Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra
November 1, 2015
Tao: Pángu
Gershwin: Concerto in F major for Piano and Orchestra
Strauss: Symphonia Domestica
Conrad Tao: Pángu
When I select PSO concerts each season to include in my subscription, as a composer, I naturally focus on concerts that include contemporary works. And so my primary interest in this concert was Conrad Tao’s Pángu. Pángu is a short, concert overture length work (7 minutes) for full orchestra. The composer’s program notes first relate the Chinese creation myth of Pángu and then proceed to detail how the composition reflects various aspects of the myth.
Pángu is unabashedly a program piece. With regards to program pieces, I find it interesting if the composition evokes images of the program it is meant to represent, but what is most important to me is whether the music makes sense, is engaging and entertaining, even if I know nothing of its programmatic origins. To my ears, Conrad Tao’s Pángu was largely ineffective in conjuring up the images described in the program notes. Nevertheless, the work is very engaging and entertaining. The young composer has a wonderful sense of orchestral color as well as dramatic pace and rhythmic vitality. Previous to this afternoon’s concert, my favorite short, contemporary, concert overture-type piece was John Adams’ Short Ride in a Fast Machine. Conrad Tao’s Pángu comes very close to replacing Short Ride… on that list.