Gardner and Gerstein at Severance

An alarmingly small audience greeted guest conductor Edward Gardner as he walked onstage at Severance Hall last night – the house was approximately half-full.  Why the small audience was a bit of a mystery: Both Schumann and Dvořák are relatively popular composers.  Perhaps people were cautious about attending a live event due to the recent surge of flu and RSV cases.  I’d hate to think that Cleveland’s music lovers only turn out for big-name guests like Michael Tilson Thomas.  For those who missed out, it was their own loss. 

As has been customary recently, the concert included a work by a living composer, Ringed by the Flat Horizon by George Benjamin – composed in 1980 and receiving its first performances in Cleveland this weekend. The piece featured several dissonances made interesting by the juxtaposition of contrasting instruments.  The woodwinds and percussion were effectively used here, and there was an impressive cello solo by principal Mark Kosower.  Unfortunately, an elderly couple seated in our row (W) distracted us with their conversation.

Musically and pianistically speaking, Kirill Gerstein is one of today’s most versatile performers.  He has technique to burn (but never shows off), and his taste in repertoire has led him to music as diverse as Rachmaninoff, Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue, and tonight’s offering, Schumann’s only Piano Concerto.  A number of well-known pianists, including renowned performers of Schumann’s solo output, never bothered with this concerto – and it has never been my favorite.  The work, too often drowned by pianists in mawkish sentimentality, was given an especially fine performance last night, with crisp tempos, sustained phrasing, judicious mixing of inner voices, and a sense of structure that is often overlooked in Schumann.  Gardner and the orchestra provided a collaboration that belied the notion that Schumann’s orchestration is weak.  The audience leapt to its collective feet and provided a sustained and loud ovation that was in contradiction to its small numbers.  Gerstein gifted the audience with an encore: Busoni’s arrangement of J. S. Bach’s “Rejoice, beloved Christians,” delivered at a tempo that left Horowitz in the shade.   

Like Gerstein, the Cleveland Orchestra has long been known for versatile musicianship.  But it would be anti-historical to deny that the orchestra has long been prized for its performances and recordings of the music of Antonín Dvořák.  The recordings of the composer’s last three symphonies and Slavonic Dances with George Szell and Christoph von Dohnányi are rightfully legendary, and even the old 78rpm recording of Dvořák’s Sixth Symphony with Erich Leinsdorf is praiseworthy.  While the composer’s Ninth Symphony (“From the New World”) remains the composer’s most popular, the Seventh takes the prize when it comes to traditional symphonic structure.  The tunes aren’t as catchy as in the later work, but Dvořák’s treatment of them is in the best tradition and worthy of Beethoven and Brahms (the later of whom had a bit of a bromance with his Czech colleague).  Gardner’s spare, straightforward approach, which emphasized clear textures and utilized sensible tempi with rubato only when warranted, supported the assertion that the work is a true masterpiece.  Again, the audience responded enthusiastically, and I remarked to Daniel that Gardner should be put under consideration when it comes time to select Franz Welser-Möst’s successor.   

It was heartwarming to see an assistance dog at Severance – from whom not a peep was heard during the concert.