The Cleveland Orchestra at Severance – a return and a farewell

 

The Cleveland Orchestra returned to Severance this weekend for the first concerts of the 2021-2022 season – as well as its first concerts there since March of 2020.  

In a pre-concert talk with orchestra manager André Gremillet, conductor Franz Welser-Möst spoke of the season in general, including the emphasis on newer and lesser-known music, as well as upcoming concerts he’s especially anticipating, including a January concert with pianist Igor Levit.  Welser-Möst also delved into the importance of the audition process in shaping the orchestra, noting that musicians he appoints may well serve in the orchestra for decades to come. 

The orchestra warming up before the concert

The lesser-known music in last night’s program was Richard Strauss’s Tone Poem Macbeth, Op. 23, a work so rarely performed that The Cleveland Orchestra never played it before this weekend.  Composed in the late-1880s, it’s one of many compositions inspired by the works of Shakespeare – along with Tchaikovsky’s Romeo & Juliet Overture, Beethoven’s Overture to Coriolanus, Mendelssohn’s incidental music to A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and a host of operas. Strauss’s work is probably the least developed, compositionally – not a slam on the composer, merely an acknowledgement that he was in 20s and still developing his style.  The work justifiably leans toward the dramatic and is skillfully orchestrated.  The clean ensemble playing and sonority – balanced even at fortissimo – were apt demonstrations that the orchestra was back where it belonged and still in stellar form.

Joan Tower’s 2021 composition, A New Day, premiered this past summer at the Colorado Music Festival, here received its first Cleveland performances.  The work, for cello and orchestra, is in some ways reminiscent of Beethoven’s Pastoral Symphony in that it’s not strictly programmatic but more an exploration of feelings awakened by specific events, in this case Daybreak, Working Out, Mostly Alone, and Into the Night.  The inventively orchestrated work cannily exploits both the orchestra and cello.  Soloist Alisa Weilerstein proved herself easily up to the job – at least she made it look easy, which is the sign of a virtuoso performer, and Welser-Möst’s accompaniment anticipated her every move.  The performance received a sustained ovation, which the composer was welcomed on stage to share.

The second half of the concert was dedicated to Prokofiev’s Fifth Symphony.  This is a work familiar to Cleveland audiences, not least from the fine recordings made under the direction of George Szell and Lorin Maazel.  The orchestra last performed it at Blossom Music Center in 2018, a concert at which Daniel and I were joined by his niece and nephew.  Before the concert, Welser-Möst mentioned that his interpretation was a bit different than the standard, but I sensed little that was unusual here.  The main differences were a keener sense of orchestral balance in the second movement, Allegro marcato, than is usually heard – with some remarkably feathery playing from the first violins.  Also, the finale went at a very brisk tempo that left even Szell and Maazel in the dust, yet everything was kept in proportion and clarity was never sacrificed.  The finale was brought to a stunning climax which brought the audience to its feet.    

Joela Jones takes a final bow as principal keyboardist.

Last night’s concert also marked Joela Jones’ final appearance as the orchestra’s principal keyboardist – a position she has held since she was appointed by George Szell in 1968.  One Szell appointee, Assistant Principal Second Violinist Emilio Llinás, remains with the orchestra.