Roman Rabinovich Plays Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 20 (January 17, 2025)

Program Order

St. Paul Chamber Orchestra kicked off a three-day run of performances featuring guest performer, pianist Roman Rabinovich. As usual for the SPCO, the performance was at the Ordway in downtown St. Paul. For those who haven’t been, the setup of the Ordway is efficient. It has a main vertical layout, with two levels of balcony at the far end. The first level of balcony actually wraps all the way around, including three rows of seats behind the performers (which for this performance was mostly populated by a school class). It was an almost completely sold out show at 11AM on a Friday, showing the strong audience support for the Chamber Orchestra.

Before getting to the star guest performer, there were two opening numbers with the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra. First up was Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Horn Qunitet, composed in 1782. This piece obviously features the horn, but also includes two violas, a violin and a cello to round out the performers. Matthew Wilson was excellent on horn, and the rest of the performers were solid, especially Eunice Kim on violin. The first movement was very light and airy and flew along. The second contrasted with a much more pastoral sound before ultimately returning to the opening themes.

The second number was Igor Stravinksy’s Concerto in D, Basel, featuring a much larger number of performers of the Chamber Orchestra. Notably, this was composed in 1946 and was Stravinsky’s first as a naturalized American citizen. The first movement could easily be the score for a tense, Hitchcockian thriller. Some discordant moments in the second movement, and the plucked notes to end it, only further that impression and in many ways, was a highlight of the show.

Roman Rabinovich is an Israeli pianist who has performed extensively through Europe and the United States, as well as being a composer of his own. He came to the stage for Francis Poulenc’s Le Bal Masque (The Masked Ball), composed in 1932 and which featured about ten performers. This is a fun and almost silly sound at times, although it’s clear that the underlying music is challenging, demonstrating the real skills of the Chamber Orchestra. Trumpet was featured at several key moments, while baritone singer John Moore had the task of singing quite surrealist lyrics in several of the six movements. I don’t think you often use the word slapstick when describing classical music, but this got close (in a good way).

After intermission, Rabinovich and the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra returned to perform Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 20, composed in 1785. While Rabinovich was largely playing a supporting role in Le Bal Masque, he was definitely the star feature in this Mozart piece, backed by what appeared to be the entirety of the Chamber Orchestra. And given it is Mozart, there’s a lot of notes to play. Rabinovich made it largely look effortless, with multiple runs up and down the piano in the early going and an extended piano solo section in the middle of the piece. The Chamber Orchestra supported him well and that interplay was fun to watch. Rabinovich is also a performer at the piano, with slightly exaggerated arm movements, fully turning his body towards the Chamber Orchestra when he had periods of not playing, etc. It was a good give and take that helped elevate the performance. An appreciative audience took to their feet to thank the performers, who will be back for the next two days with this enjoyable set of music.