As the summer comes to a close and the start of the fall concert season is imminent, I wanted to take pause to reflect on the offerings during the 2018-19 season here in Cleveland, following up on last year’s installment. Let’s begin with The Cleveland Orchestra…

Cleveland Orchestra 2018-19 season: Top 10 performances

1. Ohlsson plays the Busoni piano concerto – I might be biased having long been enamored by Busoni and his gargantuan piano concerto in particular, but Ohlsson’s Olympian performance was one for the ages, and almost 30 years to the date of his recording the work with this orchestra.
2. Adams conducts Adams – It’s a major event to see a major composer perform their own works. Adams conducted two of his own scores, including the Cleveland premiere of the remarkable Scheherazade.2, along with a pair of works by Copland.
3. Hrůša and Shostakovich – Jakub Hrůša is one of today’s most exciting young podium presences, and his Shostakovich 5 was one of the most memorable I’ve heard. The program also included a collaboration with Emanuel Ax in Stravinsky, and a rarity by Kabeláč.
4. FWM and Mahler 2 – Welser-Möst and Mahler is a reliably satisfying combination, and his powerful reading of the Resurrection early in the season didn’t disappoint.
5. Denève, Thibaudet, and Scriabin – Stéphane Denève has been one of the more exciting guest conductors and his fascinating program culminated with a brilliant Poem of Ecstasy, but not before memorable new piano concerto from James MacMillan with dedicatee Jean-Yves Thibaudet.
6. Roth conducts Petrushka – An important debut this season was that of François-Xavier Roth who offered a colorful Petrushka and well as works by Debussy and Ravel.
7. Jurowski conducts Shostakovich – Another major debut came from Michail Jurowski (at 75 years old!). The Tchaikovsky violin concerto with Vadim Gluzman was answered by a powerhouse Shostakovich 11.
8. Ariadne – While perhaps not up to the high bar of last season’s Tristan und Isolde or Cunning Little Vixen, Welser-Möst’s semi-staged performance of Ariadne auf Naxos counted as yet another operatic success.
9. FWM’s Heldenleben – Prior to a(nother) successful European tour, Welser-Möst guided the orchestra through an arresting reading of Strauss’ extravagant autobiographical tone poem, with equally thoughtful performances of Schubert and Webern preceding.
10. Metzmacher and the Second Viennese School – Ingo Metzmacher’s return to Severance Hall brought the Second Viennese School’s triumvirate into the spotlight. Berg’s violin concerto was given a heartwrenching performance by Christian Tetzlaff, followed by Schoenberg’s sumptuous and infrequently heard Pelleas und Melisande.

Also of note was Simon Keenlyside’s profoundly moving Winterreise, presented just ahead of his collaboration with the orchestra in Sibelius songs during the last week of the season. Can lieder recitals in the Reinberger be a regular thing, please? And I’d be remiss not to mention the 100th anniversary gala headlined by Lang Lang, filmed for posterity on PBS’ Great Performances.

Further mentions

The highlight of the Apollo’s Fire season came in chamber music performance of Heinrich Biber’s endlessly fascinating Mystery Sonatas.

At the Cleveland Chamber Music Society, the Takács Quartet offered a memorable performance of Haydn, Grieg, and Shostakovich. Appearances from the Juilliard and Ehnes quartets further enhanced another rewarding season of chamber music.

The Cleveland International Piano Competition is to be commended for offering a robust concert series in competition off-years, with 2019 being highlighted by Angela Hewitt’s exploration of Bach’s English Suites.

Of note in the panoply of offerings at the Cleveland Institute of Music were two appearances from Sergey Babayan – an all-Chopin program followed a few months later by a duo recital with former student Ardius Žlabys.

Alon Goldstein’s recital at the Tri-C Presents Classical Piano Series was illuminating and varied, traversing Beethoven, Schubert, Scarlatti, Bernstein, and most interestingly, what Goldstein purported to be Debussy’s “second” Suite bergamasque, comprised of Masques, D’un cahier d’esquisses, and L’Isle joyeuse.

The prize for the most offbeat presentation of the year goes to Cleveland State University for The Notorious RBG in Song, a song cycle by Patrice Michaels inspired by the titular Supreme Court Justice. Michaels herself and pianist Angelin Chang were engaging performers in this touching tribute. Also making appearances were Lee Fisher, dean of the Cleveland-Marshall College of Law and Lieutenant Governor to Ted Strickland, as well as James Ginsburg – RBG’s son, Michaels’ husband, and founder of the Chicago-based Cedille Records whose recording of the work is warmly recommended.

The lineup at this year’s Solstice at the Cleveland Museum of Art was ripe with discovery, including a brilliant performance of Terry Riley’s iconic In C and the Afro-fusion of the Brooklyn-based Anbessa Orchestra.