If Chu-Fang Huang's performance with the Fargo-Moorhead Symphony Orchestra a year ago was a treat in part because of flamboyance, Ralph Votapek's performance Saturday night was impressive for just the opposite reason.
Economy of effort and efficiency of movement marked his rendition of Béla Bartók's Piano Concerto No. 3 as he joined the F-M Symphony for the third Masterworks concert of the season.
It is often said that the great ones make it look easy. And, at times, it was striking how much sound and how many notes were being produced by such seemingly minimal exertion. He seemed to move too slowly to match the pace of the music, though his precision of execution made it clear that such was not the case.
Even the way Votapek entered and exited the stage and bowed to applause showed the same pointed efficiency - though this didn't stop him from returning for a mid-concert encore, during which he played a Chopin nocturne. As he approached the piano to play the piece, an audience member said "Oh, good." And it was.
The Bartók piece is playful, yet intricate early on, with one passage reminiscent of Gershwin, at least for this reviewer. One should not expect a sort of classical continuity from the
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20th-century Bartók. The piece is alternatively up and down, fast and slow, big and small. In the end it is a satisfying mix.
Saturday night's concert opened playfully with most of the performers off stage, as the orchestra began playing John Corigliano's Promenade Overture. The orchestra pulled another little trick at the end (which I shouldn't reveal), as they closed with Haydn's Symphony No. 45 in F# Minor. It was a fun twist.
Haydn's symphony showed off tight string work by the orchestra. The first movement is strikingly Mozartesque as exemplified in its formal yet aggressive approach in the first.
The orchestra also took on Claude Debussy's Nocturnes, which probably does not rise to the airy heights of beauty that some of Debussy's work does, but is still a pleasing ride. Inforum searchword: Arts and entertainment Readers can reach Forum reporter Shane Mercer at (701) 451-5734
