Casper's Civic Symphony Has Stunning Performance

Unknown Author

February 28, 1968

...Lyddon opened the program with a stunning performance of Tchaikovsky's B-Flat Minor Piano Concerto. The Concerto has become a war-horse, favored by concert pianists largely because of the opportunities it offers for virtuosic display. Lyddon missed not a single one of these, and the resulting pyrotechnics were simply dazzling.

Bravura playing is one thing, but sensitive and thoughtful pianism is quite another. In his interpretation of the Concerto, Lyddon paid equal attention to the less obvious passages, with the result that the musical balances were restored and the Concerto revealed as the fine piece of writing that it really is. Most notable and commendable was Lyddon's cleanly - articulated fingerwork, his gift for lyric phrasing, and his judicious sense of rhythmic weight. While his performance wasn't note-perfect (he dropped a few along the way), he did manage to coax a wide dynamic range and some considerable instrumental color from the NCHS Steinway, an instrument noted for its frequent recalcitrance...