Hearing and Seeing is Believing

   If you'd like to have a good time, hurry down to Music Hall tonight and buy a ticket for the Cincinnati Symphony on the left hand side.
   Get as close as you can, so you can see and hear pianist Denis Matsuev in Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto No. 3. You can see the pianist’s hands on the left side of the hall and watch the interaction between Matsuev and CSO assistant conductor Eric Dudley, who led Friday’s matinee.
   The curly haired titan from Irkutsk (Siberia), winner of the 1998 Tchaikovsky Piano Competition, demonstrated power and panache in the daunting work, dispatching fists of full of notes with élan – many literally hand over fist, as he nailed furious passages up and down the keyboard.
   Dudley, 27, kept a watchful eye from above and both men worked with precision and a wide range of expression, contrasting lively kinetics with more languorous moments. Matsuev, 31, could mount savage attacks on the keys, then wax warm and romantic, or piquant and barbed, as the moment required.
   He sent up a hail of hammer strokes and glissandi in the closing bars of the finale, bringing his listeners – many clutching yellow roses (a tribute to long-time CSO subscribers) – to their feet.
   Friday was Dudley’s “official” CSO subscription debut. He stepped in on one day’s notice last season for guest conductor William Eddins. That concert was impressive (including, again, a superlative collaboration with the guest artist, Jon Kimura Parker, in Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 1). This time Dudley owned the moment and he made the most of it.
   A pianist and composer himself, he led with keen sensitivity to nuance and instrumental voicing throughout the concert. Textures were firmly grounded in the bass, giving them a rich, full sound, and he shaped lines and phrases expressively, with a view towards the compositional whole.
   Dudley credits CSO music director Paavo Järvi with setting the bar high for him, not only as a technician, but as a programmer. For his first CSO program, Dudley selected Dvorak’s rarely heard Symphony No. 4, not performed on CSO concerts since 1974. “One of the things he (Järvi) says over and over is ‘why are you a conductor if not to know all the repertory?’” said Dudley (having a neglected work in one’s repertory also creates opportunities for young conductors).
   Dvorak’s Fourth does seem unjustly neglected. Influences like Wagner’s operas and the German symphonists are apparent and perhaps don’t fit Dvorak as well, but certainly it makes rewarding listening. Dudley’s mastery of the score was evident. The beginning was almost magical, rising swiftly from soft, undulating strings to pronouncement of the assertive primary theme. The contrasting theme was lilting and gentle. (The way Dudley ratcheted up a phrase by stepping closer to the players on each beat showed Jarvi’s influence – he also swivels fluently on his feet).
   The slow movement, a set of chain-like variations with a fate-like descending theme, was announced solemnly by the CSO brasses. Dudley spun it out beautifully to a sublime end. The scherzo, a kind of double-time march with a quaint touch of harp, was delightful. Staccato trills in the trio section sparkled with winds and triangle, and Dudley crafted a groggy little transition to the opening material. He showed himself a softie in the finale, where he opposed the square-cut opening motive with a romantic second theme, given lots of shapely rubato.
   Opening selection was American composer Stephen Paulus’ 1989 Concertante, a CSO premiere. Dudley calibrated precisely the amount and type of gesture needed here to get the results he wanted. It’s a scurrying, peppy work, with lots of instrumental color and an exhilarating, slam-bang conclusion. Listen for the woozy cello harmonics in the slower, strings-only mid-section.
   Repeat is 8 p.m. tonight at Music Hall.
(first published in The Cincinnati Post March 3, 2007