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David Russell returns to the Cleveland Classical Guitar Society

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by Kevin McLaughlin

David Russell may be one of the most respected and distinguished guitarists alive. But despite his Olympian artistic achievements — a Grammy, honorary membership in the Spanish Amigos de la Guitarra, and a place in the Hall of Fame of the Guitar Foundation of America — talking to him is like meeting an old friend over a pint at the pub.

On Saturday, April 22 at 7:30 pm at Plymouth Church, in a program presented by the Cleveland Classical Guitar Society, Russell will play works by de la Maza, Marcello, Asencio, Lackenbacher, Susani, and Tolsa, as well as Celtic Folk music. I spoke to the guitarist via Zoom while he was in Chicago and began by asking him about his program.

DR: The first is Campanas del alba by Eduardo Sainz de la Maza. It translates as “Bells at Dawn,” and it’s a tremolo study with a lovely low melody. It’s sort of to introduce myself to the audience.

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Canton Symphony pays tribute to Wm. Blair III (Apr. 2)

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by Kevin McLaughlin

In a moving tribute to the recently deceased Canton Symphony board member and Northeast Ohio arts advocate William Blair III, Gerhardt Zimmermann and the Canton Symphony offered a varied program on Sunday, April 2, an evening full of musical depths and satisfying performances. Organist Heather Cooper, the Orchestra’s near constant companion onstage, sparkled as soloist.

The presence of organ at this concert was in honor of Blair, an organist himself, but it also brought a wonderful expansion to the orchestral palette. Cooper was featured, whether as soloist or as added texture, in nearly every piece. Her playing was consistently first rate. The only downside may have been a decreasing sense of the instrument’s specialness as the concert progressed. [Read more…]

Cleveland Classical Guitar Society: Brasil Guitar Duo (Mar. 11)

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by Kevin McLaughlin

On Saturday evening, March 11 at Plymouth Church, the Cleveland Classical Guitar Society welcomed João Luiz and Douglas Lora, the Brasil Guitar Duo, after a four-year absence from the series.

As is customary for CCGS concerts, the evening began with a student performer. Daziel Pérez Pagán, 17, performed two short pieces. The first, written by Pagán himself when he was sixteen, was a lovely reflection called Rewoken. The second, River Flows in You, a work originally for piano by the Korean composer Yiruma and transcribed by Pagán, was beautifully played.

The Brasil Guitar Duo opened their recital with Piazzolla’s lively and sweet tango, Zita, named for the wife of Aníbal Troilo, the composer’s mentor and friend. Immediately the guitarists demonstrated warmth and technical control, qualities that remained throughout the evening.

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Apollo’s Fire: Music of the Jewish & African Diasporas (Mar. 8)

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by Kevin McLaughlin

Who doesn’t love an Apollo’s Fire concert? Jeannette Sorrell and troupe always seem to offer a festival for the eye and ear — thoughtful thematic programs, all-out committed musicianship, and infectious exuberance. Wednesday’s program at Bath Church UCC was all this and more.

The third in a triptych of Jewish-themed programs titled “Exile and Resilience,” this one — thoughtfully conceived and researched program by Sorrell — offered seven perspectives on Jewish and African exile.

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“Viva Latina!” —
BlueWater Chamber Orchestra (Mar. 4) 

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by Kevin McLaughlin

Accordionist Hanzhi Wang held the Church of the Covenant audience in thrall on March 4 as she demonstrated mastery of the wild marvel that is her instrument in a performance of Piazzolla’s Bandoneon Concerto. The BlueWater Chamber Orchestra and conductor Daniel Meyer provided able accompaniment there, as well as lovely accounts of works by Arriaga and Copland in this Latin-tinged program.

The Symphony in D by Juan Crisóstomo Arriaga, written in 1825 when the composer was just seventeen, is cast in the Haydn-Mozart mold. The performance revealed a deftly crafted work — exciting, tuneful, and blustery. After the Haydnesque slow introduction that prepares the listener for a D-major Allegro, the orchestra leaned into the unexpected d-minor with stormy energy and dynamic contrasts. Meyer kept fast tempos under control, battling acoustically challenging circumstances — distinctions of timbre and precision of attacks were frequently lost in the cavernous space.

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Heights Arts: Omni Quartet at Dunham Tavern and Museum (Feb. 21)

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by Kevin McLaughlin

The high-ceilinged, cozy barn of Dunham Tavern and Museum on a Sunday afternoon was a perfect setting to bask in the company and expertise of the Omni Quartet, who delivered a delightful program of Haydn, Shaw, and Mendelssohn. As the sun lowered and the excellence of the playing and geniality of the players took hold, a glow of contentment began to fill the space.

Founded in 2009, Omni Quartet members Amy Lee and Alicia Koelz (violins), Joanna Zakany (viola), and Tanya Ell (cello), all members of The Cleveland Orchestra, were convivial hosts, guiding the audience with verbal introductions to each work and brief excerpts by way of guideposts. While this can be overdone, here it was just enough to help the listener stay on the path. The commentaries and demonstrations worked out ahead of time were the most effective.

In her remarks about Haydn’s Quartet in F, Op. 77, No. 2, violinist Alicia Koelz emphasized the humor and elements of surprise present in the work. Sure enough, Haydn made us laugh, even when we knew the comedy was coming. Whether in the harmonic meanderings, the startling unison tremolo in the first movement, the rhythmic hijinks in the Minuet (a 2/4 march embedded in 3/4), or similar tugs of two against three in the final Vivace, the Omni told every joke with perfect timing and drollery. Koelz, playing first violin, amazed in the Rossini-like barnburner of a finale. Speed and rhythm were kept exact in both soft and loud passages. And is it possible that after the last chord I smelled smoke?

Violist Joanna Zakany’s introduction to Caroline Shaw’s Entr’acte (2011) included this composer note: “Entr’acte is an homage to the second movement (minuet) of Haydn’s Op. 77, No. 2, but in a kind of absurd, subtle, technicolor transition…[taking] you to the other side of Alice’s looking glass.”

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Cleveland Chamber Music Society: Huang, Um & Yang (Feb. 21)

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by Kevin McLaughlin 

Every once in a while, a concertgoer is treated to an evening where all of the hoped-for elements are in place: the playing is first-rate, the performers exude warmth and ease, the audience is engaged, the program is a mix of familiar and unusual — in other words, a concert with Carnegie Hall electricity but summer festival Gemütlichkeit, even if it’s still February. Violinists Paul Huang and Danbi Um and pianist Amy Yang presented just such a concert to the Cleveland Chamber Music Society audience at Disciples Christian Church on February 21.

Seemingly beloved of violinists everywhere, the French composer Jean-Marie Leclair set the tone with the ear-friendly Sonata in e, scored for two unaccompanied violins. This Baroque duet allowed the players to distinguish themselves individually, sharing lead roles whenever a section was repeated. The middle Gavotte movement was elegant and unrushed. The final Presto showed off the duo’s flexible phrasing and light tone. The two complemented (without competing against) one another in sound and pace, resulting in an astonishing level of virtuosity.

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Soprano Jennifer Rowley returns to BW (Feb. 13)

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by Kevin McLaughlin

Soprano Jennifer Rowley and pianist Jason Aquila brought an unmistakable love for bel canto singing to Gamble Auditorium at Baldwin Wallace the evening of February 13. In a recital entitled “Inspirazione,” Rowley acknowledged her indebtedness to the mostly bel canto composers on the program and to the conductors and collaborators who have thus far aided her career. She hoped to repay the debt in kind to the excited BW voice students listening from the balcony.

As a BW alumna from not so long ago (’02), Rowley has clearly made good. She’s had roles at the Met, Carnegie Hall, the Paris Opera, and Covent Garden, and sung under the batons of Zubin Mehta and Yannick Nézet-Séguin. The songs of Bellini and Verdi on this program were touching, but it wasn’t until the later dramatic arias (and a backstage dash for water) that her full vocal command seemed to awaken. [Read more…]

Rocky River Chamber Music Society: The Butler Piano Trio (Feb. 6)

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by Kevin McLaughlin

On February 6, the Butler Piano Trio (Sandy Yamamoto, violin, Joshua Gindele, cello, and Colette Valentine, piano), treated the West Shore Unitarian Universalist Church audience to a compelling evening of generous and potent music making.

Abundantly evident in the performance of Rachmaninoff’s Trio élégiaque No. 1 — a cohesive single-movement work written when the composer was just nineteen — was the Butlers’ special chemistry. The group seemed to exhibit an extrasensory awareness of shared phrasing, expression, and rhythmic timing. Valentine managed Rachmaninoff’s virtuosic piano writing with ease, trading iterations of the elegiac theme with the strings in powerful combination. Three instruments were present onstage, but the music seemed to emit from a single voice.

Beethoven’s Trio in D, Op. 70, composed in 1808, is nicknamed “Ghost” for its eerie Largo movement. According to the unsigned program notes, Carl Czerny thought it evoked Hamlet’s meeting with the ghost of his father, but it was in fact part of Beethoven’s sketch for a never-completed Macbeth opera. The Butlers’ performance was taut and aptly unnerving. In the dramatic Largo the group relentlessly pressed the repeated rhythmic figure (triplet and sixteenths), conjuring a doomed march imposed by a spectral martinet. [Read more…]

“Classical Exploration” from
Youngstown Symphony
(Jan. 29)

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by Kevin McLaughlin

With a glint of polished silver and a showman’s flair, trumpet soloist Brian Neal highlighted the Youngstown Symphony’s Classical Exploration concert on January 29 at Stambaugh Auditorium with a stirring performance of Joseph Haydn’s Trumpet Concerto in E-flat.

As the orchestra continues to search for a permanent conductor to replace the late Randall Craig Fleisher, Alberto Bade, a colleague of Neal’s at Miami Dade College, led the orchestra in a program that also included fine performances of Richard Strauss’ Don Juan, Samuel Coleridge-Taylor’s “Danse Nègre,” and Antonín Dvořák’s always well-received Symphony No. 9, “From the New World.”

[Read more…]

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