He’s an internationally in-demand pianist, a composer himself, and a very busy recording artist. He makes Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 5, the “Emperor Concerto,” sound as fresh as a new work. You can hear for yourself when the BPO concert repeats this Sunday, April 21, at 2:30 at Kleinhans Music Hall. The “Emperor,” by my count, is historically the BPO’s most often performed piano concerto, more often heard than Tchaikovsky’s first or Rachmaninoff’s second. It’s a winner, and so is the piano soloist Stewart Goodyear, who is just 46 years old.
Everything about Stewart Goodyear is energetic. Beethoven’s tempo markings are notoriously fast and often debated, but, since the metronome was invented during Beethoven’s lifetime, it’s hard to argue with numbers that are right there on the page. Goodyear, along with guest conductor David Lockington, charges right in with lightning-fast runs and a performance that leaves you breathless.
Well, not strictly out of breath, judging from the approving shouts of Saturday night’s audience. The orchestra was happy too. When they like a guest soloist, they wave their bows. When they really like a soloist, they put down their instruments and applaud. They really like Stewart Goodyear with whom they’ve recorded, with JoAnn Falletta, music by African-American composer Adolphus Hailstork. On his own, Goodyear has recorded all five of Beethoven’s Piano Concertos and other Beethoven as well. In fact, Saturday night’s encore was the second movement of Beethoven’s “Pathetique” sonata (familiar to older audience members as the theme music to Karl Haas’ radio program “Adventures in Good Music”).
The last symphony concert I attended, featuring “The Planets,” was conducted by JoAnn Falletta during the eclipse weekend when Kleinhans was packed with out-of-town visitors. The atmosphere in the house was electric and I wondered if that enthusiasm would continue. Well, it has.
It’s been four years since COVID-19 sent a chilling ripple, and sometimes it feels as if, like Sleeping Beauty, we’re just now finally out of a trance. Speaking of which, the opening contemporary work at the concert was created during COVID-19 by Canadian-born, Juilliard-trained, now California-based composer Vivian Fung, also in her 40s. Her “Prayer” was inspired by the music of the 12th-century Benedictine nun/composer/mystic Hildegard von Bingen. It’s beautiful reminding me of the best gaming music being heard today.
As conductor David Lockington told us from the podium, “Prayer” was originally composed to be performed during the COVID-19 shutdown by a virtual orchestra made up of 35 musicians representing 28 orchestras across Canada and intended to be heard not in a concert hall but over your mobile phone. You can hear that premiere orchestra, on your mobile phone if you’d like, conducted by Yannick Neget-Seguin:
As conductor Lockington said, it’s better in the live concert hall. But isn’t that true of almost all music? The big work in the second half was the stirring Symphony No. 2 by Finnish composer Jean Sibelius. With its pulsing rhythms and brilliant use of woodwinds in the first movement along with the glorious brass-intense finale, it was an inspired choice to pair with the “Emperor” by Beethoven, another composer who, like Sibelius, championed personal and political freedom.
That winning combination of Beethoven with Sibelius will be heard again at another Saturday night – Sunday afternoon BPO series on May 11 and 12 when JoAnn Falletta conducts the BPO and Buffalo Philharmonic Chorus in Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9, the choral symphony which ends with the “Ode to Joy.” Also on that concert, the BPO’s astounding concertmaster, Nikki Chooi, will perform the ice-cold windswept Sibelius Violin Concerto.
Speaking of Nikki Chooi, before that he’ll also be out in front of the BPO with his brother, Timothy Chooi, playing an audience favorite, the Bach “Double Concerto” before Timothy solos in Prokofiev’s Violin Concerto No. 1, a 20-minute work that has it all – sweet solos contrasted with wild musical romps. Also on that program is one of Falletta’s (and probably everyone’s) favorite symphonies, Brahms 3rd. That will be one of those Friday morning “coffee concerts” (with donuts!) / Saturday night affairs on May 3 and 4.
The runtime of most BPO classical concerts is 2 hours with one intermission.
Kleinhans Music Hall is at “3 Symphony Circle” Buffalo, 14201 where Porter Avenue, Richmond Avenue, North Street and Wadsworth meet at a traffic circle. Visit www.bpo.org or call 716-885-5000. Full-service bar in the lobby or across the lobby in the Mary Seaton Room. Masks are optional.
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