Mendelsshon In Capable Hands
13-year old pianist Ji-Yong breezes through concerto with aplomb 

By Diane Peterson

The Press Democrat, March 22, 2004

SANTA ROSA---Greeting the Santa Rosa Symphony audience with a shy smile and sparkling eyes, Ji-Yong sat down at the piano Saturday night and promptly stole the show with a surprisingly tender and quicksilver performance of Mendelssohn's Concerto No. 1.

The 13-year-old pianist tackled the concerto after intermission during an all-Romantic program led by Conductor Laureate Corrick Brown, who has nurtured the careers of many emerging musicians.

With the maturity of a seasoned artist, Ji-Yong pounded out staccato octaves and achieved pianissimos so quiet that the music became a mere suggestion. He made the concerto sound like child's play, which it became in his small but capable hands.

The audience ate it up, giving the diminutive pianist a warm, standing ovation after the concerto's three continuous movements concluded with the exuberant presto.

Written by Mendelssohn as a vehicle for his own virtuosic display, the Concerto No. 1 in G minor is a charming work but not all that deep or penetrating.

Ji-Yong seemed content to simply have fun with the concerto, turning its dazzling arpeggios into liquid silver while bringing clarity, restraint and a beautiful tone to the delicate and dreamy andante.

There were no wasted movements here, and each note was caressed lovingly, with complete control. Once his physical maturity catches up with his artistic maturity, there's no telling how far this young man will go.

Like the young Chinese pianist Lang Lang, who performed here in 2000, Ji-Yong has greatness written all over him -- a winning way that seems to extend well beyond his prodigious talent.

The concert opened with Brahms' Symphony No. 3, one of the shortest, most compact and most "Brahmsiam" of the composer's four symphonies. The first movement, taken at a stately pace, made up for in precision what it lacked in excitement.

The passion kicked in during the middle two movements, however, which Brown conducted without a baton. The woodwinds were especially articulate in the andante, led by the clarinets, with impressive support from the bassoons.

Brown segued immediately from the andante into the wistful third movement, pushing the tempo along slightly so that the music flowed forth of its own accord, pure and simple.

At the climax, however, he held the orchestra back both in tempo and dynamics, creating a soft, diaphanous sound that perfectly set off the soaring horn solo that followed.

The finale allegro movement danced along nicely, with the strings sounding particularly warm and the timpani and brass delivering punch and power.

The maestro closed the fifth program of the season with a bright reading of Smetana's "The Moldau" from the symphonic poem, "Ma Vlast."

When Brown stepped off his podium for the last time at the Burbank Center for the Arts -- the conductor laureate will go on hiatus for two years while the symphony auditions new conductors -- the audience gave him a standing ovation.

Brown plans to return to the symphony in its future home, the Green Music Center, when it opens in 2006.

The Santa Rosa Symphony will repeat the Saturday program at 8 tonight at the Burbank Center, 50 Mark West Springs Rd., Santa Rosa. Tickets: $15-$52. Call 546-8742.

You can reach Staff Writer Diane Peterson at 521-5287 or dpeterson@pressdemocrat.com.