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By Bill Varble for the Mail Tribune November 09. 2014 12:01AM Focus on Tanya Gabrielian as Rogue Valley Symphony evokes the Baroque Shades of Johann Sebastian Bach seemed to be in the air at the Rogue Valley Symphony's concert  Saturday  night at the Craterian Theater at the Collier Center in Medford. Even though the music — Hector Berlioz's "Love Scene" from "Romeo and Juliet,"  Camille Saint-Saëns' Piano Concerto No. 2, Arthur Honegger's Symphony No. 4,  — was far removed from the Baroque.       But the music of the French/Swiss composer Honegger has been described as "Debussy Meets Bach," while the stylistic innovations of Saint-Saëns' concerto caused a contemporary critic to quip of it that it "begins with Bach and ends with Offenbach."   Bach vibe or not, the highlight of the evening was the riveting performance of young guest artist Tanya Gabrielian, a Juilliard-trained, New York City-based pianist whose commanding presence and mastery of the capriciousness of the Saint-Saëns concerto bely her youth.   From the long (and Bach-esque) piano solo of the Andante sostenuto to the Presto's fiery, whirling climax, Gabrielian handled the demands of the famed concerto with grace and power, combining sheer virtuosity with poised elegance.   Conductor Martin Majkut and the orchestra began the evening with Hector Berlioz's "Love Scene" from his 1839 symphony "Romeo and Juliet." The piece began with a sweet introduction centered on a plaintive theme played by the oboe. It was easy to picture Romeo lurking about, conscious of his status as an outsider at the Capulets' ball. As the cellos came in, so, evidently, did Juliet, because the movement became quite rapturous.   The piece was dismissed by an important critic of the day as not even a true symphony, but a "queer hybrid." Berlioz later said it was his favorite among his works. It certainly occupied a special place in his life. He was inspired to write it after seeing the Irish actress Harriet Smithson as David Garrick's version of "Romeo and Juliet in 1827 in Paris. He courted and married her several years later (and more years later left her).   Gabrielian burst onto the international stage at 20 with back-to-back victories in the Aram Khachaturyan International Piano Competition and the Scottish International Piano Competition. She has since toured the world from New York's Carnegie Hall to Queen Elizabeth Hall in London.   Saint-Saëns' Piano Concerto No. 2 in G minor was composed in 1868 and is almost undoubtedly the composer's most popular concerto, even though it was written, famously, in a mere three weeks. When you hear Gabrielian's performance, the reasons for the piece's enduring popularity become clear.   It began with a sequence of solo passages on the piano during which the pianist handled long series of arpeggios with the fluidity of notes being poured out of a bucket like water. The movement wound through a lovely cadenza before circling back to the tocatta.   The allegro in E-flat major began with percussion and found Gabrielian ranging up and down the keyboard throughout the sunny, energetic movement. The fiery final movement was fast indeed, with Gabrielian ripping off triplet figures and shaking her long, dark hair as she and the orchestra together flung themselves into a vortex of climactic arpeggios. The audience wouldn't let her get off the stage without a brief, rather tranquil encore.   Arthur Honegger's Symphony No. 4 was written in 1946 and reflects the composer's relief at the end of World War II and his joy stemming from a stay in the Swiss countryside. The first movement established a pastoral mood, and the romantic themes of a couple of Swiss folk songs turned up later.   Majkut departed a bit from his usual practice in giving a brief talk before the piece, complete with quickie demonstrations from the musicians.   After the musical representations of the passion of Romeo and Juliet, and the passion of the Saint-Saëns, Honegger's symphony sounded convivial and almost laid-back. But it also contained hints of darker themes the composer never quite brought forward or worked out. This was particularly evident in that rather abbreviated final movement and its coda.   The show repeats Sunday  in the Grants Pass Performing Arts Center ($24/$28/$34).    Reach freelance writer Bill Varble at [email protected]. http://www.mailtribune.com/article/20141109/NEWS/141109653 © 2015 Copyright © 1995-2011 Crain Communications Inc. All Rights Reserved. Terms of Use Privacy Statement -->