Author: Sam Jacobson

Conductor Carolyn Kuan makes notable Columbus Symphony debut

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Columbus Symphony Orchestra
Carolyn Kuan, conductor
Vijay Venkatesh, piano
Ohio Theatre
Columbus, OH
March 26, 2022

James Lee III: Towards a Greater Light
Saint-Saëns: Piano Concerto No. 2 in G minor, Op. 22
 Encore:
 Schubert-Liszt: Ständchen, S560/7
Schubert: Symphony No. 9 in C major, D944

Currently music director of the Hartford Symphony Orchestra, conductor Carolyn Kuan made a welcome debut with the Columbus Symphony in the final performance for March. The program opened with the brief 2017 work Towards a Greater Light by American composer James Lee III, meant to mark the 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation. Scored for strings alone, matters were often in a meditative stasis, saying much in its five-minute duration.

Carolyn Kuan, Vinjay Venkatesh, and the Columbus Symphony, photo credit Columbus Symphony

The young soloist Vijay Venkatesh was brought forth for Saint-Saëns’ Piano Concerto No. 2. The commanding, improvisatory-like opening for the soloist alone pointed towards the passionate primary theme. Venkatesh displayed a formidable technique, from delicate filigree to fiery double octaves. The central Allegro scherzando was gossamer – and rather Mendelssohnian – in texture. Though an impressive finish, it felt clarity was sacrificed for speed in the breakneck finale. Venkatesh returned for an encore in the Schubert-Liszt Ständchen transcription, showing a haunting, lyrical side of the pianist not revealed in the ebullient concerto.

An apt choice of encore given that the rest of the evening was devoted to Schubert in the towering Ninth Symphony. Kuan allowed for the solo horn call which opened to be played freely, though it perhaps could have benefitted from her conducting to initiate things with more focused direction. Matters gradually amassed, leading the grandiose movement proper. The trombones were especially striking, forming the spine of the work, and the busy orchestra harmoniously blended together. A limber oboe passage in the Andante con moto was a quintessentially Schubertian melody, and gorgeous strings were a turn inwards in a work that otherwise shows the composer at his most exuberant. The third movement’s vigor spoke to an affinity with dance, though never without a certain Viennese charm and grace, and the high-spirited energy was sustained through the vivacious finale. A strong showing from Kuan – let’s hope she’s invited back to the CSO podium soon.

Ying Quartet and PUSH Physical Theatre explore connections of dance and chamber music

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Ying Quartet
PUSH Physical Theatre
Southern Theatre
Columbus, OH
March 26, 2022

Theofanidis: Valley of Detachment from Conference of the Birds
Haydn: Allegro di molto from String Quartet in A major, Op. 20 No. 6, Hob. III:36
Haydn: Allegro from String Quartet in A major, Op. 20 No. 6, Hob. III:36
Bartók: Andante from String Quartet No. 5, Sz. 102
Wolf: Italian Serenade
Tchaikovsky: Andante funebre from String Quartet No. 3 in E-flat minor, Op. 30
Mendelssohn: Andante espressivo from String Quartet No. 3 in D major, Op. 44 No. 1
Schulhoff: Alla Czeca from Five Pieces for String Quartet
Schulhoff: Alla Tarantella from Five Pieces for String Quartet
Randall Thompson: Alleluia, Amen (arr. Ying Quartet)
Dvořák: Allegro ma non troppo from String Quartet No. 12 in F major, Op. 96, American

At Chamber Music Columbus, the Ying Quartet teamed up with PUSH Physical Theatre – both ensembles of which are based in Rochester, New York – to breathe fresh air into the vaunted sting quartet recital. A wide-ranging sampling of the string quartet literature was intriguingly presented in tandem with physical theater, with each group of selections centered on a particular theme to invoke a narrative arc. At the heart of this creative collision was the art of storytelling, which as violist Philip Yang noted in his spoken remarks, lies central to who we are as human beings.

Ying Quartet, photo credit Tim Greenway

A movement from Christopher Theofanidis’ Conference of the Birds opened, with the gestures from the dance troupe mirroring the ebb and flow of the music. Two movements from Haydn followed; in this case, the elegance of the music was contrasted by the rather more risqué dance. The Andante from Bartók’s great Fifth Quartet took us into the realm of the surreal, a prime example of the Hungarian composer’s rarefied night music. Hugo Wolf’s lovely Italian Serenade was brought to life by a laugh-out-loud routine from PUSH, bringing humor and levity to what is usually a serious affair. At the opposite end of the spectrum was the doleful Andante funebre from Tchaikovsky’s Third Quartet – a tender wistfulness which served to depict the human cost of war.

Randall Thompson’s 1940 “Alleluia, Amen” – given in an arrangement by the Ying Quartet – served as a plaintive contrast to the gritty perpetuum mobile of the Schulhoff that preceded. The performance came to a close with the spacious opening movement of Dvořák’s American quartet. It’s a piece that resonates deeply with the Ying Quartet – just as the composer found solace and inspiration while spending a summer in the small town of Spillville, Iowa, the Ying Quartet found similar stimulus and connection during an extended residency in Jesup, Iowa in the 1990s. The performers gave Dvořák’s music with a natural fluency and affinity – lyrical, gracious, and generous. For this audience member, the highlight was certainly the quartet’s fine playing, but I applaud their efforts to push the boundaries of the way we experience chamber music, and seek connections from one artistic discipline to another.

PUSH Physical Theatre, photo credit Avi Pryntz-Nadworny

ProMusica brings lush Vaughan Williams and vibrant Piazzolla to St Mary

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ProMusica Chamber Orchestra
David Danzmayr, conductor
Katherine McLin, violin
St. Mary Catholic Church
Columbus, OH
March 20, 2022

Vaughan Williams: Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis
Piazzolla: The Four Seasons of Buenos Aires (arr. Desyatnikov)

Encore:
Piazzolla: Adios Nonino

Nestled in the heart of German Village, Saint Mary Catholic Church – a structure that dates back to 1868 – recently underwent an extensive restoration, and proved to be a gorgeous setting for last weekend’s ProMusica performance. The program opened with Vaughan Williams’ Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis, and the plaintive theme reflected the solemnity of the setting in this glance backwards in English musical history. Though the heavy reverb in a church can create acoustical challenges, here the resonance seemed to further enhance the richness of the strings – and indeed, the work’s 1910 premiere occurred at Gloucester Cathedral. The work is scored for double string orchestra with string quartet, and one was struck by the clarity of the interplay between the various subsets of the ensemble.

ProMusica at St Mary, photo credit ProMusica

The remainder of the evening was devoted to Piazzolla, continuing the celebration of his centenary begun at last month’s chamber music concert. The Four Seasons of Buenos Aires, rendered in Spanish as Estaciones porteñas – porteño being the demonym for one from a port city, though it chiefly refers specifically to the Argentine capital – paints a colorful, vibrant portrait of the composer’s homeland. The work was presented in its arrangement by Leonid Desyatnikov, recast so as to highlight connections with its Vivaldian predecessor, including some direct quotations from Vivaldi, and scoring for string orchestra with violin soloist, a role undertaken with aplomb and verve by concertmaster Katherine McLin.

A sultry energy began the opening Otoño porteño, and a series of glissandos showed the composer to be a master of effect. A languid lyricism offered some pointed contrast. Invierno porteño was noted for its substantial passage for cello (Marc Moskovitz), thorny at first but melting into the songful. Given the concert’s coincidence with the vernal equinox, Primavera porteña was certainly the most topical – and perhaps the most ardently lyrical of the set, though not without some sprightly violin acrobatics. Verano porteño made for a vigorous finale with some particularly striking timbres achieved through sul ponticello playing from the soloist. Danzmayr and the orchestra offered a further Piazzolla work as an encore, Adios Nonino. Touchingly lyrical and with rich chromatic harmonies, it burgeoned into a big-boned, almost Hollywood-esque sumptuousness. The performance was billed as “a delightful evening” – a promise amply delivered upon.

Milanov and Columbus Symphony make compelling case for Liszt’s Dante Symphony

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Columbus Symphony Orchestra
Rossen Milanov, conductor
Brian Mangrum, horn

Women of the Columbus Symphony Chorus
Ronald J. Jenkins, chorus director

Ohio Theatre
Columbus, OH
March 18, 2022

Britten: Four Sea Interludes from Peter Grimes, Op. 33a
Strauss: Horn Concerto No. 1 in E flat major, Op. 11
Liszt: Dante Symphony, S109

Though Franz Liszt is rightly remembered as chiefly a composer for the piano, he produced a vast body of orchestral works – including virtually inventing the tone poem – that should not be overlooked. In some particularly ambitious programming, the Columbus Symphony offered the first local performances of the Dante Symphony, an orchestral portrait of The Divine Comedy. An informative pre-concert conversation between music director Rossen Milanov and Jonathan Combs-Schilling from Ohio State’s Italian department gave thoughtful insight into both the music and its literary inspiration. A visual element was added with Gustave Doré‘s iconic illustrations to accompany the text – produced in 1857, the same year as the symphony – projected along with the music. Though an intriguing idea, the stage lights largely diluted the projections, rendering them more a distraction than an enhancement.

Gustave Doré’s illustration to Dante’s Inferno. Plate VIII: Canto III: The gate of Hell. “Abandon all hope ye who enter here”, photo credit Wikimedia Commons

The first movement Inferno began with an imposing descent to the hell in the low brass – trombones in particular have long been associated with depictions of the underworld, dating back to Monteverdi’s Orfeo. A wound-up tension was purveyed in music that was unrelenting, often overwhelming in ferocity, but Milanov had a thorough grasp of the large-scale form, serving as an incisive guide. Secondary material depicted the doomed love affair of Francesca and Paolo, a languid contrast. A skeletal recitative-like passage in the bass clarinet was quite striking, and Liszt made use of richly chromatic, Wagernian harmonies, sounding at times like a page out of Tristan. Milanov rightly reined in the bombast during the coda, but still yielded a close that was powerfully unforgiving.

The second movement Purgatorio provided some much needed peace after the preceding, with some especially touching scoring for the harp and oboe. This was fittingly music of stasis, held in contemplative limbo, although a triumphant passage and a thorny fugue gave matters both variety and perhaps a glimmer of hope. Liszt had originally envisioned concluding the work with a Paradiso movement, mirroring the source material, but conceded that depicting heaven would be all but impossible. Instead, he provided a lovely Magnificat as something of a pendant to previous movement. It’s a hymn of sorts wherein we manage just a glimpse of the entrance to paradise. It was a magical moment when the women of the Columbus Symphony Chorus appeared practically out of the ether, offering an angelic vision of what lies beyond in the most deeply moving music of the work. The performance was a laudable achievement, and I hope Milanov and the CSO will continue to explore Liszt’s lesser-known orchestral pieces.

The program began with Britten’s Four Sea Interludes from Peter Grimes, a quantity which amazingly hasn’t appeared on a CSO program since 1979. High strings opened with an almost mystical evocation of dawn, though the intonation left something to be desired. “Sunday Morning” saw a brassy awakening, replete with tolling church bells. “Moonlight” was tranquil though not without foreboding as matters took a darker turn in the closing “Storm.”

The ensemble afforded the spotlight to one of its own in Strauss’ Horn Concerto No. 1 in bringing Brian Mangrum front and center, the CSO’s principal horn since 2018. Written when the composer was a precocious 18 year old, the regal E flat major tonality set the stage for a decisive solo entrance, and Mangrum offered a warm, rich tone. A lyrical slow movement saw the horn in dialogue with a rising gesture in the strings, a moment of repose before the jaunty and limber finale.

Rossen Milanov, Brian Mangrum, and the Columbus Symphony. Photo credit Columbus Symphony

Esfahani delivers marathon Bach program at Early Music Columbus

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Mahan Esfahani, harpsichord
Huntington Recital Hall
Capital University
Bexley, OH
February 25, 2022

Bach: French Suite No. 5 in G major, BWV 816
Bach: Goldberg Variations, BWV 988

Encore:
Stölzel: Bist du bei mir (attr. Bach, BWV 508)

The Goldberg Variations is an evening’s worth of music in its own right – and a generous one at that – but for Mahan Esfahani’s ambitious harpsichord recital at Early Music in Columbus, it was merely the second half. In addition to providing his own program notes, Esfahani was on hand for an engaging preconcert discussion, showing himself to be a deep thinker on the music in question. The program began with the French Suite No. 5. Esfahani took the opening Allemande at a relaxed tempo, seemingly relishing in its elegance. The Courante that followed offered sprightly contrast, and each subsequent dance was imbued with individual charm, perhaps none more so than stylishly virtuosic Gigue that closed.

Mahan Esfahani, photo credit Kaja Smith

Few pieces in the repertoire are as life-affirming as the Goldberg Variations. The Aria on which the work is based was pure and deeply felt, a nuanced reading of an outwardly simple melody. The first variation offered more forward motion in contrast to the stasis of the source material, pointing towards the multitude of directions the work would explore, and the composer’s fertile inventiveness. Variation 3, the first of the canons, plumbed the richness of the instrument, and Esfahani purveyed an exacting clarity in the contrapuntal textures. Variation 5 employed an impressive virtuosity in thoroughly utilizing both the instrument’s keyboards.

A pensive, unresolved close to Variation 15 marked the halfway point, and the subsequent variation, a brilliant overture, made for a powerful statement to herald the even more ambitious latter half of the work. Striking contrast was had in Variation 19, wherein Esfahani made use of his instrument’s plucked timbres. Time seemingly stood still in the otherworldly Variation 25 – the so-called “Black Pearl” – yet the following was once again bright and effervescent. Variation 28 is always a highlight for this listener, and here Esfahani’s playing was sparkling and radiant, replete with elaborate hand-crossings rivaling anything in a Scarlatti sonata. I was further struck by the blazing technique in Variation 29 as well as the irresistible charm of the Quodlibet, given with exultant abandon. The Aria da Capo concluded where matters began, a welcome return home after a long journey.

“What does one play after that?” Esfahani quipped. Nonetheless, he mustered the energy for a lovely encore, a transcription of the aria Bist du bei mir from Gottfried Heinrich Stölzel’s opera Diomedes. For a long time falsely attributed to Bach, it was included in the Notebook for Anna Magdalena Bach – as was the aria to the Goldbergs. Certainly a recital for the books, though perhaps it is best to close with Esfahani’s own assessment:

Eddins shows his mettle as both conductor and pianist with the Columbus Symphony

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Columbus Symphony Orchestra
William Eddins, conductor and piano
Ohio Theatre
Columbus, OH
February 20, 2022

Perkinson: Sinfonietta No. 1
Gershwin: Rhapsody in Blue (1926 orchestration, Grofé)
Beethoven: Symphony No. 5 in C minor, Op. 67

Guest conductor Williams Eddins led the Columbus Symphony last weekend in a decidedly populist program, though matters nonetheless opened with an unfamiliar work by an unfamiliar composer. The quantity in question was the Sinfonietta No. 1 by African-American composer Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson, named after Samuel Coleridge-Taylor who perhaps served as a guiding inspiration to the younger composer. A compact three-movement work dating from 1954, the work opened with angular gestures though generally lyrical at heart, colored by piquant harmonies. A mournful slow movement seemed to echo Barber’s Adagio for Strings (this work too was scored for strings alone), while the vigorous finale purveyed textures akin to a Baroque concerto grosso. A finely crafted product of midcentury America given with compelling advocacy from Eddins and the Columbus strings.

William Eddins, photo credit Jonathan Kim

Eddins served double duty as pianist and conductor in Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue, but first took several minutes to introduce the work – as historically-informed as it was entertaining. Principal clarinet David Thomas delivered the iconic opening in a sultry solo. The work was presented in its 1926 pit orchestra scoring for an authentic feel of the roaring twenties, and it was certainly fitting for the performance to take place in a venue that was a product of the same decade. Eddins proved equally adept at both roles, and guided the ensemble in a charismatic, high-octane performance.

It’s a challenge for conductors to make such a well-worn piece as Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony sound fresh. I wasn’t convinced Eddins managed to say anything novel, but the performance nonetheless served as an always welcome encounter with an old friend. The opening Allegro con brio benefitted from Eddins’ energetic conducting, an intensity countered by the warm lyricism of the strings in the slow movement – though I found the brass to be a bit overzealous. The scherzo started out as a whisper, employing the ubiquitous rhythmic gesture that binds the work, and gradually grew in urgency. Matters were held in suspense until the brassy C major finale broke through the clouds. Still, the journey is far from over – Beethoven has gift for profligate finales! – and the energy on stage seemed to flag for a somewhat anticlimactic ending.

Imani Winds delights in colorful exploration of women composers

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Imani Winds
Southern Theatre
Columbus, OH
February 19, 2022

Coleman: Umoja
Nathalie Joachim: Seen
Crawford Seeger: Suite for Wind Quintet
León: De Memorias
Esmail: The Light is the Same
Coleman: Afro-Cuban Concerto

Chamber Music Columbus’ first program of 2022 brought the dynamic Imani Winds to the Southern Theatre in a diverse, wide-ranging program, with all works by women composers. Valerie Coleman’s Umoja made for a bright and joyous opening. Coleman was the founder and former flutist of Imani, and Umoja has become her signature piece; transcriptions exist for a variety of other ensembles in addition to this original incarnation for wind quintet.

Imani Winds, L-R: Mark Dover, Brandon Patrick George, Monica Ellis, Kevin Newton, and Toyin Spellman-Diaz, photo credit Shervin Lainez

Haitian-American composer Nathalie Joachim wrote Seen as part of Imani’s Legacy Commissioning Project, an initiative which has produced a wealth of new music. A recent work, premiered just last year, Seen is comprised of five short movements, one for each member of the quintet, depicting their colorful, distinctive personalities in charming vignettes. Each of their respective instruments were emphasized in turn, with the other members present but relegated to the background; in the second selection I was especially struck by the expressive range of the busy bassoon (Monica Ellis).

The first half closed with the Suite for Wind Quintet by Ruth Crawford Seeger (stepmother to folk singer Pete Seeger), a major force in twentieth century American music who likely never realized her full potential owing to the gender barriers of the time. The 1952 work employs a serialist language, sophisticated but without sounding dryly academic, and Imani handled the considerable technical challenges with grace and precision. The whirlwind finale made for an imposing close, and the taut coordination between flute (Brandon Patrick George) and bassoon was a standout.

Tania León’s De Memorias was a piquant and evocative reflection of her childhood in Cuba, contrasting a pulsating ostinato with more free-sounding, rhapsodic material. Reena Esmail’s The Light is the Same is featured on Imani’s Grammy-nominated album Bruits. It’s a remarkable amalgamation of Western and Hindustani musical traditions, with a sinewy oboe line (Toyin Spellman-Diaz) introducing the raga on which it is based. A piccolo passage, gently floating above the rest of the ensemble, made for a strikingly ethereal moment, and one was quite taken by the rhythmic complexities of the dance-inflected finale.

The program closed with another piece by Coleman, the Afro-Cuban Concerto, dating from 2001. As the title indicated, the quintet took on a larger than life role, effectively functioning as a mini orchestra. The recurring 6/8 rhythmic gestures were given an energetic workout in the opening “Afro” movement, while the central “Vocalise” proved just as lyrical and songful as the moniker suggested. The closing “Danza” was spirited and played with aplomb, replete with a gleaming horn solo (Kevin Newton) as well as some intricate passagework from the clarinet (Mark Dover).

ProMusica musicians delight in folk-inspired chamber works

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Victoria Moreira, violin
Joel Becktell, cello
Renee Keller, marimba & percussion
The Fives
Columbus, OH
February 18, 2022

Piazzolla: Fugata
Piazzolla: Mumuki
Barilari: The Mysteries
Kodály: Duo for Violin and Cello, Op. 7
Diz: Poema Bachiano
Granados: Danzas españolas, Op. 37 – No. 2 “Orientale”
Bartók/arr. Kraeuter – Selected Hungarian Folk Melodies
Piazzolla: Milonga del Angel
Piazzolla: Lo que vendrá

Friday evening saw the first of a series of three chamber music performances featuring various combinations of players from ProMuscia. The venue of choice was The Fives, ProMusica’s home last season wherein they found a way to perform even in the midst of the pandemic. Friday brought forth Victoria Moreira, Joel Becktell, and Renee Keller in music for violin, cello, and marimba – an intriguing if unusual combination. There’s a paucity of repertoire for these forces as one might expect; most of the selections were thus presented in arrangements or adaptations to fit the ensemble at hand. The program was refreshingly offbeat, with the common thread being each composers’ engagement with the folk music traditions of their respective homelands. Additionally, there was acknowledgement of Astor Piazzolla’s centenary (last year) with two pairs of the Argentine’s works framing the recital.

L-R: Victoria Moreira, Renee Keller, and Joel Becktell, photo credit ProMusica

Piazzolla’s Fugata opened the program, its contrapuntal intricacies tinged with a distinctive Latin flavor. From the onset, we were introduced to the appealing sound of this novel instrumentation and the fluid chemistry of the three musicians on stage. Mumuki was touchingly lyrical, and the scoring put the often stratospherically high cello in the spotlight. A world premiere followed, namely a three movement suite titled The Mysteries by Uruguayan composer Elbio Barilari, currently on the faculty at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Barilari was on hand to introduce the work and noted his inspiration from ancient Greece, which he aptly called the “cradle of civilization.” The opening “Delphic Dance” featured an incessant, pulsating dance rhythm, and some passing references to Greek scales. “Adonic Dance” was marked by a busy part for the violin, while the closing “Eleusinian Dance” was grounded by the beating drum and pizzicato cello. I wasn’t convinced the work probed as deep as the title suggested, but the music was as good-natured as the composer himself.

The first half closed with the most substantial work on the program, Kodály’s Duo for Violin and Cello. Cast in three movements, the first was commanding and big-boned, making much of the resources of the duo. One was taken by the resonant cello in the middle movement, often blending with high register of the violin for striking combinations, and the rapid-fire finale showcased the consummate virtuosity of these two string players. The most interesting discovery of the evening to my ears opened the latter half: Poema Bachiano, a 2008 work by Argentine composer Ezequiel Diz. A duet for marimba and violin, the work alludes to Bach’s D minor keyboard concerto in gesture and inflection. The complexities of the work were delivered with aplomb in this compelling reimagining of its Bachian influences, and perhaps something of a response to Villa-Lobos’ Bachianas Brasileiras. A second work of the same title was composed in 2020, a piece I suspect would be worth exploring on a future chamber music program.

A series of short pieces by Granados and Bartók followed, presented in arrangements for cello and percussion – thereby exhausting all combinatorial possibilities of the instruments available. A pulsating accompaniment in the marimba made a touching backdrop for the wistful cello melody of Granados’ “Orientale.” The three Bartók arrangements employed the vibraphone as the percussion of choice – its metallic brilliance was quite striking, further encouraging a piquant, folksy charm. Two Piazzolla selections reunited all members of the trio and brought us back full circle. Milonga del Angel was dreamy and evocative, while Lo que vendrá (“What is to come,” suggesting a sense of possibility after the composer’s formative studies with Boulanger) made for a rousing finish.

Blomstedt and Cleveland Orchestra stellar partners in Nielsen and Beethoven

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Cleveland Orchestra
Herbert Blomstedt, conductor
Mandel Concert Hall
Severance Music Center
Cleveland, OH
February 12, 2022

Nielsen: Symphony No. 4, Op. 29, The Inextinguishable
Beethoven: Symphony No. 5 in C minor, Op. 67

An appearance from the remarkably indefatigable Herbert Blomstedt is virtually guaranteed to yield stupendous results, and Saturday night’s performance was certainly no exception. The Swedish-American conductor paired major symphonies of Nielsen and Beethoven, the same two composers which comprised his debut program with this orchestra in April 2006. It’s a fitting coupling to be sure, both composers major symphonists of their respective generations, and in the present case, both works employed a progressive tonality, taking the listener on a journey to a distant destination rather than coming full circle.

Herbert Blomstedt and The Cleveland Orchestra, photo credit Roger Mastroianni, courtesy of The Cleveland Orchestra

Nielsen’s musical language can be somewhat intractable and austere, but The Cleveland Orchestra is well-equipped for the challenge. A compelling performance of the Fifth Symphony was given a few seasons ago, and this weekend the orchestra rose to the task even more under Blomstedt’s incisive guidance. The clangorous introductory material was given with clarity and inexorable drive. Nielsen’s palette is resolutely tonal though craggy and unforgiving; some respite was to be had when the conductor coaxed a piquant lyricism from the woodwinds. Despite the first movement’s busyness, matters closed in a simple grandeur, with the pulsating of the timpani foreshadowing their role to come.

The gentle and folksy nature of the Poco allegretto seemed to take its cue from the analogous movement of a Brahms symphony. Dulcet clarinets were the highlights in this movement scored for winds alone, occasionally buttressed by touches of pizzicato strings. Pained and discursive strings opened the slow movement. A lyrical dialogue was had between concertmaster Peter Otto and principal viola Wesley Collins before the material built to a stentorian climax. The finale opened in rapid-fire energy and the dueling timpanists (Paul Yancich and Tom Freer) on opposite ends of the stage were to thrilling effect. Blomstedt has an uncanny ability to get the expansive orchestra to morph into a single organism, and nowhere was this more apparent than in the unambiguously triumphant ending.

It’s a great challenge to make Beethoven’s Fifth – surely the most frequently performed symphony in the repertoire – sound more than merely routine, but Blomstedt certainly did. This weekend also served as something of a capstone to his memorable all-Beethoven program presented at Blossom last summer. The Allegro con brio was commanding and authoritative, its energy taut, focused, and searingly intense. Long, flowing lines in the low strings brought out the warmth of the slow movement with thoughtful contrasts illuminating the double variation structure. The scherzo, though weighty in its own right, served as something of a preface to the grandiose finale, a glorious race to the finish line of this archetypal journey from darkness to light.

A lush La bohème from the Columbus Symphony

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Columbus Symphony Orchestra
Rossen Milanov, conductor

S Katy Tucker, video artist
James Marvel, director

Joshua Stewart, Rodolfo
Michelle Johnson, Mimì
Abigail Rethwisch, Musetta
Ethan Vincent, Marcello
Brian Major, Schaunard
Robert Kerr, Colline
Cody Müller, Alcindoro

Columbus Symphony Chorus
Ronald J. Jenkins, chorus director

Ohio Theatre
Columbus, OH
February 4, 2022

Puccini: La bohème

In their most ambitious undertaking so far of the current season, the Columbus Symphony offered a complete staged performance of Puccini’s indelible opera La bohème. The orchestra was perhaps the biggest star of the evening, aided by a compelling cast of singers and chorus, with the narrative brought to life by way of simple yet effective staging further enhanced by video projections, spanning the stage of the Ohio Theatre as a massive canvas.

Ohio Theatre during Christopher Purdy’s pre-concert talk. Note the video projection spanning the stage

La bohème is a compact, fast-paced affair, certainly by operatic standards. Eschewing a full-scale overture, a few bars of orchestral introduction led directly to the opening dialogue wherein we were transported in an instant to a Parisian garret. The four flatmates had a wonderfully conversational chemistry. Michelle Johnson’s Mimì was sweet and pure, but portrayed from the beginning with signs of the tragic character’s illness – an ominous foreshadowing. As Rodolfo, Joshua Stewart’s first moment to shine came in the aria Che gelida manina, sung with great tenderness. Johnson followed with a dulcet but full-bodied Sì, mi chiamano Mimì. A moonlit duet between the two (O soave fanciulla) closed the first act in the loveliest fashion.

Act II took matters to the bustling Latin Quarter, the stage brimming with members of the Columbus Symphony Chorus, excellently prepared by Ronald J. Jenkins. It was interesting to see the chorus members masked – perhaps this was merely Covid protocol, but masked faces in a crowded public setting made this nineteenth-century tableau feel quite topical. Abigail Rethwisch made a terrific Musetta, highlighted by the lilting Quando me’n vo’, her charm a stark foil to the hapless Alcindoro.

Lush harps and projections of falling snow made for an atmospheric opening to Act III, and again rather topical as it quite literally takes place in February (as did the opera’s 1896 premiere). A duet between Mimì and Marcello (Ethan Vincent) was especially touching. The final act returned to the garret where it all began, depicting the cyclical and perhaps inevitable nature of things. A short-lived moment of levity was to be had before the heart-wrenching conclusion, certainly one that packed an emotional punch. Milanov certainly has a gift for opera conducting, and I look forward to any future operatic forays from these forces. A shame the severe winter weather prevented a larger audience!