Concert Review: Sibelius Symphony No. 1

Chooi And The BPO Perform Ranjbaran’s Concerto. Also Finland, Finland, Finland.

Composer Behzad Ranjbaran returned to Kleinhans Music Hall on Friday (April 11, 2025) for a performance of his “Concerto For Violin And Orchestra” featuring BPO Concertmaster Nikki Chooi as soloist.

Nikki Chooi and JoAnn Falletta with the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra. Kleinhans Music Hall Friday, April 11, 2025. Photo by the author.

Buffalo music lovers may remember Ranjbaran from last season when his “Saratoga, Festive Fanfare for Orchestra” was performed on May 4, 2024 (“The Chooi Brothers Take Over Kleinhans”).

Friday’s concert began with Mikhail Glinka’s familiar “Overture to Ruslan and Lyudmila” and concluded with Sibelius’ Symphony No. 1.

The program repeats on Sunday, April 13 at 2:30PM.

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Concerto For Violin And Orchestra

Ranjbaran entered the Tehran Conservatory of Music at age nine and was later educated at Juilliard and the University of Indiana. His compositions fall broadly under the banner of post-modernism; “Concerto For Violin And Orchestra” is a good example.

The Concerto follows the Baroque concerto form consisting of three movements, but opens with a very Romantic Period timpani roll and trumpet fanfare.

Ranjbaran’s starting off point for the Concerto was the Persian kamancheh (below), a cousin of the violin and tuned to the same notes (G, D, A, E).

The Concerto’s primary motif highlighted the violin’s open (bowed but not fingered) strings, using their resonance in the development of musical themes with strains of east and west. Even 20th Century Serialism found its way into the final movement, all in support of a virtuosic, solo violin.

Ranjbaran’s Concerto is a dramatic musical tapestry with colorful threads from all over place and time, rendered with Nikki Chooi’s familiar virtuosity.

My Interview With The Composer

Following the performance, I had the opportunity to meet the composer. I asked if the Concerto had any specific inspiration and he explained that for him, a composer’s ideas derive not from existing music but “in the subconscious. You must allow it to lead you. It is always a mystery.”