Benjamin Hochman | Pianist

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A little-known fact about the famous Russian composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky is that he worked as a music critic, and an astute one, for a Moscow newspaper for several years. We classical music critics are generally proud of this, although we realize he did move on to, ahem, bigger and better things.

Perhaps the pinnacle of Tchaikovsky's journalistic career came when he attended the Wagner's first "Ring" cycle in Bayreuth. He wasn't thrilled about the music and plot of the four operas, calling "Das Rheingold" "unlikely nonsense," but he liked the theatrics of the production, and it's no surprise that he so often infused his own works with drama (Symphony No. 4 and 5, for instance), dance (ballets "Swan Lake" and "Sleeping Beauty") or both ("The Nutcracker" and Symphony No. 6, "Pathetique").

Friday night at Heinz Hall, the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra led by Gianandrea Noseda presented another little-known bit about Tchaikovsky, his Symphony No. 3, "Polish." It too tried to be dramatic and dance-like, but the reason we don't hear it so often was apparent -- or was it?

Clearly this strange, five-movement symphony written in 1875 is a step below the trinity of Four, Five and Six. It is trying to be too many things: a dance suite (which are in five movements, and referencing dance forms like the Polish polonaise), a melancholy Russian work and a formal, Germanic symphony (complete with a fugue). But experienced live, it has a lot to recommend it. One can both appreciate the music for its own sake and hear Tchaikovsky on the very edge of coming into his own as a symphonic composer.

I would argue that if this symphony were performed by a conductor with the skills and artistic commitment of Mr. Noseda, we would hear it more often. His passion for this obscure work poured into the orchestra, convincing it to treat it with artistry typically reserved for the best of the standard repertoire. Mr. Noseda dispatched the brooding opening with a thunderous crescendo, forcefully announcing it as Tchaikovsky's only symphony in a major key. The second theme seemed to drop from the sky, and then the conductor unleashed a boisterous ending. Mr. Noseda's solution to the stylistic incongruities of the Third was just to let them happen, and the work benefited. A wonderful, off-kilter melody in the second movement led to a moody slow movement, with a wistful solo by bassoonist David Sogg. The fourth stanza found Mr. Noseda almost strumming the orchestra like a single instrument, and the finale was gloriously over the top. Better not return this one to the dust bin.

For all his charisma in breathing such life into a lesser-known work, Mr. Noseda's talent was even more obvious leading Rossini's famous Overture to "La Cenerentola (Cinderella)." This work is a diamond that will make any conductor seem adequate, but Mr. Noseda cut it into brilliant facets and buffed it like I have never heard before (and I have heard it many times.) He crafted every phrase with drama drawn from a preternatural feeling for how Rossini intended his concertos to work as preludes to his madcap operas. The famous crescendos were tasteful, the orchestra played with vitality and the second theme solos were contoured gorgeously with a hushed sigh midway through when played by clarinetist Michael Rusinek, oboist Cynthia DeAlmeida and piccolo player Rhian Kenny.

Israeli pianist Benjamin Hochman returned to shed light on the drama in Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 19, a work that combines operatic-like melodies and instrumental brilliance. Mr. Hochman seems made for Mozart. He played with poise and patience and a round, deep tone that was still nimble and clear. I could have imagined a performance with more electricity and humor, but his confidence in his reading emphasized the elegance of the work and was certainly convincing.

Program repeats tonight at 8.

Critics Andrew Druckenbrod and Scott Mervis talk about music on "The Beat," available exclusively at PG+, a members-only web site of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Our introduction to PG+ gives you all the details.