Stephen Hough will play the Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No. 1 Tuesday in Minneapolis.
The Minnesota Orchestra, with Osmo Vänskä on the podium, got a measured ovation from James Oestreich in the New York Times.
Oestreich praised the local band for a fine reading of Carl Nielsen's Symphony No. 3, even as he kvetched a little about the Tchaikovsky's First Piano Concerto, featuring Stephen Hough.
He wasn't crazy about the performance, but more to the point, Oestreich had his nose out of joint because of Tchaikovsky overload at Carnegie this month. For example, another orchestra and pianist had done the same concerto 16 days ago.
So, rather than taking the usual Beethoven/Sibelius program to New York, Vänskä switches to something different and finds out that he has selected the same gift that every guest had already brought to the party. How does that happen?
Anyway, Oestreich gave the locals a consolation prize, by saying the Minnesota/Hough effort bested the Mariinsky Orchestra with soloist Daniil Trifonov. And in his final paragraph, Oestreich seemed aware of Alex Ross's famous bouquet for the Minnesota group, that they had sounded like the best orchestra in the world on the night he heard them at Carnegie two years ago. A fine performance last Thursday, Oestreich said, buttressed the notion that "Mr. Vänskä has the Minnesota Orchestra sounding like one of America's finest."
The program will be repeated Tuesday at Orchestra Hall in Minneapolis.
