The constancy of change

I made a stock pot of Split Pea Soup, enough to last a week, to counter the cold weather this weekend.

 While the soup simmered I had some spare time, so I decided to peruse the latest updates to Google Earth.  There has been quite a bit of development in South Euclid, the suburb where I live.  My sisters and I spent nine years living on Queen Mary Drive, 1971-1980.  There was a wooded area behind our house.  I vividly recall climbing very high up a tree in those woods one day, only to have the branch I was on snap.  Had I not grabbed branches to slow my descent as I fell, I surely would have been seriously injured.  Now those trees are gone.  

My childhood neighborhood as it appeared in 2023.  My parents' former house with the reddish/brown roof is just above the wooded area near the top of the photo.  The wooded area along with the large grassy area was sold by four homeowners on Trebisky Road (the north/south street at the right of the photo) to a developer a few years ago.  Queen Ann Court dead-ended at the field.

The developer built 16 homes on the land he acquired and here's the neighborhood as it now appears.  

This is not the only development in this area since my parents' house was sold.  While we were there, a small farm owned by the Whigam family stood just west of Trebisky Road.  We would walk there and buy corn on the cob and other produce when it was in season.  In the 1980s the family sold the farm and the land was developed into Daryl Drive.  

Here's another example of development, closer to South Euclid's central core.  Two empty lots are being developed into townhouses.  The upper lot is off of Francis Court, a one-way street that connects Prasse Road with South Euclid's main drag, Mayfield Road.  The lower lot is off Sheffield Road, behind the post office.  My sister Sarah and I both have memories of the lower area.  My sister was a pitcher on the SELREC softball team, which played on this field.  Years later, when I was a high school student, my friends and I used to hang out here after hours and sneak beers.  One time we saw a police car in the distance and booked it out of there.  This was in 1984 so I assume the statute of limitations has long since passed.

The large green area at the lower right is the former SELREC ballfield.  SELREC disbanded years ago and, as both South Euclid and Lyndhurst have recreation centers along with plenty of parkland, they had no use for the land.

 

The area in 2025, the open areas at the lower right and upper center being prepared for construction.  The projects are expected to be complete by the end of 2026.

With all these developments, those who live on the adjoining streets may feel inconvenienced.  Their lives are being disrupted by construction and once complete, the neighborhood will have a higher density than before, to say nothing of the tree loss.  But the nature of our capitalist society is that whoever owns the land, whether an individual or a developer, has the right to do what he wants with it - subject to certain zoning limitations.  Sure, the city could refuse to issue a construction permit, but the city would then be sued and lose.  Finally, it must be pointed out that these developments will bring property and income taxes to the city and the local schools - and given that the city's population has dropped by about 27% since its peak in 1970, the city needs the income to maintain infrastructure like roads - maintenance which doesn't get cheaper with less population.

 

Mozart and Shostakovich Symphonies at Severance

Contrasting symphonies from the 18^th and 20^th centuries were on the program at this weekend’s Cleveland Orchestra concerts led by music director Franz Welser-Möst.

First, a personal note: I was returning from a quick trip to Florida yesterday and landed in Cleveland a mere three and a half hours before the concert.  I collected my luggage, raced home, had dinner, and headed to Severance Hall in time for the pre-concert lecture.  What I had not anticipated was that, despite wearing my noise-cancelling Air Pods during the flights, my tinnitus was aggravated by the plane ride.  Accordingly, I had some difficulty hearing high frequencies during the concert.  I was also quite tired.  Fortunately, the concert was made available via the Adella app and I was able to watch again in the morning before writing this review. 

The concert began with one of my favorite symphonies: Mozart’s Symphony No. 41 in C major, K. 551 – the so-called “Jupiter.”  The nickname likely originates with the work’s first publisher, who probably appended it to add to the sales appeal for the work’s first publication a few years after Mozart’s death.  The composer created this work, his last symphony, in a mere 16 days.  It was one of several works composed for a concert in 1788 which apparently never took place, and it appears the work was never performed in Mozart’s lifetime.  The work has a propulsive quality that anticipates what Beethoven would achieve early in the following century.  Welser-Möst’s approach balanced this propulsiveness with Viennese elegance, favoring transparent textures and tempos that were on the fast side, particularly in the work’s second movement.  Welser-Möst injected some humor into the Menuetto’s trio via some naughty rubato – maybe as a reminder that Mozart liked to imbibe. 

Dmitri Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 11 in G minor, Op. 103 – titled “The Year 1905” by the composer, could hardly be more different than Mozart’s.  About the only thing the two works have in common is that they both have four movements – but even this similarity is deceptive as Mozart’s are distinctive while Shostakovich’s are interconnected.  The latter composer’s work is double the length of Mozart’s, uses a much larger orchestra, ends tragically, and commemorates an event: the  Russian Revolution of 1905, which began with the massacre by Tsar Nicholas II’s guards against workers who were delivering a petition protesting working conditions.  Further protests and strikes followed, capped by a mutiny on the Battleship Potemkin, which forced the Tsar to grudgingly accept some reforms which instituted a Constitutional monarchy.  The reforms were watered down over the next twelve years, which led to the 1917 Revolution which gave the world the Soviet Union – a new form of totalitarianism.

As for the Symphony itself, I first became familiar with the work’s opening during Carl Sagan’s 1980 series, Cosmos, and later the soundtrack LP from the series.  The world premiere recording by Stokowski was featured and I eventually bought the complete performance, which imprinted itself in my mind as how the work went.  In retrospect, as the work was new, neither Stokowski nor the Houston Symphony Orchestra had fully assimilated it, and as gorgeous as the 1958 sound was for the time, the interpretation as a whole was sectionalized.  Welser-Möst brought a much more direct, cohesive approach to the sprawling work.  The opening, set on the Square of the Tsar’s Winter Palace, was atmospheric without being blurry, with chaste horn and trumpet solos from Nathaniel Silberschlag and Michael Sachs.   Throughout the movement, Welser-Möst kept the dynamics muted, which made the crescendos of the second movement all the more startling.  This movement, which depicts the brutal massacre of the 9^th of January, was brilliantly brought off; seldom have I heard the climax presented with such controlled, mechanistic violence.  The third movement, titled Eternal Memory, was given a restrained performance, which is unusual in Shostakovich interpretation; but it worked and set the stage for the devastating finale.

Though this symphony was completed in the Soviet Union of 1957, and the orchestra planned for this program months in advance, my mind still made a connection to the events in this country over the past year – particularly the recent murder of a Minneapolis woman at the hands of an ICE officer this past week.  In Lee County Florida, a Donald Trump stronghold, I saw an anti-ICE protest on my way to the airport, and there were larger protests all over the country.  It seems that after the events of the last few months – the increasingly disturbing revelations of the Epstein report; the US intervention in Venezuela, which is entirely about oil; Trump’s threats against Greenland; and the continued oppression of US citizens – that the American people are finally awakening to the growing danger from within. 

2025 in Review

2025 was a year filled with challenges and frustrations, yet with progress on the personal front.

January was a particularly difficult month.  First, the inauguration of Donald Trump and his immediate implementation of Project 2025, which he said he knew nothing of and would never put into action.  As usual, Trump lied and while his lackeys help carry out his perverted agenda, his supporters are either pleased with the turn of events or clueless as to the implications, as those of us with historical knowledge witness the rise of fascism in the United States.  Second, our furnace died during a cold snap.  This necessitated an expensive replacement.  The flip-side is that our natural gas usage has dropped as the new heater is far more efficient.  It’s also quieter.  Third, we encountered some major plumbing issues with our bathroom which required cutting into the living room ceiling to address.  This was not only disfiguring to the ceiling, but it was also expensive.  The good news is that the bathroom is now in the best condition it’s been in since we bought our house in 2008.

The new bathtub drain as seen from the living room. The hole has since been patched.

Later in the year, we also decided on something we’d been putting off for years: getting the ductwork cleaned.  Having peered into the vents and cold air returns, I knew they hadn’t been cleaned recently – it’s possible they were never cleaned from the time the house was built in 1941. The before and after difference was striking not just in the reduction of dust, but in furnace efficiency.  My sinuses appreciated the change as well.  

In February, Daniel and I were able to get away from the toxic atmosphere of the United States for a week in Spain, a country which survived nearly 40 years of fascism.  The trip was memorable enough that it inspired a new composition. 

Outside Sagrada Familia

In March, we returned to Daniel’s native Puerto Rico for the first time since 2013.  It was a lovely trip and, in many ways, was like stepping back in time.  We visited three shopping malls while there, and all three places were busy and cheerful as if we’d suddenly found ourselves in the 1980s. 

A few snaps from Daniel's hometown, Aguadilla.

The food court of Plaza Las Américas Mall.

Our summer was fairly uneventful until September, when we took a quick trip to Minnesota to spend a weekend at the Mall of America.  As with the malls in Puerto Rico, the MoA was active and entertaining – although we didn’t wind up buying much.

At the Museum of Illusions in the Mall of America.

November marked some interesting developments.  Trump and the GOP lost nearly every election.  Although it was an off-year election and the impact was minimal, it’s a hopeful harbinger for 2026.  While on vacation in Palm Springs, we learned that the Supreme Court had rejected the appeal from that lunatic, Kim Davis, meaning marriage equality is safe – at least for now. 

Some snaps from our time in Palm Springs.

 

Throughout the year, our dog Brownie continued to mature and mellow.  He still has his zoomie moments and suffers from separation anxiety.  But several trips to Camp Bow Wow have shown him to be very well-socialized.

Our Brownie...

We attended too many concerts to recount individually.  The most interesting ones are recounted in this blog.  My purchases of recorded music slowed to a crawl, in part thanks to the downsizing of Sony Classical – a mere shadow of what was once a formidable label.  I’ll have more thoughts on that in a future post. 

The greatest highlight of this year was making contact, thanks to my brother Robert, with our uncle John – who, to the best of my knowledge, I’d never met.  John, a former Naval officer, is the last surviving member from my father’s generation of the family and has been a font of information on our history.  He’s also an utterly charming gentleman and a delight to spend time with.

With my brother Rob and our uncle John.

John in his Navy days.  

He eventually rose to the rank of Lieutenant Commander

 and served on the USS O'Bannon

I continued the quest I began in earnest in 2021: getting myself into better shape.  After initially hitting a plateau, my weight is once again headed in the right direction – downward.  In November my doctor gave me a clean bill of health: vitals, blood work, all where they should be, although he advised me to try and lose those last 15 pounds. 

Despite the good health news, I did something this year I’ve wanted to get done for quite some time: making my final arrangements.  The helpful staff at Lakeview Cemetery made everything easy: I’ll be cremated and my ashes placed there near my mother’s grave.  I’ve even purchased a headstone.

Planning one's own interment may seem heavy. But it was a pleasure to work with Lakeview Cemetery Memorial Advisor (and fellow Brush High School alum) Petronilla Ragland.

When I tell people about about making my final arrangements, I get the oddest reactions.  But I have a realistic and unsentimental view of death: it’s the one thing that we all have in common.  From personal experience I know what it’s like when a loved one dies unexpectedly.  The survivors find themselves having to make decisions about which they may have varying degrees of confidence.  Did their loved one want this, or another alternative?  Embalming or cremation?  A formal funeral service or an informal celebration of life?  What kind of burial?  What kind of marker did they want?  What, if any, religious symbols?  Last, but not least: How to pay for it?  By making these decisions myself and paying in advance, I’ve relieved my loved ones of the burden of making those decisions, and of the cost.  Further, I have some control over the process while I’m alive – and the legality of what I’ve stipulated will remain in force after I’m dead.  Naturally, I hope the need to carry out these plans won’t come for quite some time.

See you around in 2026.

 

Ravel and Ligeti at Severance Hall

Tonight’s Cleveland Orchestra concert featured a pair of piano concertos performed by guest soloist Yuja Wang, with by guest conductor Petr Popelka.

The opening work was Ravel’s Piano Concerto for the Left Hand, commissioned by pianist Paul Wittgenstein, who lost his right arm due to injuries suffered during the First World War.  Based on his recordings, Wittgenstein (who’s younger brother Ludwig went to elementary school with Adolf Hitler) was not a top-tier pianist.  Yuja Wang is, of course, an extraordinarily gifted pianist, and her gifts were especially well suited to this concerto.  It wasn’t a question of mere technique, although her accuracy, layering of notes, clear articulation, and mastery of the pedal were apparent.  Wang also played with a sense of direction and narrative sweep which are too often missed in performances of this work. Popelka and the orchestra delivered an accompaniment which deemphasized the lusher aspects of the work in favor of a grittier approach.  For example, the opening contrabassoon solo  sounded more menacing than usual. 

The second work was the Concerto for Piano and Orchestra by György Ligeti.  As brilliantly played as the work was by Wang and the orchestra, I could not find myself warming to the piece, which served only to aggravate my tinnitus. 

Wang generously performed two encores: A Latin-sounding rag piece which was unfamiliar to me, and the finale movement from Prokofiev’s Seventh Sonata – which really brought the house down. 

Since many reviews and articles featuring Yuja Wang focus on her couture, I’ll mention that she wore a black dress during the Ravel, and quickly changed into a more colorful one for the Ligeti and encores. 

At intermission, we peeked outside and saw snowfall substantial enough to persuade us to make a premature exit, so we did not stay for the second half of the concert.  As it was, it took us far longer than usual to get home. 

 

Revueltas and Dvořák with Stasevska at Severance

The Cleveland Orchestra continued its contemporary practice of commingling the familiar with the unfamiliar in this weekend’s concerts with guest conductor Dalia Stasevska at Severance Hall.

Silvestre Revueltas’s La Noche de los Mayas was originally created as the score for the 1939 film of the same name, with which I am not familiar.  20 years later, José Yves Limantour arranged the music into a four-movement suite in a manner which structurally resembles a symphony.  The orchestration is highly eclectic; in addition to the usual instruments are the Indian drum, congas, bongos, güiro, metal rattle, and conch shell.  The work opens with a longing theme in A minor before moving into a Scherzo movement that features exhilarating cross rhythms.  From there a romantic andante, titled Night of Yucatán, leads directly into the finale - an extroverted theme and variations which includes shouts from the percussionists.  This is a highly interesting work that is new to me, and I’m looking forward to hearing it again on the orchestra’s Adella app.  The audience response was highly enthusiastic. 

Antonín Dvořák’s best known work is undoubtedly his Symphony No. 9 in E minor, Op. 95 - titled “From the New World.”  The story of this work’s creation scarcely needs repeating: the composer, originally from what today is known as the Czech Republic, spent three years in the United States, during which he studied African-American and Native music.  The Symphony is one of several compositions from that era and has been a repertoire favorite for over a Century.  It can be argued that the Cleveland Orchestra is America’s premier Dvořák ensemble, having recorded his Symphonies from the time Erich Leinsdorf was music director onwards.  One can’t avoid mentioning George Szell, who recorded the complete Slavonic Dances, the Piano Concerto (with soloist Rudolf Firkusny), and the last three Symphonies – all of which are considered reference recordings.  Christoph von Dohnányi also made fine recordings of the Slavonic Dances and the four last Symphonies.  While the origins of several of the work’s themes have been analyzed over the decades, what is not often pointed out is that Dvořák’s last symphony is as well structured as any of its counterparts by Brahms, with a thematic cross referencing that enhances the work’s symphonic unity.  As a result of this, this symphony can withstand a variety of interpretive approaches: from the structurally strict Toscanini to the wayward Stokowski.  Franz Welser-Möst led this work in 2023, offering an interpretation that favored a classical, architectonic approach.  Stasevska’s way with this work was more rhapsodic.  True, she observed the first movement repeat, but the freedom of phrasing and plasticity of tempo, not to mention her attention to dynamics, heightened the opening movement’s sense of adventure.  The Largo movement was unusually broad and meditative, with a beautifully sustained cor anglais solo; and the finale was simply epic.  This was a performance to remember, and the audience held its breath as the final notes faded away.

With music director Franz Welser-Möst’s contract ending in less than two years, every appearance by a guest conductor at Severance takes on the nature of an audition.  This is particularly the case when those guest conductors are not currently under contract, as is the case with Stasevska.  Based on both the performance and the audience response at tonight’s concert, Stasevska is definitely a contender. 

My review of DG's new Maurizio Pollini box.

Deutsche Grammophon has issued an updated box of Maurizio Pollini's recordings with that label.  Click here to read my complete review.

Concerts at CIM and Severance with a composition in common

This week saw two different concerts which included one duplicate work, providing an opportunity for comparison and contrast.

The first was at the Cleveland Institute of Music, featuring the first performance of the newly founded CIM Virtuosi.  This is a conductorless string ensemble with CIM faculty member Todd Phillips as leader.

The concert opened with Mozart’s Divertimento for strings in D major, K.136 – a three-movement work completed when the composer was sixteen years old.  No doubt Mozart wrote it intending to be the lead violinist, as there are many rapid passages which could demonstrate his technique.  This was an example of true ensemble playing in which coordination and balance were nearly faultless.

The Divertimento was followed by the same composer’s Piano Concerto No. 23 in A major, K.488 with Antonio Pompa-Baldi as soloist.  This necessitated a stage change not just for the piano, but to bring several wind and brass players on stage.  Pompa-Baldi’s way with this oft-performed concerto was a model of interpretive rectitude.  He kept dynamics in check so that he did not drown out the small ensemble – yet he never made the music sound prettified or dainty.  Pompa-Baldi performed an encore, a traditional song from Naples, which was new to me.

As both Daniel and I had to get up early the next day, we didn’t stay for the concert’s post intermission work, Tchaikovsky’s Serenade for Strings in C major, Op. 48.  Though I adore the piece, our eyelids were simply too heavy.

 

Saturday’s Cleveland Orchestra concert, led by music director Franz Welser-Möst, featured music of the 18^th, 19^th, and 21^st Centuries.

The concert opened with a 2020 work by American composer Tyler Taylor: Permissions.  Regular readers will know that I approach new music with an open mind, as I did with this piece.  But my open mind led me to conclude that this 10-minute work was an exercise in sonority and texture without benefit of a substantial idea.  The work has neither a theme nor a sense of dramatic through-line.  Taylor is the Orchestra’s new Daniel R. Lewis Composer Fellow.  Permissions was not a good omen for future collaborations.

Soloist Garrick Olhsson performed the same Mozart Concerto as we heard Thursday.  He and Welser-Möst presided over a performance marked by sensible tempos and a sense of interpretive unity.  The pianist brought a bit more emphasis to the left-hand than is often heard, and the second movement was tastefully embellished – as it would have been in Mozart’s own time.  An encore followed: a lovely rendition of Chopin’s Nocturne in D-flat major, Op. 27, No. 2.

 

The concert concluded with Schumann’s Symphony No. 3 in E-flat major, Op. 97 – the so-called “Rhenish.”  The work is in five movements instead of the usual four and presents a bit of an interpretive challenge.  Much is said about Beethoven’s influence on Brahms, but part of the noble fourth movement reminded me of Brahms’ First Symphony – which was premiered 25 years after the “Rhenish.”  It’s worth noting that Schumann was an early advocate of Brahms.  Alas, Schumann was not the best orchestrator of his time.  I don’t know if Welser-Möst tinkered with the composer’s orchestration, but the performance featured a bit more clarity than is generally heard in this piece – which was most welcome.  Add to the clarity was a perfect sense of pacing, dynamics, and phrasing – in sum, a memorable performance of a work new to Welser-Möst’s repertoire.