Andrea Tarrodi (born 1981)
Saturday, September 26, 2026
Powell Hall at the Jack C. Taylor Music Center, North Grand Boulevard, St Louis, Missouri
Good to have an overture, and this by Berlioz is as good as any other, here flowing expressively (cor anglais, attractive string sound), the carnival music zesty, detailed and dynamic, St. Louis Symphony (David Halen, concertmaster) and its music director striding into the new season in style. Yefim Bronfman, technique and musicianship indivisible, played Liszt’s Second Piano Concerto, a performance in the grand tradition from the soloist, music-serving bravura, weighty, sparkling, delicate, reflective – powerfully uniting the work’s metamorphic design, ending with an exhilarating dash, the SLS notably supportive and characterful, including cellist Daniel Lee. As an encore, Bronfman played one of Liszt’s Paganini Etudes, debonair and devilish. Swedish composer Andrea Tarrodi’s Liguria is an Italian-village scenic piece, opening with waves of sound settling into pastoral reflection, maybe at dusk, maybe at dawn, if complexly distilled, followed by barely-sounded and cinematic gestures, perhaps rather insubstantial overall if attractive. Respighi’s Pines of Rome is also cinematic, a masterpiece of invention and orchestration. In the opening ‘children at play’ section Stéphane Denève opted for clarity, nicely judged, then invested a spacious tempo to illuminate the darker side of the city, then a nightingale, cued by a quite wonderful clarinet solo from Scott Andrews, bringing paradise to the nocturnal streets (the composer’s chosen avian recording not digitized but returned to its phonographic origins), before the Appian Way is revisited by legionnaires of yesteryear, ghosts turning into Technicolor and HD, extra brass ringing out loud and proud.
Hector Berlioz Roman Carnival Overture
Franz Liszt Piano Concerto No. 2
Andrea Tarrodi Liguria (First SLSO performances)
Ottorino Respighi Pines of Rome