Chin, Rachmaninoff, and Bartók at Severance

Music of the 20^th and 21^st Centuries was on the program at tonight’s Cleveland Orchestra concert, featuring guest conductor David Afkham and pianist Beatrice Rana. 

The concert began with Unsuk Chin’s subito con forza, composed in 2020 and receiving its first Cleveland performances this weekend.  Creatively orchestrated, it’s a sort of brief fantasia on motifs by Beethoven, with references to the opening bars of that composer’s Coriolan Overture, as well as the dot-dot-dot-dash motif that featured in his Fifth Symphony, Fourth Piano Concerto, and “Appassionata” Sonata.

Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 2 in C minor, Op. 18 followed.  This oft performed and recorded work is open to a variety of interpretations.  Rana’s approach took me back to an earlier era; one of luxuriant tone, reflective pace, and elastic tempi.  In some ways, her playing reminded me of Cliburn and Moiseiwitsch in their primes, yet her interpretation was her own.  Afkham was an ideal accompanist, coaxing an old-school romantic sonority from the orchestra but never letting them overshadow the soloist.  Wonderful to hear.  Rana earned an ovation and rewarded the audience with an encore in the form of a wonderfully pointed and witty rendition of Debussy’s Etude for Eight Fingers without Thumbs.

Following intermission Afkham returned to lead the orchestra in Bartok’s Concerto for Orchestra.  Afhkam’ conducting style, sans baton, is unobtrusive.  He brought to the work’s opening measures a sense of quiet mystery before leaping into the movement proper.  The second movement’s Game of Pairs perfectly highlighted each pair of instruments without allowing them to become garish – which is a problem with some recordings, while the third movement’s Elegy sang with eloquence.  The Interrupted Intermezzo’s highlight was the effortless segue between the Hungarian melody and the parody of the jingoistic tune from Shostakovich’s Seventh Symphony.  Afhkam then plunged headlong into the work’s finale, and whirlwind of orchestral tapestry.  Throughout the proceedings, no matter how loud the orchestra’s forte, every strand of music was kept in proportion.  In short, a marvelous performance from beginning to end.

There has been considerable discussion over the past several months as music director Franz Welser-Möst announced that he would not be renewing his contract with the orchestra in 2027.  Klaus Mäkelä was briefly speculated on as a possible successor.  He subsequently signed on to lead the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and, frankly, I think Chicago is a better fit for Mäkelä than Cleveland.  But Afkham should be considered by the board.  He has the qualities that would benefit our orchestra.

Milhaud, Gershwin, and Stravinsky at Severance

Music of the 20^th Century was featured at tonight’s Cleveland Orchestra concert, led by guest conductor Klaus Mäkelä with pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet.

The concert began with Darius Milhaud’s Le Bœuf sur le toit (The Ox on the Roof), Op. 58, a set of orchestra pieces based on Brazilian tunes the composer heard when he visited that country in 1917-1919, and later used by Jean Cocteau as a ballet score.  I fell under the charms of the bracingly intoxicating rhythms of Brazil while in a relationship with a Brazilian 30 years ago, who taught me some of the country’s dances.  Mäkelä brought a wonderful sense of elasticity to the raucously congenial work. 

Thibaudet, replacing Yuja Wang, who withdrew from the concert several weeks ago, was the soloist in Gershwin’s Concerto in F.  Thibaudet is a pianist’s pianist – he can seemingly do anything with the instrument.  I’ve never heard the solo part of this work played with such technical finish, refinement, or musicality – details of the work were given the kind of lavish treatment usually accorded to more “legitimate” classical masterpieces.  This raises the question of how to define Gershwin’s oeuvre: Is it Jazz, Classical, or semi-classical (whatever that means)?  It is music suited to the concert hall, and it is good music which has stood the test of time – almost a century’s worth in the case of this concerto.  Mäkelä and the orchestra provided a vigorous accompaniment which, during the louder parts, all but drowned out the pianist.  From my seat at the back of the main floor, there were also some problems with balance within the orchestra – which is not something often encountered at Severance.   

 

Thibaudet following the concerto

Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring, which touched off a riot at its premiere in 1913, has become standard repertoire for most professional orchestras.  Indeed, Stravinsky is the only composer whose complete ballets – as opposed to suites – are routinely played sans dancers and in concert halls today.  Mäkelä, who favors the big gesture (both visual and auditory) over the refined musical point, was made for this piece.  Tempi were on the swift side and details of balance and nuance were swept away in favor of big, bold sonorities and splashes of orchestral color – never less than vibrant, sometimes brutal.  Refinement was abandoned and there was even a miscued bassoon during the latter part of the work.  It was a rock ‘em, sock ‘em orchestral spectacular which brought the audience to its collective feet.