Concert Review: It was my great pleasure to be in the Golden, Colorado audience of just over 450 people to hear Stas Venglevski perform the Anthony Galla-Rini Concerto No.2 in E minor on Sunday, October 17, 2021 with the Jefferson Symphony Orchestra.
Under the superb direction of Dr. William Morse, Music Director and Principal Conductor of the Orchestra’s 70+ members, Stas Venglevski brought his outstanding musical talent as a concert bayan soloist to perform this concerto with a full symphony orchestra for the second time.
He previously gave the premiere performance of the complete work in Wisconsin in 2003 with the famed 99 years old accordionist and composer in attendance. On April 9, 2022 he will again perform it with the Nuremburg, Germany Symphony Orchestra.
Written in 1976, after six months of work, Anthony Galla-Rini completed his “Concerto No. 2”. It is quite traditional in its three movements of “Allegro con fuoco”, “Adagio”, and “Allegro moderato in E minor”. Galla-Rini’s “Concerto No. 1” was in G minor (1941) and he has been asked by many why he wrote both concerti in minor keys to which he replied, “it was just the inspiration as the decision, perhaps taking into consideration that the minor key might have been more dramatic than the major key.”
Galla-Rini’s “Concerto No. 1” was composed for an accordion which had no free-bass left hand and required extensive use of the switches for performance. After its completion he decided to write a second concerto using the Free Bass for the left hand.
Stas Venglevski is a concert bayanist of the first rank! He has all the technical and musical skills which were so prominently displayed throughout his performance; he plays with energy and interacted well with the orchestra to bring out the dramatic beauty of the score, something the composer had said he wanted. Galla-Rini would have once again hailed this performance as a great success, one which also show-cased the work of the orchestra.
Stas Venglevski offered two terrific encores to the delight of the audience which continued to give him a standing ovation with every piece! The orchestra also performed the “Carnival Overture” and the “Symphony No. 9 in E Minor” “from the New World” by Antonin Dvořák, both of which were well received by the audience.
Reviewed by Joan Cochran Sommers (a former student of Anthony Galla-Rini) who had not heard a live performance of his “Concerto No. 2” with orchestra until this one. October 23, 2021.
Photo Up: Dr. William Morse conducts the Jefferson Symphony Orchestra with guest soloist, Stas Venglevski
Photo Down: Dr. William Morse, Joan Grauman, Joan C. Sommers, Stas Venglevski
