Tag: beethoven

Brooklyn Rider offers healing through music at Chamber Music Columbus

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Brooklyn Rider
Southern Theatre
Columbus, OH
May 21, 2022

Shaw: Schisma
Esmail: Zeher
Dutilleux: Ainsi la nuit
Beethoven: String Quartet No. 15 in A minor, Op. 132

In the concluding entry of Chamber Music Columbus’ 74th season, Brooklyn Rider presented a program drawing upon their recent commissioning project and subsequent album Healing Modes. Inspired by Beethoven’s Op. 132 quartet which the composer used as a means to express his profound gratitude upon healing from illness, the project engaged contemporary composers to explore the healing properties of music. The five works commissioned were premiered by Brooklyn Rider at various venues during the 2018-19 concert season.

Brooklyn Rider, photo credit Shervin Lainez

Caroline Shaw’s Schisma (literally translating from Greek to “cleft”) takes as inspiration the Greek islands which have become makeshift refugee camps for Syrians escaping war. The score was colored by harmonies and figures that wouldn’t have been out of place in a work by Philip Glass (a composer this quartet has recorded extensively), and Shaw made creative use of pizzicatos and the percussive potential of the string instruments’ wooden bodies. A brief work, but the textural variety made for a gripping listen. Reena Esmail’s Zeher (the Hindustani word for “poison”) reflects on the composer’s bout with a throat infection (the titular poison). The Hindustani vocal style was mimicked in the cello (Michael Nicolas – one of Esmail’s classmates at Juilliard), with astringent dissonances in the rest of the ensemble. The work ended with resolution and clarity, finally freed of the pathogen.

The first half was to include the remaining works of the Healing Modes project – traversing pieces of Gabriela Lena Frank, Du Yun, and Mantana Roberts, which I’m keen to explore on BR’s recording – but a previously unannounced program change instead offered a preview of the quartet’s next major endeavor, The Four Elements. The project will seek to explore the four classical elements in musical terms, with Dutilleux’s 1976 work Ainsi la nuit (“Thus the night”) representative of air. Cast in seven movements, Ainsi la nuit is one of the landmark works for string quartet from the late 20th century. A kaleidoscope of moods were traversed in this extensive meditation on the night. It’s a work that challenges the listener, but was made all the more approachable by way of Brooklyn Rider’s committed and incisive performance.

Beethoven’s penultimate string quartet was likewise a landmark of its own time, and certainly a work that continues to speak to listeners. Slow introductory material probed for meaning before the first movement took shape with energy and synergy, given with a poignant dramatic sweep. The minuet that followed was rather lighter fare before the great Heiliger Dankgesang. Even for a composer with so many profound and heart-wrenching slow movements to his name, this is certainly a standout, a gracious paean and the emotional core of the work. Far removed from those meditative musings was the jaunty but brief Alla marcia, and lastly, a darkly-hued, impassioned finale, with the quartet’s fiery playing making matters especially arresting.

ProMusica closes season with Beethoven and Mendelssohn

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ProMusica Chamber Orchestra
David Danzmayr, conductor
Martina Filjak, piano
Southern Theatre
Columbus, OH
May 7, 2022

Clyne: Stride
Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 3 in C minor, Op. 37
 Encore:
 Pärt: Für Alina
Mendelssohn: Symphony No. 4 in A major, Op. 90, Italian

This weekend saw the close of ProMusica’s 43rd season, and the first full season since the pandemic hit. The evening kicked off in particularly delightful fashion with young students from ProMusica’s Play Us Forward program performing two short works for strings. ProMusica then took to the stage with a recent work by Anna Clyne, written in 2020 for the Beethoven 250th anniversary. Stride takes its cue from Beethoven’s Pathétique sonata and its name comes from the broken octave figures in the bass that one finds in the sonata and would later be associated with stride piano playing. Clyne’s work is cast in three interconnected movements, mirroring the structure of the source material. As in the Pathétique, prominent dotted rhythm gestures opened, and the “stride” figures were interlaced with quotes from the sonata, some more veiled than others. I was particularly struck by theme of the rondo finale being presented at a slow tempo, revealing a languid character beneath the surface. A brilliant reimagining of this venerable sonata.

Martina Filjak, David Danzmayr, and ProMusica, photo credit ProMusica

Beethoven reserved C minor for some of his most personal works – a body of work that includes the Pathétique sonata as well as the Third Piano Concerto, the latter of which engaged Croatian pianist Martina Filjak. I remember seeing her last when she won the 2009 edition of the Cleveland International Piano Competition, and it was wonderful to see her again all these years later with a flourishing career to her name. The orchestral introduction was crisply articulated, although one perhaps wanted conductor David Danzmayr to draw out even greater dynamic contrasts and variety. Filjak’s entry had the requisite drama, but her playing was stylish and elegant at heart, showing Beethoven at his most urbane and cosmopolitan. It seemed that she approached the work more akin to a Mozart concerto; while the first two certainly show indebtedness to the composer’s predecessor, the Third marks a stark departure. Nonetheless, the cadenza was fiery and impassioned, and the first movement’s enigmatic ending was deftly executed.

The lovely Largo was prayer-like and plaintive, and the concluding Rondo started with a sudden burst of the energy, building to the brilliant switch to the major in the final few bars. As an encore, Filjak opted for a work worlds apart from Beethoven (despite any associations to Beethoven the title might suggest): Pärt’s Für Alina, strikingly wonderful in its barren textures and mystical musings.

This season has seen several major works of Mendelssohn performed – the Scottish symphony, the violin concerto – and the trend was continued with the ebullient Italian symphony. Some unevenness in the brass did little to detract from the first movement’s buoyancy, given with classical economy and balance. A really delightful performance, perhaps nowhere more so than in the kinetic energy of the vibrant, sunny saltarello that closed.

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.

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.

Soloists shine in Beethoven’s Triple Concerto at ProMusica

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ProMusica Chamber Orchestra
David Danzmayr, conductor
Katherine McLin, violin
Marc Moskovitz, cello
Spencer Myer, piano
Southern Theatre
Columbus, OH
January 23, 2022

Coleridge-Taylor: Four Novelletten, Op. 52 – Nos. 3 & 4
Beethoven: Triple Concerto in C major, Op. 56
Mendelssohn: Symphony No. 3 in A minor, Op. 56, Scottish

A true rarity – and wonderful discovery – opened ProMusica’s January program, namely the latter two entries of Samuel Coleridge-Taylor’s Four Novelletten, scored for string orchestra with a touch of percussion. The Valse was imbued with melancholy, in a similar vein to Tchaikovsky’s Valse mélancolique heard earlier in the day from the Columbus Symphony. Free-falling solo passages from assistant concertmaster Rebecca Willie added much charm, and the modest percussion neatly complemented the strings. A vigorous foil was to be had in the closing Allegro molto – with music of such quality and allure, I wish there had been time for the complete work!

Spencer Myer, Katherine McLin, and Marc Moskovitz with David Danzmayr and ProMusica, photo credit ProMusica

Beethoven’s Triple Concerto formed the heart of the program – and as a somewhat late program change, a tip of the hat to the soloists for nonetheless putting together a tight and convincing performance. ProMusica’s concertmaster Katherine McLin and principal cello Marc Moskovitz were buttressed by pianist Spencer Myer, and the trio purveyed a warm chemistry, both amongst themselves and with the orchestra at large. The graceful orchestral introduction began in the low strings, and Moskovitz’s lyrical cello introduced the soloists – the cello being the most prominent of the trio (in the informative post-concert conversation, it was suggested that this is effectively Beethoven’s cello concerto in all but name). What followed in the spacious opening movement was genial and untroubled, showing a lighter side of the composer – worlds apart from weighty works that comprise the adjacent opus numbers, namely the Eroica symphony and Appassionata piano sonata. The serene Largo peered inward, given with the intimacy of chamber music, before a seamless transition to the rambunctious Rondo alla Polacca, wherein once again the main theme was guided by the cello.

Mendelssohn’s Scottish symphony closed the program and offered the finest playing of the evening. Matters opened in brooding solemnity, conveying the composer’s awe of his Scottish sojourn. The first movement was shrouded in mystery, encouraged by Danzmayr’s taut dynamic control, and often passionate with some particularly notable playing from the clarinet. As a counter to the weight of the preceding, the scherzo was of folksy charm, quintessentially Mendelssohnian in its sparkling textures. A certain solemnity returned in the following movement, heightened by striking chorale writing, while the vigorous finale was an uncompromising affair until the triumphant closing material, unequivocally arriving in the major.

Aizuri Quartet illuminates enterprising program at Chamber Music Columbus

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Aizuri Quartet
Southern Theatre
Columbus, OH
November 13, 2021

Strozzi: L’usignuolo, Op. 1 No. 5, arr. Alex Fortes
Strozzi: L’amante modesto, Op. 1 No. 13, arr. Alex Fortes
Young: Memento mori (Phase I)
Alberga: String Quartet No. 1
Beethoven: String Quartet No. 12 in E-flat Major, Op. 127

With a name derived from a particularly vibrant style of Japanese woodblock printing, the Aizuri Quartet cuts a fittingly dynamic stage presence, and made a welcome appearance at Chamber Music Columbus. During their stay in Columbus, the quartet also found time to work with local music students. As a prelude to the evening, a group of high school age string players showed the fruits of their coaching from Aizuri in a performance of the first movement of Haydn’s “Fifths” quartet. The first half of the Aizuri program was particularly inventive and wide-ranging, spanning repertoire from the seventeenth through twenty-first centuries.

Aizuri Quartet, photo credit Shervin Lainez

The first works performed in fact predate the modern string quartet, namely a pair of madrigals by Barbara Strozzi, both extracted from her first book of works in the medium (Op. 1). Thoughtfully recast for string quartet by violinist Alex Fortes on an Aizuri commission, the present transcriptions afforded the ensemble the opportunity to explore a repertoire otherwise out of scope for a string quartet. Fortes’ skillful use of the quartet deftly imitated the singing of the source material, and both works made for a touching opening statement.

Marked contrast was to be had in the succeeding work as we were fast-forwarded to a 2013 composition by Nina C. Young. Memento mori (Phase I) is the first of four projected works in the series. The Latin title translates to “remember that you will die,” and and its core, this work is concerned with the inevitability of death and the passage of time. It looks towards the past quite literally in interpolating material from Bach’s Art of Fugue, though often buried deep in the intricate fabric of the work. The challenges posed by the rhythmic complexities evidenced the quartet’s tight communication and musical synergy. Ultimately, and perhaps inevitably, the work faded away into the ether. A compelling listen.

Dating from 1993, the String Quartet No. 1 by Jamaican composer Eleanor Alberga made for another unfamiliar but engaging selection. Alberga’s impetus to compose the quartet came from a rather unusual source of inspiration: a physics lecture, in this case concerned with the notion that all matter is derived from star dust. Even if the musical content wasn’t engaging (spoiler alert: it was), the work would still stand out for its inventive tempo indications; surely the first movement takes the prize with the wonderfully multilingual marking “Détaché et matellato e zehr lebhaft und Swing It Man.” Indeed, it was performed with a singular propulsive drive. The spectral central movement (“Espressivo with Wonder and Yearning”) was heightened by a yearning, gracious melody from first violinist Emma Frucht, reaching high into the cosmos. The finale (“Frantically Driven yet Playful”) was a wild ride, punctuated by a striking pizzicato section, and matters came to a close by way of a vigorous chordal gesture.

Though a retreat to more standard repertoire, the latter half was no less ambitious in being devoted to the first of Beethoven’s monumental, incomparable series of late quartets (Op. 127). Resonant chords heralded the work before diving into the heart of the opening movement, spacious and elegant but not without appropriate weight. The slow movement, one of Beethoven’s most expansive, was serene and warm, with the quartet drawing out the individual character of each variation. Far from a mere trifle, the excitement of the scherzo was encouraged by sharp dynamic contrasts. In the finale, a jagged opening gesture melted into a graceful theme, buoyant and dance-like, perpetuating a genial atmosphere before a cascading finish ended on a sequence of chords, just as the work began.

Southern Theatre at intermission during the Aizuri’s performance

The 3 Bs: Blomstedt, Beethoven, and Blossom

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Cleveland Orchestra
Herbert Blomstedt, conductor
Garrick Ohlsson, piano
Blossom Music Center
Cuyahoga Falls, OH
August 1, 2021

Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 4 in G major, Op. 58
Beethoven: Symphony No. 7 in A major, Op. 92

Two of The Cleveland Orchestra’s veteran collaborators – Herbert Blomstedt (now a remarkable 94 years old!) and Garrick Ohlsson – combined forces for a memorable summer evening at Blossom, offering an emblematic piano concerto and symphony of Beethoven. On a personal note, this was my first time seeing a full orchestra in person since before the pandemic, and what a pleasure it was to be back in the audience.

  • Blomstedt, Ohlsson, and The Cleveland Orchestra at Blossom, photo credit Roger Mastroianni, courtesy of The Cleveland Orchestra

The entire trajectory of the Fourth Piano Concerto is set by the brief but beguiling opening statement in the piano. Ohlsson offered a gentle sound, deftly voiced and articulated. A lyrical presentation of the movement’s primary themes followed in the orchestra, a supple accompaniment encouraged by Blomstedt’s graceful direction. Ohlsson blended beautifully with the orchestra with his sterling technique being used for the noblest of causes. Still, the stormier passages were perhaps a bit too genial, certainly when considering what one might expect from the often fiery playing of a pianist known for his mastery of the Romantic repertoire. A wondrous purity of tone was cultivated in the slow movement, and what ensued was an enigmatic dialogue between pianist and orchestra. At this point, the clouds opened up for a heavy rainstorm, but the performers onstage remained unfettered. The finale served as a fitting foil to the seriousness of the preceding, jocular and elegant.

While the Seventh Symphony had bellicose beginnings, it was the gracefulness of Blomstedt’s baton-less conducting that made the strongest impact; the rhythmic motifs that propelled matters forward were lithe and stylish. Top-drawer playing was heard throughout the orchestra, although it was the winds that made for particular standouts with Joshua Smith’s pivotal flute solo pointing the way to the heart of the symphony. The indelible Allegretto was of chilling effect, intensified by the long-bowed strings. In the latter two movements, Blomstedt did much to capitalize on the vivaciousness of the omnipresent dance rhythms, music as joyous and vigorous as anything Beethoven wrote.

Roderick Williams vividly brings Die schöne Magelone to life at 92Y

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Roderick Williams, baritone
Julius Drake, piano
Adam Gopnik, narrator
Cristina Garcia Martin, animations

Theresa L. Kaufmann Concert Hall
92nd Street Y
New York, NY
January 22, 2020

Beethoven: An die ferne Geliebte, Op. 98
Brahms: Romanzen aus L. Tieck’s Die schöne Magelone, Op. 33

If Beethoven didn’t invent the song cycle, surely he was the first great composer to embrace such a structure with his modest yet nonetheless epochal An die ferne Geliebte. In this 250th anniversary of Beethoven’s birth year, all the installments of 92Y’s vocal series include the aforementioned in concert with an entry from the immense body of work it spawned: Roderick Williams and Julius Drake’s Wednesday evening recital paired it with Brahms’ Die schöne Magelone. Before diving in to the Beethoven archetype, the affable Williams addressed the audience with some musings about what constitutes a song cycle, humorously noting that one such distinction is the point at which one applauds.

Roderick-Williams-2-Groves-Artists
Roderick Williams, photo credit Groves Artists

The six songs that comprise An die ferne Geliebte barely stretch a quarter hour, but they say much in little – tautly constructed, and with ingenious transitions in the piano to connect each song to its successor in a continuous arc. Williams’ razor-sharp German diction served to convey the wistfulness in the opening Auf dem Hügel sitz ich spähend, as did the longing appoggiaturas from the keyboard. A texture of roiling triplets marked Leichte Segler in den Höhen, delivered with a lightness of touch though matters grew darker along with the clouds depicted. The closing Nimm sie hin denn, diese Lieder counted as a further highlight in its sonorous resound in conveyance of deep Sehnsucht, with a recurrence of the material from the first song bringing things to a satisfyingly cyclical close.

The rather more extensive Magelone songs – which the program notes rightfully called a “neglected masterpiece” – were given an ambitious multimedia treatment. Brahms asked for portions of Tieck’s prose (published in the late 18th century, drawing on a legend that dates from medieval France) to be read between songs – in many regards, a necessity given the cumbersome narrative and that not all songs are from the protagonist’s point of view. Writer and essayist Adam Gopnik served as a fine narrator, delivering Tieck’s florid text in an English translation by Williams. Additionally, during the narrations, animations by Cristina Garcia Martin were projected, illustrating the tale on a colorful and stylish canvas, and at their best, obviating the need for the audience to meticulously follow along with texts and translations.

The opening Keinen hat es noch gereut was a courtly affair of rollicking energy, while the succeeding Traun! Bogen und Pfeil showed the performers at their most defiant, with Drake offering some extrovert playing, handily surmounting Brahms’ thorny piano writing. Wie soll ich die Freude was a touchingly lyrical expression of bliss and joy – this fairy tale with an eventual happy ending so much the opposite of the tragic depths favored in the Romantic era song cycles – and served as a logical break before the intermission. Wir müssen uns trennen offered delicate imitation of the lute, and here was a clear case where the narration and animation helped frame the song in context – otherwise one might well have been left wondering why at this point the protagonist was singing a heartfelt goodbye to a lute.

By the same token, given the improbability of this fairy tale narrative, I couldn’t help but wonder if these extramusical interjections were altogether necessary – perhaps it is more fruitful to eschew any distractions from a convoluted plot and instead allow the audience to zero in on the exquisitely crafted music in of itself. Wie schnell verschwindet was the first real instance of melancholy, and quite movingly so, but countered in due course by the coquettishness of Sulima. Williams and Drake gave the penultimate Wie froh und frisch mein its requisite heroism, and the closing Treue Liebe dauert lange was a hymn to the power of true love, with Williams’ rich baritone resonating stately and pensive.

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Julius Drake, photo credit Sim Canetty-Clarke

An unexpected Severance Hall debut yields appealing results

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Cleveland Orchestra
Klaus Mäkelä, conductor
Augustin Hadelich, violin
Severance Hall
Cleveland, OH
October 17, 2019

Messiaen: Les Offrandes oubliées
Prokofiev: Violin Concerto No. 2 in G minor, Op. 63
 Encore:
 Tárrega: Recuerdos de la Alhambra
Beethoven: Symphony No. 7 in A major, Op. 92

Following the cancellation of Jaap van Zweden, the weekend’s Cleveland Orchestra concerts found a substitute in the shape of the youthful Finnish conductor Klaus Mäkelä, poised to become chief conductor of the Oslo Philharmonic next season. Thursday counted as Mäkelä’s Severance Hall debut, having first conducted TCO at Blossom just a few months ago. Van Zweden’s program stayed intact save for the originally slated opener of Louis Andriessen’s Agamemnon, which hopefully can be revisited in a future season. When faced with a last-minute program change, most orchestras would opt for the familiar, but not so for TCO who turned attention to Messiaen’s Les Offrandes oubliées.

Makela_17-04-25_067c_A4
Klaus Mäkelä, photo credit Heikki Tuuli

Dating from 1930, Les Offrandes oubliées is the composer’s first published orchestral work (a piano transcription would follow the next year). Structured as triptych in evocation of the trinity, the plaintive opening was almost monastic in its austerity. The central section contrasted in every way, often violent in intensity, and time stood still in the glacially-paced final panel, entranced in spiritual contemplation – even in spite of the particularly vociferous army of coughers present in Thursday night’s audience.

Violinist Augustin Hadelich was also making his Severance Hall debut, having performed with this orchestra a handful of times at Blossom since 2009. Prokofiev’s Violin Concerto No. 2 shows the composer at his most lyrical, beginning unaccompanied with a winding and rather unsettling lyricism emanating from Hadelich’s “Ex-Kiesewetter” Stradivarius. The orchestra supported him via a colorful accompaniment, with Hadelich in deft balance, always achieving a clear projection. The central slow movement features one of Prokofiev’s most lush and lovely melodies, so different from the motoric and mechanistic works of his youthful years as an iconoclastic firebrand. Near the movement’s end was a striking role reversal wherein Hadelich offered a pizzicato accompaniment to buttress the orchestra’s lyricism. The foot-tapping finale was given with a driving vigor, its dance inflections heightened by the use of castanets, also a nod to where the concerto received its 1935 premiere: Madrid. Hadelich’s encore continued the Spanish thread with a transcription of Tárrega’s Recuerdos de la Alhambra, the rapid repeated notes of mesmerizing effect.

The finale of the Prokofiev also dovetailed neatly with the closing Beethoven: none of Beethoven’s works invoke dance as much as the Seventh Symphony, which Wagner famously called “the apotheosis of the dance.” The introduction, the longest of any of the Beethoven symphonies, was given with marked weight in hinting at all that was to come. Rhythmic fragments were introduced, eventually coalescing into the movement proper’s thematic material, heralded by principal flute Joshua Smith. Featherlight textures danced, soon to be countered by the might of the full orchestra. The principal winds were all in fine form, the leading force of the orchestra’s seemingly boundless reserves of energy.

Mäkelä rightly conducted the Allegretto not as a funereal dirge, but in emphasizing its songful beauty, with matters solemn and often awe-inspiring. Rambunctious strings took flight in the scherzo, contrasted by the gleaming brass of its trio. The energy was cranked up yet another notch for the finale, taken at a brisk, uncompromising tempo. An all-around strong showing from a talented young conductor.

Cleveland Orchestra’s 100th season closes in the magnificence of Beethoven’s Ninth

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Cleveland Orchestra
Franz Welser-Möst, conductor

Erin Wall, soprano
Jennifer Johnston, mezzo-soprano
Norbert Ernst, tenor
Dashon Burton, bass-baritone

Cleveland Orchestra Chorus
Lisa Wong, director

Severance Hall
Cleveland, OH
May 17, 2018

Beethoven: Große Fuge, Op. 133 (version for string orchestra)
Beethoven: Symphony No. 9 in D minor, Op. 125, Choral

Note: for comments on the May 10 performance, inclusive of Symphony Nos. 1 & 3 and the Overture to The Creatures of Prometheus, please see here. For the performances from May 11-13 of Symphony Nos. 2 and 4-8 along with the Egmont, Coriolan, and Leonore overtures, please see here.

The Cleveland Orchestra’s watershed centennial season, as well as the ambitious Prometheus Project has reached a glorious conclusion with a pair of Beethoven’s monumental masterpieces. While the biggest draw was certainly the exultant Ninth Symphony, the inclusion of the Große Fuge made the final entry in the series much more than a traversal of that well-known symphony, but a probing survey of the apex of Beethoven’s late style. Originally the concluding movement of the Op. 130 string quartet, the daunting Große Fuge functioned remarkably well independently; presented in transcription for string orchestra, it has appeared with frequency on a Welser-Möst program in spite of (or perhaps because of) its rigor.

Cleveland Orchestra, Beethoven
Welser-Möst conducting the Große Fuge, all photos credit Ken Blaze, Courtesy of The Cleveland Orchestra

The string quartet’s orchestral potential was in full bloom here, immediately apparent from richness of the strings in the jarring opening and spiky dissonances. Calmer interludes only occasionally mitigated the bracing severity of the work, and it was quite a sight to so many bows in perfect synchronization, even in the most dizzyingly complex passages wherein Beethoven fully realized his contrapuntal potential hinted at in the Ninth Symphony.

That symphony, of unprecedented length during its time, generously filled the balance of the lavish program. Opening with protean, elemental germs of themes, it explored the most fundamental of intervals before coalescing into a rigorous sonata allegro, given with the precision and drive of a well-oiled machine. The scherzo of the Ninth is no lightweight trifle, but a creation just as weighty as the opening movement which the orchestra played with a relentless vigor, at times proceeding with a march-like swagger, elsewhere, as if in ghostly imitation of itself. Rustic warmth from the horns and the songfulness of the strings made for a trio that occupied a world apart. A choir of winds introduced the slow movement, giving way to a theme in the strings of absolute serenity, a moment where such a stormy figure as Beethoven was truly at peace with the world – in line with the love transcendent expressed unambiguously through Schiller’s text in the finale.

Even after two centuries, the vast closing movement stands in a class of its own in its ingenious melding of orchestra, choir, and soloists, as well the way it manages to encapsulate the entire symphony as a unified whole. A striking bitonality functioned as a call to arms, the climax of the tension between D minor and B flat major established early on. The main theme of each preceding movement was presented sequentially, a reminiscence as refracted through a newfound vantage point and punctuated by instrumental recitatives. The “Ode to Joy” first surfaced in the low strings, seemingly innocuous but blossoming to the full orchestra in due course.

Bass-baritone Dashon Burton had a commanding recitative in the work’s first vocal appearance, delivering text written by the composer himself as a prologue to Schiller’s poem. There was a satisfying sense of coming full circle in engaging Burton for the season finale as he had last appeared on this stage during the performance of The Cunning Little Vixen with which this season began. The quartet of vocal soloists was remarkably well-balanced and of a natural chemistry; tenor Norbert Ernst had a notable moment during the movement’s “Turkish” episode while Erin Wall and Jennifer Johnston filled out the upper registers. Most impressive, however, was the stunning power of the chorus, particularly in the dazzling fugato, expertly prepared under the direction of Lisa Wong (who was officially promoted to chorus director just the day before). In taut cohesion with their orchestral counterparts, they led the symphony to a close of magnificent splendor, a memorable end to a memorable season.

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