Program

Peter Schickele:	Thurber's Dogs
Gabriel Fauré:	Ballade, Op. 19
Ravel:	Concerto in G Major
Mussorgsky:	Pictures at an Exhibition

Performers

Madison Symphony Orchestra Philippe Bianconi, piano John DeMain, conductor

In a pair of its most polished performances to date the Madison Symphony Orchestra, with John DeMain conducting, presented the Madison premiere of Peter Schickele's Thurber's Dogs, musical portrayals of the humorist's famous drawings and a thoroughly lovely work. The program closed with carefully detailed readings of Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition, featuring many outstanding instrumental solos. In between, pianist Philippe Bianconi gave absolutely extraordinary accounts of Fauré's Ballade, Op. 19 and Ravel's Concerto in G Major. Bianconi has the rare talent of rendering each musical idea with an inner bloom that heightens its evocative power. The two concerts were very well attended and the applause was thunderous.

Isthmus, March, 2001
Copyright 2001 Jess Anderson