MUSIC REVIEW : Bulgarian Pianist Delivers an Unconventional Grieg

From the brutal opening chords of Juliana Markova’s Grieg Piano Concerto, it was clear that her approach to the familiar concerto would be anything but conventional.

The Bulgarian pianist’s muscular, high-voltage performance proved to be a great crowd pleaser at the San Diego Symphony’s Friday night Copley Symphony Hall concert.

It was, however, an idiosyncratic view of Grieg that remained at odds with custom and with the genial but disciplined direction of guest conductor Vernon Handley. Markova was in the driver’s seat, even though Handley held the baton on the podium.

Markova demonstrated a wide range of keyboard techniques, including a seamless legato and a refreshingly flexible sense of rubato in quieter sections. She is a clearly virtuosa of formidable technique. But her shameless, thundering fortes--which made the orchestra’s Steinway sound brittle and strident--and her willful distortion of the work’s contours came close to caricature. The distance between Grieg and Rachmaninoff is much greater than she imagines.

Handley redeemed the evening with a sympathetic, probing reading of Elgar’s First Symphony. A British conductor who was until recently the principal conductor of the Ulster Orchestra, Handley has specialized in the music of his fellow countrymen.

For the Elgar symphony he chose broad but unflagging tempos that kept the work’s inner tension clearly focused. The orchestra warmed to the composer’s dense textures and irregular motives, providing an appropriately burnished, majestic sonority. Notable was the deep, covered timbre from the brass and horns.

In a new configuration on stage, the strings displayed admirable blend and an improved overall balance. Handley placed the second violins at the front of the stage to his right, moving the cellos back to where the second violins usually sit behind the first violins. This arrangement, unusual for today’s orchestras but not without historical precedent, deserves further testing.

Beethoven’s Overture to “Prometheus” opened the concert on an uncertain note. Fortunately, midway through the work, orchestra and conductor met on common ground and pulled together for a respectable finale.