by Daniel Hathaway
This Friday evening at Severance Hall and Sunday evening at Blossom, music director Franz Welser-Möst will give audiences a taste of the repertory The Cleveland Orchestra will play in thirteen concerts in seven European cities between September 7 and September 22.
On Friday, August 29 at 7:00 pm, to end the new Summers at Severance series, Welser-Möst will lead Brahms’s Symphony No. 1 and Jörg Widmann’s Lied and Flûte en suite with principal flute Joshua Smith as soloist (pictured above). The flute concerto was written for Smith, who premiered it at Severance Hall in 2011, and will play it six times during the September tour.
On Sunday, August 31 at 7:00 pm in the Orchestra’s Blossom European Tour Send-Off, Welser-Möst will conduct two more Brahms symphonies, Nos. 3 and 4, and another work by Widmann, the concert overture entitled Con brio.
At home, The Cleveland Orchestra and up to 2,400 patrons at a time enjoy the visual and acoustic splendor of Severance Hall, opened in 1931 and renovated in 2000. On the tour, the Orchestra will play in some of the world’s other great concert halls. Here’s an overview of where the music will be heard.
September 7 & 8: London, UK, Royal Albert Hall — BBC Proms
• Sunday, September 7 at 7:30 pm (Broadcast live on the BBC)
BRAHMS – Academic Festival Overture
WIDMANN – Flûte en suite (for flute and orchestra, with Joshua Smith)
BRAHMS – Symphony No. 1
• Monday, September 8 at 7:00 pm (Broadcast live on the BBC)
BRAHMS – Tragic Overture
WIDMANN – Teufel Amor: Symphonic Hymn after Schiller
BRAHMS – Symphony No. 2
Inspired by the Great Exhibition of 1851, Queen Victoria’s Prince Consort Albert conceived a Central Hall to promote the understanding and appreciation of the arts and sciences in South Kensington, to be surrounded by museums and educational institutions. The Albert Hall opened in March of 1871 as a multi-purpose hall. The Proms have been held there since the 1940s. A vast space with seating for over 5,000 (with standing room for the “Prommers,”) the RAH was previously famous for its echo, now suppressed, which gave rise to the quip that the space was the only hall where a British composer could count on hearing his music played twice. Take a virtual tour here.
September 10: Lucerne, Switzerland, Kultur- und Kongresszentrum Luzern (KKL)
• Wednesday, September 10, 7:30 pm
BRAHMS – Academic Festival Overture
WIDMANN – Flûte en suite (for flute and orchestra)
BRAHMS – Symphony No. 1
The KKL was dedicated in 1998 by the Berlin Philharmonic under Claudio Abbado. Located on the lake with a view of the old city, the concert hall seats 1,840 on the floor and in four balconies. Its interior covered in wood, the space has been dubbed the Room Blanché.
September 11: Berlin, Germany, Philharmonie
• Thursday, September 11, 8:00 pm
WIDMANN – Lied
WIDMANN – Flûte en suite (for flute and orchestra)
WIDMANN – Con brio (concert overture for orchestra)
WIDMANN – Teufel Amor: Symphonic Hymn after Schiller
The Berliner Philharmonie with its pentagonal Großer Saal seating 2,440 was built from 1950-1963 and inaugurated by the Berlin Philharmonic under Herbert von Karajan (the old Philharmonie was destroyed by British bombs in January of 1944). The concert room’s terraced seating inspired the Sydney Opera House and Los Angeles’s Disney Hall.
September 13: Linz, Austria, Brucknerhaus
• Saturday, September 13, 7:30 pm
BRAHMS – Academic Festival Overture
WIDMANN – Flûte en suite (for flute and orchestra)
BRAHMS – Symphony No. 1
Designed by the Finnish architects Heikki and Kaija Siren from 1969-1973, the Brucknerhaus opened in March, 1974. The large or Brucknersaal has 1,420 seats, with standing room for 150.
September 14 & 15: Vienna, Austria, Musikverein
• Sunday, September 14, 7:30 pm
BRAHMS – Academic Festival Overture
WIDMANN – Flûte en suite (for flute and orchestra)
BRAHMS – Symphony No. 1
• Monday, September 15, 7:30 pm
WIDMANN – Con brio (concert overture for orchestra)
BRAHMS – Symphony No. 3
BRAHMS – Symphony No. 2
Home to the Vienna Philharmonic, the Wiener Musikverein was designed by the Danish architect Theophil Hansen in the neoclassical style and inaugurated in January of 1870. The Großer Musikvereinsaal or Goldener Saal has 1,744 seats, with standing room for 300. Its original organ was inaugurated by Anton Bruckner in 1872.
September 16: Vienna, Austria, Konzerthaus
• Tuesday, September 16, 7:30 pm
BRAHMS – Tragic Overture
WIDMANN – Teufel Amor: Symphonic Hymn after Schiller
BRAHMS – Symphony No. 4
Opened in 1913, the Wiener Konzerthaus was originally conceived as a multi-purpose building to accommodate such varied activities as concerts, ice skating and a bicycle club. The Architects were Ferdinand Fellner and Hermann Helmer, working in collaboration with drawings by Ludwig Baumann. The Großer Saal seats 1,840 (there are also three smaller halls). The Konzerthaus is home to the Vienna Symphony, Wiener Kammerorchester, and Wiener Singakademie.
September 17 & 18: Linz, Austria, Brucknerhaus
• Wednesday, September 17, 7:30 pm
BRAHMS – Tragic Overture
WIDMANN – Teufel Amor: Symphonic Hymn after Schiller
BRAHMS – Symphony No. 2
• Thursday, September 18, 7:30 pm
WIDMANN – Con brio (concert overture for orchestra)
BRAHMS – Symphony No. 3
BRAHMS – Symphony No. 4
September 20 & 21: Paris, France, Salle Pleyel
• Saturday, September 20, 8:00 pm
BRAHMS – Violin Concerto with Nikolaj Znaider
BRAHMS – Symphony No. 1
• Sunday, September 21, 4:00 pm
BRAHMS – Tragic Overture
WIDMANN – Teufel Amor: Symphonic Hymn after Schiller
BRAHMS – Symphony No. 2
Home to the Orchestre de Paris and the French Radio Philharmonic, the Salle Pleyel was originally commissioned by the piano makers Pleyel et Cie in 1927, when seating for 3,000 was planned. Participants in the opening concert included Robert Casadesus, Igor Stravinsky and Maurice Ravel. Following a fire, the hall was renovated, reducing the seating to 2,400, then following a 2002-2006 renovation, to 1,913 seats.
September 22 : Amsterdam, Netherlands, Concertgebouw
• Monday, September 22, 8:15 pm
BRAHMS – Academic Festival Overture
WIDMANN – Flute en suite (for flute and orchestra)
BRAHMS – Symphony No. 2
Inspired by the Leipzig Gewandhaus (destroyed in 1943), the “Concert Building” was begun in 1883 in a pasture outside the city. Designed by Adolf Leonard van Gendt, the building was supported by more than 2,000 piles sunk into the soil. The hall opened in 1888 with seating for 1,974 in the Grote Zaal. Renovations were made in the 1980s to correct sinking, and a modern annex designed by Pi de Bruijn was attached.
Published on ClevelandClassical.com August 26, 2014.
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