By Douglas Levy

The Buffalo Philharmonic let its light bear this weekend on the genius that was Peter Illich Tchaikovsky (1840-1893), one of the last of the great Romantic symphonists and the best known Russian composer of the 19^th century worldwide.

The BPO’s Tchaikovsky Festival continues Feb. 21 and 22 with a truly all-Tchaikovsky program, but the first part of this festival, on the 7^thwas  and 8^th of this month, took a sidelong look at two of his works as well as a Stravinsky piece that Tchaikovsky partly inspired.

Tchaikovsky is known for his symphonies, concertos, ballets, chamber works and operas; in fact he produced in just about every musical genre. What he also was, in the footsteps of Liszt, a developer of the “tone poem”: short to full-length orchestral works that weren’t exactly symphonies – they eschewed the standards of sonata form – but overtures or fantasies that described scenes and persons, articulated passions, and invariably left the listener moved and enlightened.

The program at hand began with such a work: Capriccio Italien, written while the composer was on holiday in Rome in 1880. He wrote to his benefactress, Nadezhda von Meck, “I have already prepared in rough an Italian Fantasia on folk themes … some of which I heard myself on the streets.”

Related Media: Capriccio Italien as performed by the WDR Symphony Orchestra.

A bugle call opens the piece, which builds in energy and bustle as the streets fill with vendors, shoppers, and roving bands of musicians. It is Carnevale, so there are religious processions in the mix. JoAnn Falletta and the BPO’s performance of it was stellar: tight, warm and, by the end (to judge by the audience’s reaction) consummately riveting and breath-taking.

The featured work on this concert was the Piano Concerto No. 2 in G Major (1880). As his first piano concert in b-flat minor (1875) is a central component of the piano concerto repertoire, so his second is comparatively unknown.

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I have the thought that these concertos, in terms of style and maturity, are reversed. There are a lot of bravura moments in this concerto that are indicative, to this listener, of a less seasoned composer. The piano part – performed in this case by the very talented Canadian Sheng Cai – is full of virtuosic runs and figures, especially in the keyboard’s highest register.

Another signal that the writer was new to the craft was a willingness to experiment. In this case it was the second movement, in which the concertmaster and principal cellist (Nikki Chooi and Roman Mekinulov respectively) join the pianist, providing the momentary sense of chamber music – piano trio in this case – as the work evolved into a triple concerto. This was the golden moment of the piece, and was brought off with seeming effortlessness. The third movement had lots of fireworks and virtuosity, with orchestra and soloist performing with gusto and a loving attention to detail.

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The appropriate digression, of sorts, of this festival program is the inclusion of Igor Stravinsky’s Divertimento from The Fairy’s Kiss. The Hans Christian Andersen story on which his music is based was suggested to the composer by Ida Rubinstein, a former dancer with the renowned Ballet Russes.

Stravinsky accepted the commission as a means to commemorate the 35th anniversary of the death of Tchaikovsky. The one-act ballet, from which the five-movement divertimento is drawn, is made up entirely of music from early Tchaikovsky piano pieces and songs. The ballet premiered in 1928; the abbreviated concert suite was produced in 1934 and revised 15 years later.

While Falletta and the BPO’s rendition was delightful, it is still true that the music had a program: choreography that was intended to be danced to. Not wanting to take anything away from the performance, it still felt to this writer that something was missing to this pastiche of youthful Tchaikovsky, albeit a well-intentioned and thoughtful homage.

Part Two of Tchaikovsky Festival is Friday, Feb. 21, at 10:30 a.m. and Saturday, Feb. 22, at 7:30 p.m. It will include a suite from Sleeping Beauty; Variations on a Rococo Theme, with cellist Marcin Zdunik, soloist; and Symphony No. 6 in b minor, Pathétique. For tickets call (716) 885-5000.