By Daniel Hathaway
IN THIS EDITION:
. Chamber music concerts in Akron and Cleveland.
. Moussorgsky and Rachmaninoff make their exits.
HAPPENING TODAY:
At 7:30 pm the UA Kulas Concert Series presents Sandbox Percussion, contemporary percussion chamber music. In collaboration with Tuesday Musical and Miller South School for the Visual and Performing Arts. Guzzetta Recital Hall. Tickets are available online.
Also at 7:30 pm the Cleveland Chamber Music Society hosts Anthony McGill, clarinet, Elena Perrroni, Soprano, and Myra Huang, piano. (pictured) Their program features Schubert’s Der Hirt auf dem Felsen (The Shepherd on the Rock) and Sonata in a, “Arpeggione” arranged for clarinet and piano,Lee III’s Chavah’s Daughters Speak, and Still’s Romance. Disciples Christian Church. Read a preview article here. Tickets are available online.
ALMANAC FOR MARCH 28:
On this date in 1881, Modest Moussorgsky died in 1881 at the age of 42 following a drinking binge, and pianist-composer Sergei Rachmaninoff died in 1943 in California, shortly after becoming a U.S. Citizen.
It’s a toss up whether Mussorgsky’s Night on Bald Mountain or Pictures at an Exhibition is more popular. Check out the original piano version of Pictures played by Evgeny Kissin at the Chorégies d’Orange in France in 2002, or by Sviatoslav Richter in 1956, live in Prague.
Certainly the most popular orchestration of Pictures is the one made by Maurice Ravel in 1922, although there are many others. Cleveland Orchestra Music Study Group lecturer Dr. Rose T. Breckenridge talks about the Ravel version here.
Rachmaninoff made personal appearances in Cleveland during his American tours from 1923 to 1942, performing his concertos and the Rhapsody on a Theme by Paganini. The composer-pianist’s fame inspired Mike Telin to make a trip to the Cleveland Orchestra archives to learn what kind of P.R the Orchestra used to promote his visits, and to imagine what Rachmaninoff might have done with today’s social media resources. Click here to read “Keeping in touch with your fans then and now: what would Rachmaninoff post on Facebook?”
And to revisit a special Rachmaninoff moment in Cleveland, go here to replay Spanish pianist Martin García García’s final round performance of the Third Concerto, which sealed the deal for his gold medal at the Cleveland International Piano Competition in 2021. Jahja Ling conducts The Cleveland Orchestra.
