by Stephanie Manning
This article was originally published on Cleveland.com
CLEVELAND, Ohio – Thanksgiving weekend concerts by The Cleveland Orchestra often center around a big-ticket soloist or a popular piece.
This year’s program offers both, thanks to star pianist Yuja Wang and Maurice Ravel’s brilliant orchestration of Modest Mussorgsky’s “Pictures at an Exhibition.”
On Friday November 28, the snow cleared just in time for the crowds to arrive at Severance Music Center for the evening event. Led by conductor Petr Popelka, the resulting concert equally displayed the prowess of Orchestra and soloist over the course of three fascinating works.
György Ligeti’s Piano Concerto stood out in contrast to the lush textures and easy-to-follow melodies of the works that surrounded it. Premiered in 1988, its dissonant and avant-garde music might have come from another world. But both Wang and the Orchestra rose to meet the challenge of its devilishly tricky rhythms with an assured confidence.
Notes cascade from all directions in most of the five movements, like multitasking set to music. But the second stood out for its stark opening, where piccolo, bassoon, and eventually slide whistle gently called out pairs of notes over the drone of the bass.
The complexity grows exponentially with the note density, but Ligeti did not set out to confound the listener — the synergy between pianist, conductor and Orchestra did the piece justice by bringing out its hypnotic momentum.
Although this work might not resonate with every listener, it’s exciting to see Wang champion more contemporary repertoire, especially in a program guaranteed to draw a broader audience than usual.
As if that feat of technical wizardry weren’t enough, she capped things off with two encores: Mendelssohn’s Songs Without Words, Op. 67: No. 2 in F sharp minor, and Shostakovich’s String Quartet no. 8, movement 1, arranged by Boris Giltburg.
The evening began with Ravel’s Piano Concerto in D Major for the Left Hand. Written for pianist Paul Wittgenstein, who lost his arm fighting in World War I, the concerto often evokes the shadow of conflict thanks to the composer’s remarkably skillful orchestration. The haunting rumble of Jonathan Sherwin’s contrabassoon provided appropriate menace in the opening moments.
Between moments of calm, the harmonic tension builds even as the tempo remains steady. Although Wang’s personal vision for the concerto wasn’t always discernible, the piece played to the strength of her ferocious low register, and she was the picture of focus and polish.
Ravel was also represented after intermission with his orchestration of Mussorgsky’s “Pictures at an Exhibition,” the ten-movement tableau inspired by the sketches and paintings of his friend Viktor Hartmann.
From the podium, Popelka’s body language made clear what effects he wanted — often big ones, as he brought out the sharp cymbal crashes in “Gnomus” and the menacing staccatos of “The Hut on Fowl’s Legs (Baba Yaga).”
Mellow alto saxophone and euphonium (Richard Stout) solos wonderfully distinguished “The Old Castle” and “Bydło.” Grandiose brass and percussion set Mandel Concert Hall ringing in “The Great Gate of Kiev” — an ending that never fails to pull at the heartstrings.
Published on ClevelandClassical.com December 4, 2025.
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