The Chicago Philharmonic exploded in late-Romantic fireworks Sunday night, as conductor Larry Rachleff led Dvorak’s Symphony No. 6 (1880) and Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 1 (1875) with Russian pianist Vladimir Ovchinnikov at Northwestern’s Pick-Staiger Concert Hall.

Under Rachleff’s baton, the Dvorak symphony was every bit as vivacious as the New World.  Conducting without music, Rachleff coaxed graceful, well-shaped lines from the orchestra while the bouncy woodwinds contrasted nicely with warm brass tones.  Through the adagio, a singing melody seamlessly made its way throughout the sections; lush harmonies had the modest-sized orchestra sounding as if it was twice as big.  A Czech-inspired dancing scherzo led the way into a robust finale full of treacherous string passages and the return of the powerful brass.  The orchestra performed as if the symphony was the last piece on the program, as it easily could have been, but somehow found the energy to provide accompaniment in the Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto following intermission.

Ovchinnikov opened the concerto with Tchaikovsky’s weighty Russian chords that seemed to shake the hall.  Though the piano overpowered the orchestra at times, the pianist drew nuanced music from the complex rising and falling scales of the first movement, subtly moving between extroverted and withdrawn moods that changed from page to page.  A flute solo floated above glassy pizzicato in the second movement’s andantino, and Ovchinnikov continued to dazzle with crystalline trills in the prestissimo.  The final movement gave little wonder why the composer indicated Allegro con fuoco: a spirited Russian dance became a sweeping hymn as orchestra and soloist raced to the end.

Ovchinnikov allowed one final example of his masterful articulation and technique in Chopin’s Nocturne Op. 27, No. 2 as an encore and tribute to the composer on the 200th anniversary of his birth.  Hopefully, Chicago audiences will hear more from the Russian pianist in years to come.