Whether it was because there was no Tuesday evening repeat of the program or because of the nature of the program, the Portland Symphony Orchestra concert on March 13 at Merrill Auditorium in Portland was fully sold out.

For many, the attraction was the performance of Rachmaninoff ’s “Third Piano Concerto” with soloist Andrew von Oeyen; for others, it was the performance of two rarely performed works, by Dmitri Shostakovich and Kurt Weill.

At any rate, one way the concert could be described was that it was a highbrow concert for a middlebrow audience. Translation: There was no shortage of melodies anywhere. The residents of academia have little affection for any of the above, while most audiences do not share their opinion.

The first work on the program was a “Suite for Variety Orchestra” by Shostakovich that was erroneously described as “Jazz Suite No. 2.” The score was lost and recently reconstructed by Gerald McBurney. This engaging, clever and charming work contains eight relatively short movements. The music abounds in melody, counter melodies and really clever and saucy changes of key, and is a delight to experience. Why this work is not performed more often, I can’t say. (Perhaps it is not popular because it is not played, or is it that it is not played because it is not popular?)

The second work was a suite taken from the “Three Penny Opera” by Weill. This suite was arranged by Max Schonherr. Weill was a serious composer who wrote what is considered today to be a kind of popular music. He fled Germany in 1933 became a U.S. citizen, and had several successful Broadway shows. One that readily comes to mind is “Knickerbocker Holiday” and his signature tune “September Song.” The arrangements are superbly crafted, especially the familiar “Mack the Knife” song. More impressive, for me were the settings of the “Lullaby” and “Polly’s Song,” the latter containing excellent solos by flutist Lisa Hennessy and concertmaster Charles Dimmick. Conductor Robert Moody’s leadership in both works was impressive and he deserves a world of credit both for programming these pieces as well as for the way he conducted them.

The sole work after intermission was the “3rd Piano Concerto” by Sergei Rachmaninoff with Oeyen as the soloist. The last time he performed with the symphony I gave him a excellent review, even though he appeared dressed as an unemployed graduate student. (He still appeared tieless, wearing a shirt open at the neck. This may be just fine for a rehearsal, but it is in poor taste for a professional engagement.) Let it be said at the outset that he possesses a prodigious technique. That is his strong suit. It is my opinion that in this work, while he played every single note, faster and often louder than you will ever hear it performed, the music behind those notes often took a back seat. It was apparent from the start when he rushed the solo horn player during a solo passage that he was not listening either to him or, for that matter, to the orchestra. More often than not, one had the feeling that the orchestral part was deleted even though Moody was doing his darndest to keep the PSO with the soloist. His most sensitive and musical playing occurred during the scherzo and parts of the slow movement. Kudos to the horns, solo winds, violas and cellos, which were outstanding.

The last straw for me occurred at the end of the third movement when there was the last appearance of that lush melody and the violins really had a chance to shine, but the soloist would have none of that sentimentality and went even faster. Moody had no choice but to follow him. The audience enjoyed his interpretation more than I did. The concert will be aired on March 30, 8 p.m., on MPBN.

Oeyen may be a fine pianist, maybe even a great one, but I think that he should revisit his take of this concerto. It is a work for piano and orchestra, not a piano solo with orchestral backup. You will have to judge for yourself.

— Morton Gold is a composer/conductor, retired educator and an arts reviewer of the Journal Tribune.