Stravinsky, Haydn, and Beethoven at Severance

Guest conductor Elim Chan returned to Cleveland to lead a varied program that ranged from the classical age, to the cusp of the romantic era, to the realm of neoclassicism.  As with her previous appearance here, Chan demonstrated she’s one of her generation’s most compelling conductors.

The concert opened with the 1949 version of the Suite from Pulcinella, Stravinsky’s clever reimagining of works not by just Pergolesi, as Stravinsky thought, but Gallo, Wassenaer, and Monza as well.  This ballet score has been overshadowed by the composer’s more revolutionary works in that genre like the Firebird and the Rite of Spring, but in recent years it has grown on me.  Chan led the reduced ensemble and perfectly captured the score’s blend of the antique and the modern, with wit and whimsy.  The audience was engaged and responded with some chuckles following the bumptious march and warm applause afterward.  During the ovation, Chan walked over to acknowledge each player, rather than pointing to them from the podium.

The orchestra’s principle trumpet Michael Sachs, sporting a newly grown beard, strode onstage for the concert’s next work, Franz Josef Haydn’s Trumpet Concerto in E-flat major.  The work was composed for the newly invented keyed trumpet, but recordings on such instruments demonstrate that when it comes to this work, the period instrument movement is sadly misguided.  Sachs delivered a spotless, effortless sounding  performance, especially notable to the liquid tone he produced in the work’s central Andante.  My father, who died nearly ten years ago, played trumpet from high school onward, and this was one of those concerts I wish I could have brought him to.

 

Following intermission Chan returned to lead the orchestra in possibly the most famous classical composition of all time: Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5 in C minor, Op. 67. This is a work which has become so well known that it’s almost impossible to listen to with fresh ears.  But Chan’s lean approach, which eschewed bombast and favored balance over volume, was most welcome.  She conducted with the score and followed the markings (including the correct placement of the ritardandi early in the third movement) rather than applying “traditional” rhetorical flourishes.  Tempi were on the brisk side, and the last movement repeat was observed.  It was a resounding conclusion to a successful night. 

If Chan isn’t on the short list to succeed music director Franz Welser-Möst, she should be added to it immediately.

Throughout the concert, I was reminded once again of what a rare treasure our orchestra is.  Whatever the issues of living in northeast Ohio, from the state’s corrupt, gerrymandered politics to the regions capricious weather, when one considers the cost of living balanced against three major sports franchises, cultural amenities including the nation’s second largest theater district, world-class museums, and of course The Cleveland Orchestra, why would a person of culture want to live anywhere else?