The Oklahoma City Philharmonic is an orchestra whose programming remains strongly anchored in the classical and romantic periods. So it’s always a treat when a concert features music that was written before or after those eras.

Andrew von Oeyen Photo by Akos Photography

In a rare foray into baroque music, the orchestra’s recent classics concert opened with Handel’s “Music for the Royal Fireworks,” a 1749 work composed to celebrate the Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle that ended the War of Austrian Succession.

Joel Levine drew ample majesty and pomp from the opening Overture, with dotted rhythms carefully executed and a tempo that was brisk but never rushed. As its title suggests, the Bourree danced along nicely while the central La Paix was noted for its appealing lilt.

La Rejouissance is arguably the suite’s most recognizable movement, with an infectious melody that delights the ear with its inventiveness. One of the industry’s first digital recordings (1978) paired Frederick Fennell with the Cleveland Symphonic Winds in a transcription that included a large battery of percussion. As compelling as Handel’s original scoring is, Fennell’s recording with field drums, cymbals and deafening bass drum whacks remains a guilty pleasure.

Double reeds and harpsichord lent the orchestra’s performance of the final Menuet an interesting timbre and capped a suite that often recalled vivid images of 18th century courtly life.

Nearly a century and a half separates Handel’s suite from Rimsky-Korsakov’s “Russian Easter Overture,” a work steeped in the liturgy of the Eastern Orthodox Church. The composer deftly created textures that bring to mind the sound of an organ, the reverential atmosphere of prayer and a cantor who intones a distinctly Russian chant.

The work offered numerous opportunities for solo passages from the violin, cello, flute, clarinet and trombone, all of which came across splendidly in the hands of the capable Philharmonic musicians. Best of all, the “Russian Easter Overture” served as a reminder of Rimsky-Korsakov’s remarkable orchestrational gifts. No wonder his textbook is still used today.

After word that Louis Lortie had broken his arm during a hike in Italy, Andrew von Oeyen was pressed into service for this concert’s finale, Beethoven’s “Piano Concerto No. 5,” also known as the “Emperor” concerto.

The collaboration between von Oeyen and the musicians resulted in an impressive reading that captured all the work’s technical elements without drawing any undue attention. The playing in the opening movement clearly had its heroic elements but never at the expense of sacrificing a beautiful sound.

Von Oeyen possesses the necessary technical skills to deliver a fine performance, but it was refreshing to hear a pianist who seemed content to let the composer’s voice be heard without superimposing any unnecessary interpretive quirks.

In the lovely central Adagio, von Oeyen’s playing always sounded organic in the way it was woven into and out of the orchestral texture. The final Allegro in turn was filled with energetic playing without any false bravado. In short, this was a performance in which the pianist’s every move was governed not only by a keen technical facility but by tremendous intelligence as well. His encore, Chopin’s “Nocturne in C-Sharp Minor” came across with limpid beauty.

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