Eastman, Marsalis, and Dvořák at Severance

This weekend’s Cleveland Orchestra concerts, led by music director Franz Welser-Möst, included a Cleveland premier, a world premiere, alongside a standard repertoire favorite.  In a hopeful sign for both the orchestra and the thirst for unfamiliar music, the hall was filled to near capacity at Saturday’s concert.

An undated photo of Julius Eastman

The concert began with Julius Eastman’s Symphony No. 2, titled “The Faithful Friend: The Lover Friend’s Live for the Beloved.”  Provocative titles were commonly used by Eastman (1940-1990), an African-American and openly gay composer.  This work, dedicated and given to a former lover, was receiving only its second performance after being discovered and reconstructed in 2018.  The orchestration is ambitious enough to present a challenge to any ensemble:  six timpanists - each with four timpani, three bass clarinets, three contrabass clarinets, three bassoons, three contrabassoons, three trombones, three tubas, and a full complement of strings.  As it was, the orchestra was only able to fit 16 timpani on stage at Severance.  Despite the title, there is little in the work that would be thought of as romantic – the primary mood is one of mystery.  15 minutes long, it begins somberly with a sustained string motif; then quiet, dissonant soundings from the woodwinds – rising to a climax before sinking back into a disillusioned pianissimo.  The work received an enthusiastic response from the audience.

The second work on the program was the Concerto for Trumpet by Wynton Marsalis, receiving its world premiere.  As with the Eastman, the orchestration was ambitious and included police whistle and African hand drums, with the soloist needing two trumpets (C and B-flat).  The concerto is about 35 minutes long, easily eclipsing any trumpet concerto in the standard repertoire, and calls on the soloist to draw on every facet of his technique and use just about every type of mute available.  The six-movement work kicks off with an elephant’s call, taking the listener on a journey that includes a love ballad, Spanish and Mexican flavored motifs, American jazz, a French flavored waltz, two-step finale with an eclectic flavor ending with a return of the elephant call.  Michael Sachs, the orchestra’s principle trumpetist since 1988, was more than up to the task and delivered a performance which was technically and musically virtuous, marvelously accompanied by Welser-Möst and the orchestra.  My father, an amateur trumpetist of some ability, would have been enthralled by this work.  The audience was certainly absorbed, and the work received one of the most sustained ovations I’ve ever witnessed at Severance.

Applause following the Marsalis Concerto

The post-intermission work was Dvořák’s Symphony No. 9, titled by the composer “From the New World.”  This work is so well known that the story of its creation scarcely bears 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.  Welser-Möst’s approach to the symphony was entirely his own.  He clearly sees the work as a classically structured symphony in the tradition of Brahms and Tchaikovsky, and his interpretation emphasized structure over the work’s tunefulness.  As is often the case with Welser-Möst, tempi favored the brisk end of the spectrum, with a minimum of rubato, careful attention to dynamics, and transparency between sections.  For those who mind such things, the first movement’s exposition repeat was observed.  A highlight for this listener was the second movement, offered free of schmaltz – which enhanced the work’s dignity. 

I can’t think of another non-specialist ensemble currently doing more to promote unfamiliar music.  Cleverly coupling lesser known works with repertoire staples like the Dvořák has helped to introduce these works to a larger audience and I hope they keep it up.  The concert was filmed and hopefully will be published in full on the Adella app – as well as being issued on the orchestra’s private label.

Anxious Bernstein and rushed Shostakovich at Severance

Last night’s Cleveland Orchestra concert at Severance Hall featured guest conductor Rafael Payare in two 20^th Century works that seem equally relevant to our time.

Payare was joined by pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet for Leonard Bernstein’s Symphony No. 2, titled “The Age of Anxiety” after W. H. Auden’s epic poem, which serves as a program for the work.  I know little about the poem, but the Symphony is the work of a young composer filled with ideas, chomping at the bit to put his stamp on the musical world, yet still finding his voice.  In Bernstein’s case, it was a distinctly American voice.  Each of the six movements has its own individual mood and style, from the desolate improvisatory tonality of the Prologue, to the twelve-tone motif of the Dirge, to the jazzy energy of the Masque.   

Thibaudet brought his usual brand of musical virtuosity to the piano part.  His performance enforced my conviction that Thibaudet remains one of our era’s most interesting, eclectic pianists – far more so than the latest stock of competition winners and “influencer” pianists who merely rote out the same standard repertoire.  Payare and the orchestra contributed a performance noted for a burnished quality of tone one does not usually hear in Bernstein’s work, and the performers were greeted with a sustained ovation.

I noticed after intermission that the audience had dwindled from about three-fourths to two-thirds of capacity.  Perhaps the early exit folks were expecting the opening work to sound like something out of West Side Story, which was definitely not the case.   

Payare returned to lead the orchestra in Shostakovich’s Fifth Symphony.  The Cleveland Orchestra has a long history with that work, first performing it in 1941 under then-music director Artur Rodziński, who recorded it with the orchestra shortly thereafter.  It has been heard with some regularity since, including a memorable performance led by Stanisław Skrowaczewski.  As a work written under the ominous shadow of Josef Stalin, it seems to equally reflect the current situation in Russia under Vladimir Putin – at a time when artists, journalists, and others unwilling to toe the party line are being disappeared.

Last night’s rendition, more a run-through than a performance, lacked the characteristics that made Skrowaczewski’s performance so memorable.  Tempos in the outer movements were rushed, so that Shostakovich’s opening theme lacked pathos and drama, and the menacing development started off by the piano lacked contrast.  The coda lacked the irony which has become a mainstay of modern Shostakovich interpretation.  Overall, a surfacy affair.