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Joshua Redman Group & Gabrielle Cavassa bring
soulful & exhilarating journey to CMA (Jan. 10)

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by Kevin McLaughlin

The pantheon of jazz saxophone gods surely must look down with approval whenever Joshua Redman performs. With a formidable technique and a saxophone voice that glows with innate lyricism, Redman appeals to listeners of every stripe — those with the flame of tradition in mind and those who couldn’t care less about that.

Recently, with the addition of Gabrielle Cavassa, he has broadened his expressive palette to include the human voice. Cavassa joined the Joshua Redman Group at the Cleveland Museum of Art’s Gartner Auditorium for a superb display of talent on Wednesday, January 10. And though Redman’s expressive and technically astounding tenor sax dominated the evening, what lingered in the heart were Cavassa’s superb interpretations of the songs.

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Boar’s Head and Yule Log Festival at Trinity Cathedral (Dec. 30)

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by Kevin McLaughlin

Goats and donkeys and camels — oh my. Add Elizabethan music, costumes, the noble company of Beefeaters and attendants processing under the magnificent arches of Trinity Cathedral, and you have yourself a merry little Christmas pageant.

A celebration that dates to the Roman Empire and Norman times in England, the Boar’s Head and Yule Log Festival has been a Cleveland tradition since 1960. The festival is typically held on December 30th, as it was this year, with shows at 2:00 and 4:30 pm — I saw the latter —  and the promise of a ham-and-mincemeat feast after the second performance.

The principal task of the volunteer cast of troubadours, shepherds, and sprites, besides singing, parading, and cavorting, was to present the titular giant boar’s head and lighting of the yule log — offering symbolic import for the Christian, and theatrical whimsy for everyone. Soloists, choirs, and audience sing-alongs were accompanied by Todd Wilson at the organ.

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Les Délices: Noel, Noel at Holy Trinity, Akron (Dec. 20)

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by Kevin McLaughlin

Giving hope and joy at the darkest time of the year is one reason, maybe the reason, for the timing of holiday celebrations in December, and music and poetry are good ways to ward off the cold and gloom.

Les Délices’ Christmas-themed program, this year titled “Noel, Noel,” offered many glimmers of cheer on Wednesday evening, December 20 at Holy Trinity Lutheran in Akron. But on their journey from the contemplative toward the celebratory, this serious band seemed more comfortable with the former than the latter.

The program grouped beloved carols, seasonal hymns, and seventeenth century instrumental variations into six sets, like stages on a Christmas journey, from “Darkness” through “Hope,” “Peace,” “Joy” and “Love,”  to “Light,” with poetry readings in between. But the musicians’ devotion to skill and restraint came through the loudest.

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Cleveland Chamber Choir: “Holidays from the Iberian Peninsula” (Dec. 16)

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by Kevin McLaughlin

A gorgeous and frequently surprising offering of Christmas and Hanukkah music from Renaissance Spain and Portugal was the focus of Cleveland Chamber Choir’s program “Holidays from the Iberian Peninsula” on Saturday, December 16 in First Baptist Church of Greater Cleveland.

Voices and instruments resonated in this grand space without losing focus. For people who wonder why the Renaissance cultivated an unadorned vocal style that did not favor thick vibrato, this concert offered an explanation: the music of the era was conceived for spaces like this one, where voices resound naturally, and words come through clearly. Under the direction of Artistic Director Gregory Ristow, tempos took on a certain speech-like freedom that gave rightful primacy to the words. The projection and translation of texts above the stage also helped to convey meaning.

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The Cleveland Orchestra:
Bychkov, Labèques, and a premiere (Dec. 7)

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by Kevin McLaughlin

Maybe it was the time of year, the familial ties of the visiting conductor and pianists, the anticipation of a new work, or maybe all of it, but somehow a rosy glow enveloped the Cleveland Orchestra concert on Thursday, December 7.

Semyon Bychkov’s appearance on the podium, the U.S. premiere of Julian Anderson’s Symphony No. 2, the return to Cleveland by the Labèque sisters — even Tchaikovsky’s Romeo and Juliet Overture-Fantasy (normally a two-hankie affair) — all warmed the heart on this winter’s night.

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Cyrus Chestnut offers a night of holiday comfort food for the soul. (Dec. 8)

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by Kevin McLaughlin

Originally published on Cleveland.com

Cyrus Chestnut is good company for the holidays. On Friday, December 8 he seemed genuinely delighted, even a little surprised, to have so many people in attendance in Mandel Hall at Severance Music Center to hear him play.

“Wow,” he said, walking onstage with his trio, “So many people!” And, though he didn’t actually say it, he probably thought, “Well, as long as you’re here, do you know the Charlie Brown Christmas soundtrack? It goes like this…”

Chestnut is an endearing presence onstage. His shyness and slightly awkward patter are kept out of the squeamish zone by the grand virtuosity of his piano playing. The minute after telling the story about his fame in high school for his ability to play the Charlie Brown song (Linus and Lucy) and then forgetting the next song on his setlist, he promptly whirled around to summon magnificence from the keyboard.

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BlueWater Chamber Orchestra: Jinjoo Cho soars in Barber Concerto (Nov. 17)

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by Kevin McLaughlin

In a pre-holiday offering, Bluewater Chamber Orchestra’s audience received gifts simple and somber, with intermittent thrills, on Friday evening, November 17. In an all-American program, the pleasures were many: Cindy McTee’s moving Adagio for strings, Barber’s firework of a Violin Concerto, and Copland’s wise portrait of rural America, Appalachian Spring.

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Danish String Quartet at Cleveland Chamber Music Society (Nov. 14)

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by Kevin McLaughlin

Could the prodigiously talented players of the Danish String Quartet all be drinking from some magic source? By now among the world’s finest quartets — perhaps taking the top rung left by the Emerson Quartet after their recent retirement — they perform with such easy excellence and intuitive musical consensus that you wonder: is this the product of hard work and long hours of rehearsal, or some magic potion?

Neither strain nor sweat were visible in the program for the Cleveland Chamber Music Society on November 14 at Disciples Christian Church, which included works by Mozart, Britten, Adès, and their own folk arrangements.

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Generosity and poise at the Rocky River Chamber Music Society (Nov. 6)

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by Kevin McLaughlin

Generosity and poise are two qualities a chamber musician would be fortunate to possess. Fortunately for those of us in attendance at West Shore Unitarian Universalist Church in Rocky River on Monday, November 6, cellist Keith Robinson and pianist Hyunsoon Whang are endowed amply with both, thus conveying only the pleasure of performance in two difficult cello sonatas — Barber’s early Op. 6 and Prokofiev’s late Op. 116. Whang also lent ease and grace to Brahms’ solo Intermezzo, Op. 118, No. 2, and clarinetist Daniel McKelway lent luster in the Brahms Trio, Op. 114 on the second half.

Poise was tested early, as no sooner had our musicians sat down to begin when a stentorian “Ah-choo!” boomed out from somewhere in the audience. Startled, Robinson nodded in the sneezer’s direction with a good-natured, “You scared me!” [Read more…]

Barbara Hannigan makes a compelling debut conducting the Cleveland Orchestra

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Critically acclaimed Canadian soprano Barbara Hannigan has built a separate – though sometimes simultaneous – career as a conductor. She made her conducting debut with the Cleveland Orchestra on Thursday, leading the ensemble in works by Haydn, Strauss Vivier, and Ligeti. Photo: Roger Mastroianni

This article was originally published on Cleveland.com 

by Kevin McLaughlin

Barbara Hannigan, the Canadian dynamo who started singing professionally at 17 and later added separate — though sometimes simultaneous — responsibilities as conductor, has at last made her debut in that role with The Cleveland Orchestra. That she might give soaring accounts of mainstream and contemporary works by Haydn, Strauss Vivier, and Ligeti, was hoped for, even if not surprising, but that she should make such works about mourning, death, and loneliness so compelling and listenable, may be a good reason to have her back.

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