Tag: cleveland orchestra

Masterful Brahms and completion of Prokofiev cycle at The Cleveland Orchestra

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Cleveland Orchestra
Franz Welser-Möst, conductor
Daniil Trifonov, piano
Mandel Concert Hall
Severance Music Center
Cleveland, OH
October 9, 2025

Prokofiev: Symphony No. 7 in C-sharp minor, Op. 131
Brahms: Piano Concerto No. 2 in B-flat major, Op. 83

Encore:
Prokofiev: No. 20 from Visions fugitives, Op. 22

I’ve been intrigued by Franz Welser-Möst’s endeavor to perform and record all seven of the Prokofiev symphonies with The Cleveland Orchestra. After some eight years, that cycle came to fruition this weekend with the enigmatic Seventh Symphony, the last major work the composer completed. Only the First and Fifth of these symphonies are performed with any regularity, so it’s been a welcome opportunity to discover the rest — though the quality can be uneven.

Daniil Trifonov performs Brahms with The Cleveland Orchestra. Photos credit Human Artist / Yevhen Gulenko

Moderately-paced material opened the work in the unusual key of C-sharp minor (common in the piano literature, rare for the orchestra), somewhat mysterious in character in the way that composers’ late works often are. The lyricism was straightforward and unadorned, but what stood out were the striking instrumental combinations, spattered with liberal use of the glockenspiel. A scherzo followed with vestiges of a waltz. A bit spikier than the restrained opening, it was still generally reserved until the boisterous close.

In the Andante espressivo, one was reminded of the poignant lyricism in Prokofiev’s ballet scores, contrasted by the playful and rather sardonic finale. The composer revised the original quiet ending for a bombastic one in an attempt to better appease the Soviet authorities, but was to said to have preferred the original — a preference which Welser-Möst rightfully respected in these performances.

Having been educated at the Cleveland Institute of Music on the precipice of his meteoric rise, pianist Daniil Trifonov remains a local favorite. He served as a probing soloist in Brahms’ daunting Second Piano Concerto (a follow up to his performance of the First two seasons ago — so effectively, another cycle came to a close Thursday evening). An amber horn call opened to herald the gentle arpeggios that rolled across the keyboard. Right at the beginning there was a solo cadenza which put Trifonov’s bold sound and rich tone on full display. An impassioned performance, he conceived the spacious first movement in broad strokes, with piano and orchestra functioning as equal partners in a work that’s perhaps more symphony than concerto.

Though the two works on this program had little in common, they mirrored each other in terms of structure, so as with the Prokofiev, a scherzo followed ahead of the slow movement. Brahms’ was generally a sunny affair though not without discord, played with a driving intensity that was briefly abated during the gentler trio and a passage of ravishing lyricism. Principal cellist Mark Kosower opened the Andante with a gorgeous solo, also serving to give the pianist a momentary but well-earned rest. This slow movement made for a serene moment in an otherwise energetic work. And despite the weight and seriousness of the preceding, the closing movement was of joyous abandon.

As an encore, Trifonov fittingly returned to the composer that opened the evening in Prokofiev, namely the last of the Visions fugitives, a suite of twenty artfully crafted miniatures for piano (the pianist performs the whole set on his recital programs this season). A touching way to bring the evening full-circle.

Hamelin a star soloist in Cleveland Orchestra’s feast of American music

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Cleveland Orchestra
David Robertson, conductor
Marc-André Hamelin, piano
Mandel Concert Hall
Severance Music Center
Cleveland, OH
November 29, 2024

Copland: Suite from Appalachian Spring (1945 orchestration)
Gershwin: Rhapsody in Blue (arr. Grofé)
Ellington: New World A-Comin’
Copland: Suite from The Tender Land

Over the Thanksgiving weekend, The Cleveland Orchestra and guest conductor David Roberston served up a rich course of American orchestral music. As the centerpiece was a pair of works for piano and orchestra with virtuoso Marc-André Hamelin, both of which artfully brought jazz and popular traditions into the concert hall.

Marc-André Hamelin, David Robertson, and The Cleveland Orchestra perform Rhapsody in Blue. Photos credit Extraordinaire Photos

This year marks the centennial of Gershwin’s epochal Rhapsody in Blue, and the evening’s performers offered an energetic and joyous performance fitting for such an anniversary. The work was presented in its original jazz band orchestration arranged by Ferde Grofé, as it would have been heard in its 1924 premiere at Carnegie Hall — and The Cleveland Orchestra morphed into a bona fide dance hall band.

The iconic wail of the clarinet opened the work, stylishly played by Daniel McKelway. A muted trumpet responded in its striking timbre, setting the stage for Hamelin’s commanding pianism, given with flair and virtuosity. In this amalgamation of the classical and the vernacular, the two resided not in opposition, but as a unified whole. A downtempo section was a sultry affair, while a passage of repeated notes conveyed the mechanistic fury of the Industrial Age, not unlike what one finds in Prokofiev at the same time. All cares were left aside though in the abandon of the foot-tapping finale.

Duke Ellington’s 1943 work New World A-Comin’ premiered under similar circumstances as the Gershwin: a Carnegie Hall performance that endeavored to break the confines of the traditional classical repertoire. Unlike Rhapsody in Blue, Ellington’s work was not initially well-received. Credit, then to Hamelin et al. for offering a compelling performance. A lushly-scored opening in the orchestra gave way to a quasi-improvisatory passage for piano, with silky filigree and silvery runs, colored by jazz-inflected harmonies. A drum kit onstage added to the rhythmic pulse. Comprised of alternating sections for orchestra and piano, it lacked the cohesion of the Gershwin, but proved an attractive discovery nonetheless. On the subject of jazz-influenced classical works, Hamelin’s 2008 album In a state of jazz is warmly recommended.

Bookending the concertante works was music of Aaron Copland, in both cases orchestral suites extracted from stage works. Appalachian Spring made for a lovely opening to the evening. Earthy harmonies began, brimming with hope and possibility. Robertson and the orchestra gently breathed life into this soft-spoken material, starkly different from the bustling Manhattan streetscape conveyed in Gershwin’s Rhapsody. More angular material was enhanced by the sheen of the brass, and rhythmic inflections conveyed a dance-like quality — this was, after all, originally a ballet. A magical moment saw the first appearance of the Simple gifts hymn, first in the winds and then blooming to its magnificent orchestration. The loveliest of epilogues concluded, wholly at peace.

Less well-known was the three movement suite from Copland’s opera The Tender Land, dating about a decade after Appalachian Spring. Strident, brassy beginnings retreated inward for a gentle love song. A specialist of the American repertoire, Robertson served as a keen guide in this deeply lyrical writing. A boisterous, raucous “Party Scene” took matters in a rather different direction, splashed by piquant touches from the xylophone. The closing “Promise of the Living” was a peaceful paean with a fine English horn solo, and a touching, topical close for the Thanksgiving program.

And for those who couldn’t make it to Severance Hall in person, Sunday’s performance was live-streamed and subsequently available on demand through Adella and Stage+.

David Robertson applauds Marc-André Hamelin

Wesler-Möst and Cleveland Orchestra riveting in iconoclastic symphonies of Prokofiev and Webern

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Cleveland Orchestra
Franz Welser-Möst, conductor
Mandel Concert Hall
Severance Music Center
Cleveland, OH
January 18, 2024

Prokofiev: Symphony No. 2 in D minor, Op. 40
Webern: Symphony, Op. 21
Prokofiev: Symphony No. 5 in B-flat major, Op. 100

Franz Welser-Möst is back in Cleveland to start the year off with two weeks of subscription concerts before taking the orchestra on tour to Carnegie Hall and Miami. The conductor seemed in robust form, his first local appearance since undergoing cancer treatment, as well as official confirmation that he will be stepping down as music director in 2027, following a remarkable quarter century in that capacity.

Welser-Möst conducts Prokofiev, photo credit Roger Mastroianni

Thursday’s program offered three works all bearing the title “symphony” and composed within the span of two decades, but each vastly different conceptions of the form. The evening was bookended by Prokofiev, beginning with the rarely-heard Second Symphony. The conductor has turned ample attention to Prokofiev in recent seasons, including traversals of the lesser-known symphonies, albeit with mixed results when the work is more curiosity than masterpiece – though I found the Second to be much more convincing than the Third or Fourth. It’s also worth nothing that the Second was last intended to be performed in March 2020, only to be the first of months of Covid cancellations.

The work opened blistering and uncompromising, in mechanistic fury – in the composer’s own words, music of “iron and steel.” A product of the 1920s, it embraced a celebration of industry that also gave inspiration to Varèse, Antheil, and Honegger, as well as Prokofiev’s own Scythian Suite. Rhythmic pulsating continued unabated with the industriousness of an assembly line, and Welser-Möst managed to find clarity amongst the busy textures. The work’s unusual structure has been compared to that of Beethoven’s final piano sonata: a stormy sonata-form opening movement, followed by an expansive set of variations. A flowing oboe melody (Frank Rosenwein) carved out the theme, a somber turn inward. Animated transformations of the theme followed, while the fourth variation served as the work’s only extended slow passage. The manic and frenetic came back in due course, and strikingly, the theme returned at the end in its unadulterated form, with hauntingly orchestrated final chords shrouded in mystery.

Anton Webern’s sole symphony follows a similar two movement form, but couldn’t be more different. The orchestra was reduced to modest, classically-sized proportions, and barren, almost emaciated textures. Conductor and orchestra gave the coloristic score a nuanced, exacting reading, with the composer’s distinctive Klangfarbenmelodie technique yielding a protean ebb and flow as gestures were passed throughout the ensemble.

Prokofiev’s masterpiece in the form, the Fifth, closed the program (which like the Second, has also been recently recorded by these forces). The orchestra again swelled to the brim of the stage, and articulated a broad opening statement in which one felt the voice of a man with newfound energy and confidence. Welser-Möst emphasized the grand sweep of the movement, pointing towards a triumphant, blazing finale. The Allegro marcato had mechanistic echoes of the earlier symphony, highlighted by the shrill clarinet of Afendi Yusuf as well as prominent piano. With its militant snares, this is to my ears the closest Prokofiev came to sounding like his Soviet compatriot Shostakovich.

The brooding triple meter of the Adagio wouldn’t have sounded out of place in Romeo and Juliet which dates from a similar time, while the angular main melody of the finale had a distinctly Soviet feel. Welser-Möst was keen not to hit the listeners all at once by way of a slow, carefully-judged buildup in potency, leading to the pile-driving intensity of the work’s final statement. This weekend’s Carnegie Hall audiences certainly have an invigorating listen in store.

Inkinen makes Cleveland Orchestra debut in hearty Eastern European program

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Cleveland Orchestra
Pietari Inkinen, conductor
Augstin Hadelich, violin
Mandel Concert Hall
Severance Music Center
Cleveland, OH
November 24, 2023

Dvořák: Othello Overture, Op. 93
Tchaikovsky: Violin Concerto in D major, Op. 35
 Encore:
 Forrester: Wild Fiddler’s Rag
Dvořák: Symphony No. 8 in G major, Op. 88

The Thanksgiving weekend saw the Finnish conductor Pietari Inkinen make his Cleveland Orchestra debut in a program of works all composed within just over a decade and from the heart of Eastern Europe. Dvořák’s Othello Overture opened, conceived as the final entry of a trilogy of related overtures. Written just four years after Verdi’s landmark opera on the same subject, Dvořák likely drew inspiration from the Italian he greatly admired, though his overture tended to suggest the essence of the Shakespearean source material rather than spell out a specific narrative.

Pietari Inkinen, photo credit pietariinkinen.com

Slow and somber introductory material built to music of great drama. It seemed that Inkinen could have benefited from some additional rehearsal time with a handful of uncoordinated entrances, but an effective performance was managed nonetheless. The slow material returned at the end, with stentorian brass strikingly invoking the slumber motif from Wagner’s Die Walküre as something of a final prayer before the unequivocally tragic end. So much of the time Dvořák is programmed we hear one of the last few symphonies (or the cello concerto), but this overture was a welcome discovery, and should certainly encourage listens to look at Dvořák’s orchestral corpus beyond the warhorses.

The balance of the program, however, was dedicated to warhorses – and in no way a detriment! Tchaikovsky’s evergreen Violin Concerto called upon soloist Augustin Hadelich. A gentle dip set things in motion in this most graceful of openings, with Hadelich’s solo line articulate, keenly phrased, and above all, richly lyrical. Nimble and nuanced, he displayed some especially impressive fingerwork in the cadenza. A choir of winds opened the central Canzonetta, and the songful, mournful violin purveyed a delicate cantilena. The finale is such joyous affair for someone who lived such a tragic life as its composer, and Hadelich’s sprightly virtuosity closed the work in the highest spirits. He returned for a well-deserved encore, his own arrangement of Howdy Forrester’s Wild Fiddler’s Rag – a piece of great fun with its bluesy inflections.

Franz Welser-Möst set the bar high for Dvořák’s Eighth Symphony two seasons ago; while Inkinen didn’t quite reach that height, it was here he made the strongest impression – and opted to conduct this score from memory. The deeply lyrical opening gesture gave way in due course to material of an inimitable Bohemian charm, aided by fine solo passages from the principal winds. Still, greater dynamic contrast would have helped, with conductor leaning a bit too heavily in the orchestra’s upper end of the range.

A bucolic slow movement built to a resonant climax, and the lovely Allegretto grazioso was flowing and deftly shaped, though a tad rushed for my taste. The call to arms in the trumpet initiated the energetic and often boisterous finale, nearly overflowing with gracious material that never strayed far from the composer’s Czech origins. On a final note, how gratifying it was to see nearly every seat of Severance Hall filled, and with such a warm, enthusiastic audience.

Augustin Hadelich, photo credit Suxiao Yang

Cleveland Orchestra strikes operatic gold in La fanciulla del West

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Cleveland Orchestra
Franz Welser-Möst, conductor

Emily Magee, soprano (Minnie)
Roman Burdenko, baritone (Jack Rance)
Limmie Pulliam, tenor (Dick Johnson)
Tony Stevenson, tenor (Nick)

Scott Conner, bass (Ashby)
Iurii Samoilov, baritone (Sonora)
Owen McCausland, tenor (Trin)
Joseph Lattanzi, baritone (Sid)
Benjamin Taylor, baritone (Bello)
Joseph Tancredi, tenor (Harry)
Alex McKissick, tenor (Joe)
Joseph Barron, bass-baritone (Happy)
Kyle Miller, baritone (Jim Larkens)
Zachary Altman, bass-baritone (Billy Jackrabbit)
Taylor Raven, mezzo-soprano (Wowkle)
John Brancy, baritone (Jake Wallace)
Michael Adams, baritone (Jose Castro)
John-Joseph Haney, tenor (Pony Express Rider)

Men of the Cleveland Orchestra Chorus

Mandel Concert Hall
Severance Music Center
Cleveland, OH
May 20, 2023

Puccini: La fanciulla del West

I’ve long felt the Franz Welser-Möst’s greatest achievement as Cleveland Orchestra music director lies in his programming of complete operas, and last weekend’s performance of Puccini’s Fanciulla del West only furthered cemented my contention. Welser-Möst certainly has stellar operatic credentials, holding directorships of the major opera houses of both Zurich and Vienna. Puccini’s 1910 work tends to be overshadowed by the blockbusters that surround it, but Welser-Möst along with TCO and a strong vocal cast made quite the compelling case for it.

Emily Magee as Minnie in The Cleveland Orchestra’s La fanciulla del West, photos credit Roger Mastroianni, courtesy of The Cleveland Orchestra

Announced well before the pandemic – a sign of the long-range planning behind putting on such an ambitious production with an international cast – some cast changes were perhaps all but inevitable, with Emily Magee stepping in for Tamara Wilson as Minnie, and Roman Burdenko singing the role of Jack Rance in place of the originally announced Eric Owens. Though perhaps not as deeply familiar as La bohème or Madama Butterfly, the arresting, lush beginnings from the orchestra made matters instantly recognizable as Puccini, surging with a passion only he could write.

Singing of homesickness – what must have been a common experience for those braving the American West – Kyle Miller’s Jim Larkens was a lovely, inward moment, touchingly accompanied by the harp. Minnie’s entrance showed Emily Magee – despite suffering from a cold – to be a commanding presence, mastering the daunting role. I envy audiences who saw the two performances prior to Saturday, in which her voice presumably would have been in even stronger shape. She blended beautifully with Limmie Pulliam’s Dick Johnson, closing Act I in a sumptuous duet.

This arc continued into the second act, with a rapturous love scene between them before conflict erupted, gunshots chillingly fired, and matters built to the tensely climactic poker scene. The final act began in cacophonous tumult, with the now captured Johnson booming and defiant to the end. Minnie implored for compassion in a heartfelt dialogue with the miners (“Ah! Ah! È Minnie!”), persuasive enough to afford a redemptive ending – for Puccini, a rarity indeed!

Buttressing the cast of soloists were the men of the Cleveland Orchestra Chorus, colorfully portraying a miscellany of miners at a Gold Rush camp. Performing the work in a concert hall rather than an opera house allowed The Cleveland Orchestra to be front and center rather than relegated to the pit – and rightfully so, as they were perhaps the true star of the show, with meticulous and compelling playing that served Puccini well. One doesn’t always get to hear an opera anchored by such fine orchestral playing, certainly a high note on which to close the 2022-23 concert season.

Franz Welser-Möst leads The Cleveland Orchestra, Chorus, and soloists in La fanciulla del West

Cleveland Orchestra presents fascinating survey of American orchestral works

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Cleveland Orchestra
Daniel Reith, conductor
Mandel Concert Hall
Severance Music Center
Cleveland, OH
May 19, 2023

Joplin: Overture to Treemonisha
Perry: Short Piece for Orchestra
Still: Darker America
Herrmann: Suite from Vertigo
Chacon: Voiceless Mass
Varèse: Amériques

In one of the most intriguing entries of The Cleveland Orchestra’s wide-ranging American Dream festival, the orchestra offered a truly fascinating program of works that respond to the concept of the American dream in some fashion, unearthing selections that lie far beyond the confines of the standard repertoire. An engaging pre-concert discussion led by musicologists Kira Thurman and Douglas W. Shadle provided thought-provoking insight into the works to be performed.

Opening of Joplin’s Treemonisha

An indisposed Franz Welser-Möst was obliged to bow out Friday evening (but fortunately was well enough to conduct the closing performance of La fanciulla del West the following night), leaving the reins in the able hands of assistant conductor Daniel Reith. I’ve long been intrigued by Scott Joplin’s 1911 opera Treemonisha, a major contribution to American music – and unjustly neglected. It’s really quite unprecedented for a major orchestra to perform Joplin, so kudos to the TCO for opening the evening with the opera’s overture. It began energetically with carefree abandon, contrasted by an arching lyricism and the composer’s penchant from chromaticism. The brass warmly conveyed slower, more poignant material, a theme that resurfaces in the opera in the closing A Real Slow Drag.

Julia Perry has been a fascinating discovery to this listener. It seems there’s been a resurgence of interest in her as of late here in Ohio – and rightly so, as she spent much of her life in Akron. A recent Columbus Symphony performance of Study for Orchestra was quite eye-opening, and TCO’s inclusion of the Short Piece for Orchestra was no less revelatory – a quantity which Columbus’ ProMusica also has on tap for next season. Terse, strident gestures marked Perry’s sophisticated language, given by TCO with exacting clarity. An intense, unforgiving work, ending definitively in a crash.

Perry completed formative studies abroad in Europe; likewise William Grant Still turned towards European influence in studying with Edgard Varèse (and Joplin was taught music by a German immigrant, who would introduce him to the operas of Wagner – later to become an inspiration for Treemonisha). In the pre-concert talk, it was suggested that for Black Americans, as with these three composers, the American dream was escaping, and look to Europe which was comparatively more enlightened in terms of racial oppression. TCO selected Still’s 1924 tone poem Darker America, his first major orchestral work. A generally restrained work, it opened with a lyrical gesture in the low strings, with some fine solo passages from the flute and clarinet. Blue notes shaping the melodic line caught one’s ear, sounding not unlike Gerhswin’s Rhapsody in Blue, written the same year.

At first glance, the suite from Bernard Herrmann’s score to the Hitchcock film Vertigo seemed like a misfit. But, film scores constitute a significant chapter of American orchestral music, and the film in question deals with dreams in its way. Neatly divided into three movements, the suite’s opening “Prelude” was awash in lush, colorful scoring, gleaming in cinematic brilliance. Chilling dissonances brought “The Nightmare” – a direct reference to the dreamworld – to life, while the closing “Scène d’amour” surged with lavish chromaticism, reminding one of TCO’s 2018 festival centered around Tristan und Isolde.

In 2022, Raven Chacon became the first Native American to be awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Music, granted for his remarkable work Voiceless Mass. Reduced to chamber-sized scoring for organ, flute, clarinet, bass clarinet, two percussionists, strings, and sine tones, the musicians were dispersed throughout the hall, with Reith conducting faced towards the audience, achieving a surround-sound effect. The twenty minute essay was often of meditative stasis, though a pulsating bass drum was ominous and omnipresent. With the lights dimmed, a remarkable atmosphere was sustained until matters drifted away to silence. For the indigenous population, the reality of the American dream often proved to be more of a nightmare; Chacon’s somber work gives one the space to reflect on a such a stark contrast.

After Chacon’s barren minimalism, matters turned sumptuously maximalist in Varèse’s Amériques, presented in its 1929 revision (a work also captured on TCO’s A New Century recording). A wandering alto flute solo opened, giving way as the vigor and energy of a bustling metropolis was amassed, replete with percussive bursts and screeching sirens. Thrilling orchestral effect abounded in this dizzyingly intricate tapestry, given with singular intensity.

Mäkelä returns to Cleveland with stunning Shostakovich

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Cleveland Orchestra
Klaus Mäkelä, conductor
Nikolaj Szeps-Znaider, violin
Mandel Concert Hall
Severance Music Center
Cleveland, OH
April 23, 2022

Sibelius: Violin Concerto in D minor, Op. 47
 Encore:
 Bach: Partita No. 2 in D minor, BWV 1004 – Sarabande
Shostakovich: Symphony No. 10 in E minor, Op. 93

Following one of the most memorable debuts in recent seasons, the amazingly youthful Finnish conductor Klaus Mäkelä made a much-anticipated return to Cleveland in a meaty program of Sibelius and Shostakovich. Sibelius was represented by way of his towering Violin Concerto, a work first performed in Cleveland in 1922 by Ferenc Vecsey, the concerto’s dedicatee. The work opened shrouded in mysterious tremolos, with soloist Nikolaj Szeps-Znaider pointing the way with resonant lyricism. Thornier material swiftly multiplied virtuoso demands, played with aplomb and searing passion – and the energetic orchestral accompaniment evidenced Mäkelä’s innate understanding of his fellow Finn.

Nikolaj Szeps-Znaider, Klaus Mäkelä, and The Cleveland Orchestra, photo credit Roger Mastroianni, courtesy of The Cleveland Orchestra

Szeps-Znaider’s command of his instrument was on full display in the extended cadenza, intriguingly placed in the center of the movement in emphasis of its structural significance. Much-need repose was to be had in the central Adagio di molto, noted for its wonderfully long-breathed melody. Contrast was once again found in the finale with its foot-tapping polonaise rhythms. As an encore, the violinist offered a deeply poignant Bach sarabande which he noted to be his token of gratitude for being back in Cleveland for the first time post-pandemic.

Quiet rumblings began Shostakovich’s mighty Tenth Symphony, reaching towards ponderous depths. A forlorn clarinet solo – which has been astutely compared to Mahler’s Urlicht – was profoundly moving, and the climaxes scaled cataclysmic heights – a pacing that benefitted from the conductor’s singular sense of architecture. An unexpected physical manifestation of the intensity with which he conducted came when he inadvertently knocked over the concertmaster’s music stand! The brief Allegro, often thought to be a portrait of Stalin, was unrelenting and uncompromising, not in the least during the machine gun fire of the percussion.

Rather flippant by comparison, the Allegretto introduced the DSCH motive, with the politically engaged composer ever keen to willingly inject himself into the commentary. The gleaming Elmira motive in the horn further solidified the composer’s personal connection to the work. A slow introduction – the closest thing to a proper slow movement in this symphony – opened the finale, as if the composer was gathering together his final thoughts. The DSCH returned in incessant prominence, hammered home for a powerhouse conclusion. Just a stunning performance from this dynamic podium presence.

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.

Cleveland Orchestra’s stellar Mozart and Dvořák bookends Deutsch premiere

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Cleveland Orchestra
Franz Welser-Möst, conductor
Mandel Concert Hall
Severance Music Center
Cleveland, OH
January 15, 2022

Mozart: Symphony No. 36 in C major, K425, Linz
Deutsch: Intensity
Dvořák: Symphony No. 8 in G major, Op. 88

Under the baton of music director Franz Welser-Möst, The Cleveland Orchestra offered familiar and appealing symphonies of Mozart and Dvořák as bookends to a compelling premiere from its current composer in residence. Mozart’s Linz symphony made for a pearly opener. The dotted rhythms which opened the slow introduction were punctuated with heft while the ensuing Allegro spiritoso was a fittingly lighter affair, given with such energy as to mirror the frenetic pace at which it was composed. The Andante was delicate and intricately refined by way of Welser-Möst’s exacting attention to articulation and dynamics. In the Menuetto, one was struck by the rhythmic swagger, and the bold, big sound of the modern orchestra which the conductor cultivated – something of a foil to Nicholas McGegan’s airier and comparatively more historically-informed performance of the work a few seasons ago. Contrast was further sharpened by the rather more genial trio, and the finale was given with crystalline clarity even at breakneck tempo.

Bernd Richard Deutsch and The Cleveland Orchestra, photo credit Roger Mastroianni, courtesy of The Cleveland Orchestra

Bernd Richard Deutsch’s Okeanos made a strong impression on this listener when performed by the orchestra in March 2019 (and captured on the excellent A New Century). As the current Daniel R. Lewis Young Composer Fellow, Deutsch was commissioned to write a new work for TCO, originally slated for a May 2020 performance but inevitably postponed until this weekend. The product of this residency was Intensity, an aptly titled twenty-minute fantasy scored for massive orchestral forces – including a particularly extensive percussion battery. A sense of wound-up energy, pregnant with potential permeated the opening bars, and the colorful timbres of the percussion were utilized from the opening notes. Lyrical interludes at various interludes offered an anchor in otherwise stormy waters. The middle of the work’s three sections was spectral and dissipated, achieved through the striking aural palette of high strings, muted brass, percussion, and celesta. The namesake intensity ramped up again in the final section, encouraged by the boisterous percussion and finally culminating in a blast in the brass. A fitting tribute to the virtuosity and technical prowess of the The Cleveland Orchestra, and I hope a recording is released in the near future.

Dvořák’s Symphony No. 8 is certainly one of the most popular in the repertoire, but this performance was refreshingly far above the routine and pedestrian. Passionate beginnings, as coaxed from the resonant cellos, persisted for only a moment before the work’s sunny disposition shone through. Joshua Smith’s solo flute passages were a highlight, and Welser-Möst opted for a brisk tempo, keenly avoiding over-sentimentalizing. The Adagio showed Dvořák at his most lyrical, although a brilliant brass section added bold contrast. The Allegretto grazioso positively sparkled in its lilting textures, while clarion trumpets heralded the finale wherein the conductor guided the orchestra with conviction through the myriad of guises of this rousing theme and variations.

The 3 Bs: Blomstedt, Beethoven, and Blossom

On By Sam JacobsonIn cleveland1 Comment

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.