Philadelphia Daily News — 22.10.2004

THE RUSSIANS ARE COMING, Tom Di Nardo

More than 50 years have gone by since the last Philly visit by the St. Petersburg Philharmonic, then the Leningrad Philharmonic. Whatever its name, this oldest Russian orchestra, founded in 1882, has performed with the world's greatest conductors and soloists, and named Yuri Temirkanovas music director and principal conductor in 1988.

Temirkanov, who has been a guest many times with our Philadelphia Orchestra and who has acted as music director of the Baltimore Symphony since 1999, is famed for his distinctive readings of Russian music.

For this long-awaited concert with his Russian orchestra, he's programmed Prokofiev's witty "Classical" Symphony and Rachmaninoff's brilliant Symphonic Dances. In between, the intense, revelatory French pianist Helene Grimaudwill solo in one of her signature pieces, the emotional Schumann Piano Concerto (2 p.m. Sunday, Verizon Hall at the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts, Broad and Spruce streets, $39-$99, 215-893-1999).

Another renowned artist, the brilliant pianist Richard Goode, returns for his annual Philadelphia Chamber Music Society recital. This master has chosen a program ideal for his probing, expressive gift: Haydn's Sonata, H.XVI:50, Mozart's K.511 Rondo, the Bach E Minor Partita (BWV 830) and Debussy's transcendent 12 Preludes, Book 1 (8 p.m. Wednesday, Perelman Theater at the Kimmel Center, $21, 215-569-8080).

Flutist Mimi Stillmanentered Curtis Institute at age 12, performed widely and even played as a substitute in the Philadelphia Orchestra two years before she graduated in 1999.

Stillman has played all over the world since then, and she's performing with another gifted musician - pianist Charles Abramovic, who accompanied her on her upcoming debut CD - in a hometown recital. They'll perform works by Bach, Prokofiev, Paganini and Debussy (Stillman's arrangements of his work), plus the local premiere of a piece written for her by Lawrence Ink (2 p.m. Sunday, Amado Recital Hall, Irvine Auditorium, 34th and Spruce streets, free, 215-808-5000).

It's a mark of our musical diversity that this weekend boasts two superb wind bands. The first is our own Piffaro, 20 seasons strong, digging into sacred and secular compositions by French and Flemish musicians, including Guillaume Dufay, for the 15th-century courts of Rome. Piffaro's shawms, sackbuts, slide trumpets and recorders will join with the ensemble Trefoil, consisting of countertenor Drew Minter, vielle player Shira Kammenplus Mark Rimpleand Marcia Young's voices, harps and lute for this unusual program (8 tonight, St. Mark's, 1625 Locust St.; and 8 p.m. tomorrow, Presbyterian Church of Chestnut Hill, 8855 Germantown Ave., $20-$25, 215-235-8469).

The Imani Windsreleased an excellent, self-produced CD, "Umoja," just before the Chamber Music Society presented the group's local debut last season. This African-American quintet returns with an esteemed guest, pianist Gilbert Kalish, who'll join in on Sextets by Poulenc and Gunther Schuller. The program also showcases the ensemble's remarkable versatility in works by Hindemith (Kammermusik, Op. 24/2) and Lalo Schifrin's "La Nouvelle Orleans." Imani will also perform its hornistJeff Scott's "Titilayo" and flutist Valerie Coleman's arrangement of "Steal Away" (8 tonight, Van Pelt Auditorium, Philadelphia Museum of Art, 26th Street and Benjamin Franklin Parkway, $15, 215-569-8080).

Vivaldi's seething violin concerto "La Tempesta di mare" ("A Storm at Sea") was the inspiration behind the name of the impressive local Baroque orchestra. Guest baritone Jeffrey Straussjoins Tempesta di Marefor its season opener, "Stormy Weather," which includes music by Handel, Telemann, Weiss, Graupner, Rameau ("Thunder"), Purcell ("The Tempest") and the Vivaldi namesake (8 tonight, Lang Concert Hall, Swarthmore College; and 8 p.m. tomorrow, St. Mark's, 1625 Locust St., free-will contribution.