Pianist Andrew Russo

The finale of our 2024-2025 Symphonic Series inspired the following review from Lance G. Hill, the editor of The Classical Music Guide Forums and the concert's piano technician. 

On Saturday evening, the Binghamton Philharmonic Orchestra under the direction of Daniel Hege, presented a program entitled "In the Beginning." The program included:

Einojuhani Rautavaara: In the Beginning [2015-2016]
Jean Sibelius: Symphony No. 3 in C Major, Op. 52
Sergei Rachmaninoff: Piano Concerto No. 3 in D Minor, Op. 30
with Andrew Russo, piano

I was unfamiliar with the Rautavaara piece. The Finnish composer is noted for a huge array of music in all forms left for posterity. Rautavaara holds a prominent place next to Sibelius, which, indeed led us into Sibelius' Third Symphony. While my favorite of the Finnish composer's seven symphonies has always been Nos. 1 and 2, Daniel Hege brought a powerful performance to the stage of Binghamton's Forum Theater audience, which actually opened the window for me in taking a totally new interest in this symphony, which brought forward that harmonics and structure we find in the first and second symphones. As the symphonies rose in numbers, Sibelius moved away from the Romantic period harmonies though his imprint remains throughout his music.

It was my pleasure to prepare the piano for the Rachmaninoff Third Piano Concerto, one of the most technically demanding piano concertos composed, and a perpetual audience favorite.Of course, Rachmaninoff's Third Piano Concerto is a finger-breaker on the one hand, and has the possibility being of string-breaker on the other. Andrew Russo appears frequently with the Binghamton Philharmonic Orchestra and posseses an incredible technique at the keyboard. If the piano tuner-technician stays to hear the work, which I did, I had my own nervous jitters knowing what the pianist and the piano would be subjected to. There was nothing to fear with the pianist. Andrew Russo had total command of the instrument and brought the concerto to a close with an ear-busting round of approving audience applause, enough to warrant an encore of a Rachmaninoff's Prelude in G Major, Op. 32, No. 5.

The imported piano (my special focus and interest), was a Yamaha CFX-III concert grand piano and was not up to my own technical standards, with many tuning pins not having the holding power for such a demanding piece of music even after multiple tunings. None of this posed a problem for Andrew Russo, whose range of pianistic colors still radiated. Some notes, for yours truly, were not quite as pure as they might have been. Any piano for this particular concerto would also be subject to the same situation.

It was a night of great music in Binghamton, New York!