an eerie soundscape, filled with the striking timbres of the shrill E-flat clarinet, tolling bells (performed offstage from the lobby), and a chilling invocation of the Dies irae chant in the low brass.

In a post-concert performance, Piemontesi teamed up with PSO wind players for the latter two movements of Beethoven’s Quintet for Piano and Winds. A lovely pendant to the evening, and given the pianist’s chemistry with these players, I’d love to see him perform as part of the orchestra’s PSO360 series.

Two personal notes. One of my fondest concert memories consists of this same Beethoven/Berlioz pairing. The first of many performances I attended at Vienna’s Musikverein during a formative college year in the Austrian capital, conductor and piano were respectively Claudio Abbado and Maurizio Pollini — two of my musical heroes who are sadly no longer with us.

I am eagerly anticipating Marc-André Hamelin’s next album Found Objects/Sound Objects, due for release at the end of the month. In quintessential MAH fashion, it’s an enterprising blend of little-known works mostly dating from the last half-century. The disc concludes with his own Hexensabbat (Witches’ Sabbath). With obvious allusions to the Berlioz (including use of the Dies irae), how fitting it was for the track to be released as a single the same day as the PSO performance — and it’s a thrilling listen.

Francesco Piemontesi, Robin Ticciati, and the PSO

Manfred Honeck and the Pittsburgh Symphony herald springtime with Beethoven’s Pastoral

On By Sam JacobsonIn pittsburgh1 Comment

Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra
Manfred Honeck, conductor
Francesco Piemontesi, piano
Heinz Hall
Pittsburgh, PA
March 30, 2025

Eisendle: heliosis
Liszt: Piano Concerto No. 2 in A major, S125
 Encore:
 Schubert: Impromptu in G-flat major, Op. 90 No. 3
Habibi: Jeder Baum spricht
Beethoven: Symphony No. 6 in F major, Op. 68, Pastoral

Over the closing weekend of March, Manfred Honeck and the Pittsburgh Symphony offered a program anchored by Beethoven’s Pastoral symphony, certainly an apt way to mark the arrival of spring (and I’m happy to report I spotted some cherry blossoms on the way to Heinz Hall!). In the graceful material that opened the symphony, the PSO radiated a joyous exuberance from the stage.

Francesco Piemontesi, Manfred Honeck, and the PSO, photo credit JMilteer Photography

I was particularly touched by the warmth of the clarinet in the gentle slow movement, hardly portending the storm that lay ahead. The PSO romped through the minuet that followed, with Honeck inviting the musicians to stomp their feet, perhaps giving the authentic air of a country dance. Ample drama painted the ensuing storm in vivid realism, making the closing Shepherd’s Song all the more rewarding.

Prefacing the Beethoven was the 2019 work Jeder Baum spricht (“Every Tree Speaks”) by Iranian composer Iman Habibi. Written for the Philadelphia Orchestra’s celebration of Beethoven’s 250th anniversary, it was explicitly conceived to precede the Fifth and Sixth symphonies, and makes numerous if somewhat veiled references to both. The title comes from Beethoven’s diaries, and in his prerecorded video remarks, Habibi noted a further resonance to the current climate crisis. An invocation of the fate motif from the Fifth opened, and a panoply of nature sounds abounded in this brief, five-minute prelude.

Opening the program was another contemporary work, a 2021 piece by Austrian composer Hannah Eisendle entitled heliosis (a medical term for sunstroke). Following an attention-grabbing opening, there was a retreat to a desolate, sun-drenched soundscape. The scoring emphasized the percussion, and its driving rhythms to my ears echoed Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring.

The program further featured pianist Francesco Piemontesi in Liszt’s Second Piano Concerto (a work I also heard him play at the Chicago Symphony just a few months earlier). Gentle winds began, answered by rolling arpeggios across the piano, as if gingerly exploring the potential of the instrument. Virtuosity was quickly ramped up, however, with the theme being transformed into an energetic march. In a more serene moment, the piano was in a richly lyrical duet with the cello (Anne Martindale Williams), a moment of respite before the fiery end. As an encore, the pianist selected Schubert’s G-flat impromptu — lovely and lyrical, and also a favorite of Piemontesi’s mentor Alfred Brendel.