PRINCETON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA STAFF
Pianist Dmitry Shishkin performed with The Princeton Symphony Orchestra, Oct. 17-18.
Dmitry Shishkin’s exciting debut with the Princeton Symphony Orchestra gave concertgoers a chance to hear the Russian pianist play an iconic Russian composer. What could go wrong? Not much did.
At the PSO’s Oct. 17-18 season-opening concerts (I attended on Oct. 18), Shishkin performed Rachmaninoff’s Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini at Princeton University’s Richardson Auditorium, with music director Rossen Milanov conducting. The program of three 20th century works, titled “Rachmaninoff’s Rhapsody,” also explored the unusual “concerto for orchestra” genre by pairing Joan Tower’s “Suite From Concerto for Orchestra” with Béla Bartók’s “Concerto for Orchestra.”
Written in 1934, “Rhapsody” is based on the final theme of violinist Niccolò Paganini’s 24 Caprices for Solo Violin. Rachmaninoff’s work includes an introduction followed by 24 variations on Paganini’s melody that explore a range of moods, from playful to lyrical.
Rachmaninoff was legendary for his virtuosic showpieces as well as his towering height. He stood 6 feet six inches, and his hand span reached well beyond an octave, which allowed him to write imposing stacks of chords. Shishkin’s statuesque build recalled the composer’s own as he walked onstage. He is an artist who could take a high-impact, physical approach, but his technique was all restraint and precision, smooth and articulate.
PRINCETON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA STAFF
Dmitry Shishkin with The Princeton Symphony Orchestra.
Many pianists open the work with bravado, pounding out the chords. Shishkin instead hit the notes playfully, crossing the octaves with fluid agility
Stylistically, pianists approach the work in different ways. Rachmaninoff was a Romantic composer who bridged the great music of the past to the newer tendencies of modern composition, and Shishkin leaned toward the more progressive side. This was not a wandering, rapturous, sentimental reading. Even in the work’s lyrical and romantic heart — the famous 18th variation — he kept things moving steadily, with grace and ease.
One of the biggest challenges of playing variations, whether it is Beethoven’s “Diabelli” or Bach’s “Goldberg,” is switching from one character to the next. Shishkin kept the variations distinct from each other, but not dramatically so, and Rachmaninoff’s voice and stylistic imprint always remained.
Shishkin and Milanov switched seamlessly between the roles of leader and accompanist. The best moments came when Milanov let Shishkin take the lead, allowing him to explore the full range of dynamics and some fleeting rubato.
As if he hadn’t already shown off his gifts in the rapid passagework and runs, Shishkin returned to the stage with two propulsive encores: Rachmaninoff’s Prelude in G major, Op. 32, No. 5, and Prokofiev’s Six Pieces for Piano, Op. 52, No. 3. From the first note to the last, he never broke a sweat.
Like Rachmaninoff, Shishkin is a Russian musician who calls Switzerland home. He is a regular guest at Villa Senar, the composer’s summer home on the shores of Lake Lucerne, which is overseen by The Serge Rachmaninoff Foundation. During a visit in August, he played the same Rachmaninoff encore on the piano Rachmaninoff used to compose his “Rhapsody.”
PRINCETON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA STAFF
Rossen Milanov conducts The Princeton Symphony Orchestra.
Bookending Shishkin’s performance, the orchestra took the starring role in the two concertos. The works are dissimilar in style but similar in the way that they showcase the individual sections of the orchestra. Before Bartóks landmark piece, concertos were mainly written for individual instruments.
Bartók’s music resists the usual definitions of style and structure, which poses a fun challenge for conductors. Is he a Hungarian modernist or a modern classicist? The answer for Milanov seemed to be the latter.
For musicians, the work holds a place of great reverence. Since Bartók gave almost every section solos that demand great technique, orchestras routinely use the work for auditions.
Bartók finished it in 1943 on a commission from conductor Serge Koussevitzky and The Boston Symphony Orchestra. He wrote it in The United States after leaving Hungary during World War II, during a period of serious illness and financial hardship. The cellos and basses open the piece with a profound tremolo that sets the emotional tone, and much of the music reflects this mood.
Adding depth was a handful of guest principals, including cellist Chase Park, who also led the cellos in the stirring, choir-like passage (of solo cellos) in Tower’s work. Guest principal flutist Denis Savelyev also played key solos in both concertos, with stylish proportion and balance.
The bassoon is also featured heavily in Bartók’s concerto. The amusing second movement (“Giuoco delle coppie”) features a jaunty duet, here played by principal Brad Balliett and second bassoon John Fulton, who were well matched in articulation and phrasing.
Short sections of duets and trios travel through the oboes, clarinets, flutes, muted trumpets and brass. Standouts were principal clarinet Pascal Archer and principal oboe Lillian Copeland, who both led charming duets. Trumpets and tuba showed tasteful restraint. Jeremy Levine on timpani added suave color to his solos, particularly in the fourth movement (“Intermezzo interrotto”) beneath the solo by principal violist Stephanie Griffin.
PRINCETON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA STAFF
Rossen Milanov and members of The Princeton Symphony Orchestra.
Clear plexiglass shields had been placed in front of the brass and percussion sections, to buffer and balance the sound. Even so, the enthusiastic trombone section, who threw themselves into their technically demanding parts, sometimes overpowered the woodwinds’ delicate phrasing. The mood painting is ultimately left to the conductor, and despite some unevenness, the work’s best qualities came through.
Tower’s 2025 “Suite” is a reduction of the longer “Concerto” she wrote in 1991; while Bartók’s “Concerto” was intended as a series of showpieces for each section, she focused more on the interplay between sections. Milanov gave “Suite” an intense treatment, with strong accents well suited to the brass. Quieter moments — including the unison F-sharp that opens the work and the warmer, lyric middle section filled with strings — allowed for more pensive musical voices to take shape.
The big, bold energy of the performance was fitting of an orchestra in an expansive mood. Tomás García was recently added to the artistic team as assistant conductor. He will serve as Milanov’s cover and conduct the Symphonic Orchestra of the Youth Orchestra of Central Jersey, the PSO’s youth orchestra partner of six years.
The Orchestra also has added a new venue. Founded in 1980 as Princeton’s only professional, independent orchestra, they rehearse and perform at Richardson Auditorium, but this season, for the first time, they will also present two concerts at Patriots Theater at The War Memorial in Trenton: a Holiday POPS! concert in December, and Beethoven’s Ninth with The Westminster Symphonic Choir in May.
Patriots Theater seats 1,807; Richardson Auditorium, about 900. If the big sound heard at the season-opening concert is any guide, it should carry just fine in the larger hall.
For information on upcoming Princeton Symphony Orchestra concerts, visit princetonsymphony.org.
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