Piano Concerto No. 3 ...

ORCHESTRA DELIVERS "LEAN, MEAN" CONCERTO

By KURT LOFT The Tampa Tribune

Published: Apr 15, 2007

ST. PETERSBURG - Lovers of the masterworks have heard the works of Mozart and Beethoven a hundred times over, so when somebody gives birth to a new creation, all ears are abuzz.

This weekend, The Florida Orchestra offers a treat: the premiere of the Piano Concerto No. 3 by American composer Benjamin Lees, who attended Saturday night's performance at Mahaffey Theater.

In her final masterworks appearance with the group, associate conductor Susan Haig wrapped a sensuous blanket of French music around this newborn concerto, like a mother coddling her child. With incandescent performances of Edouard Lalo's "Le roi d'Ys" Overture and Claude Debussy's "La Mer" on either side, Lees' 23-minute concerto stood out as if carved from glass.

Soloist Ian Hobson gave no hint he was playing music so freshly composed - the 83-year-old Lees finished it in December. Sitting at the piano, Hobson could have been tackling any old warhorse, so seamlessly did he negotiate the work's rhythmic twists and turns.

Lees calls his new concerto "lean and mean," and the transparent writing for orchestra put most of the glory - and burden - on Hobson. Its three straightforward movements - marked "steady," "calm" and "fast" - unfolded with ease, the opening section sounding like a page torn from Prokofiev.

Hobson's riveting cadenza gave weight to the finale, and the orchestra's blaring crescendo set the stage for a rousing close. The Mahaffey audience offered polite applause, then a standing ovation both for soloist and composer.

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PLEASE NOTE:
No reproductions of photos, articles, music or reviews are permitted without permission
of the Estate of Benjamin Lees.