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Baldwin Wallace BachFest: two inspired evening concerts (Apr. 17 & 18)

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by Kevin McLaughlin

From midday Friday through Saturday night, the Baldwin Wallace Bach Festival presented a steady run of events in Gamble Auditorium — lectures, master classes, busking, and concerts. I heard the two evening anchors — “Concerto Countdown”  and Mass in G Minor and Magnificat — which gave a fair picture of the whole.

Friday night, April 17, offered something to look at as well as hear: an array of harpsichords drawn together for Bach’s concertos for multiple keyboards. Festival director Dirk Garner led the count — four, then three, then two — as players rotated in and out, trading bright sprays of plectral fancy-fare.

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Cleveland Chamber Collective: “Travelogue” at Disciples (Apr. 12)

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by Kevin McLaughlin

The Cleveland Chamber Collective’s “Travelogue” at Disciples Christian Church on Sunday afternoon April 12 traced a set of journeys — some literal, some inward — across a compact, varied program. What held it together was a shared interest in motion: landscapes, folk traditions, and time itself.

Director Ty Alan Emerson was an amiable emcee, introducing each piece and serving as an efficient stage crew of one. The program’s range — captivating, sometimes far-flung — reflected careful curation, and he deserves praise for bringing it together.

Robert Manno’s Three Scenes from the Mountains, written in 2012 and inspired by the view from his home in the Northern Catskills, opened the afternoon with pastoral charm. In “The Wind on the Water,” flutist Linda White, clarinetist Alix Reinhardt, and pianist Eric Charnofsky conjured the scene, the piano rippling under shifting breezes of flute and clarinet. [Read more…]

David Russell performs wonders for Cleveland Classical Guitar Society (Apr. 11)

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by Kevin McLaughlin

On Saturday evening, April 11, David Russell — the renowned Scotsman who makes his home in Spain — walked onto the stage of the Maltz Performing Arts Center, and with a shy smile and wave, set about performing wonders on his instrument for the Cleveland Classical Guitar Society.

He began with Mauro Giuliani’s Grand Overture, a piece from the era when the guitar was still trying to elbow its way into the drawing rooms of Europe, hoping to be taken as seriously as the piano or the violin. Giuliani, who left Italy for Vienna in 1806, was among those tireless advocates. Though he once played the cello in the first performance of Beethoven’s Seventh Symphony, it was the guitar that preserves his name in amber.

The Giuliani, with its bold chords and quicksilver runs, made a fitting opener. Russell shaped the music wisely, giving each fast passage a clean edge and guiding the piece forward with a sure hand.

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Heights Chamber Orchestra with Mark Kosower (Mar. 22)

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by Kevin McLaughlin

Joseph Haydn’s C major Cello Concerto has had an unusual life. Written in the 1760s, likely for the Esterházy cellist Joseph Weigl, it disappeared for nearly two centuries before resurfacing in a Prague museum in 1961. Since then it has become central to the cello repertory — admired for its clarity, proportion, and wit.

Mark Kosower, principal cello of The Cleveland Orchestra, brought distinction to the Heights Chamber Orchestra’s program on Sunday, March 22 at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, shaping Haydn’s Concerto and Tchaikovsky’s Andante cantabile with clarity and poise. He made Haydn’s charm into a jewel, and the afternoon into something memorable.

Kosower is a smiling, modest man onstage, but his musicianship told the larger story. His playing was assured and clear, his passagework was clean and sonorous, and his  phrasing logical. In the intimate space, you could watch his left hand at work — precise, disciplined, like five little soldiers carrying out orders. The cadenzas in all three movements were his own — feats of daring in classical style, full of well-turned, lucid flourishes.

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Cleveland Composers Guild: American Mosaic (Mar. 19)

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by Kevin McLaughlin

The Cleveland Composers Guild marked the approaching 250th anniversary of the United States on Thursday evening, March 19, at Saint Francis Chapel of John Carroll University with American Mosaic. Faculty performers from JCU joined the university’s Wind Ensemble in a program that paired familiar American fare with recent works by Guild composers — an odd patchwork of band music, art song, and new vocal works that surprised but ultimately pleased.

What linked this varied program was its ballad-like storytelling, direct expression, and an unembarrassed urge to communicate.

Gayle Getts and the JCU Wind Ensemble opened with Aaron Copland’s noble Fanfare for the Common Man in Robert Longfield’s arrangement for band. Written during World War II as part of Eugene Goossens’ fanfare project, Copland’s valedictory has outlived its companions and settled comfortably into the culture. Modest in numbers (about 19 players), the ensemble had a town-band quality — a little rough around the edges — but they were well prepared, and in obvious sympathy with the music they were there to perform. [Read more…]

Cleveland Orchestra tackles Beethoven’s ‘Fateful Fifth’ with conductor Elim Chan, trumpeter Michael Sachs (Mar. 12)

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by Kevin McLaughlin

This article was originally published on Cleveland.com

CLEVELAND, Ohio — The art of conducting is a kind of alchemy — the transformation of inert notes on a page into something vividly alive. A conductor absorbs a composer’s intentions, reimagines them, and releases them again through that remarkable instrument, the symphony orchestra. On a good night the music feels less reproduced than re-created, and the listener senses the thrill of discovery.

In her appearance with The Cleveland Orchestra at Severance Music Center Thursday, March 12, conductor Elim Chan provided such an evening. She honored the distinct language of each score — Stravinsky’s refashioning of Baroque style in Pulcinella, Haydn’s elegant Trumpet Concerto with Michael Sachs as the eloquent soloist, and Beethoven’s enduring Fifth Symphony. But fidelity did not mean routine.

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Tuesday Musical hosts Marsalis-Mcallister-Ames Trio (Mar. 3)

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By Kevin McLaughlin

The Marsalis–McAllister–Ames Trio arrived at Akron’s E.J. Thomas Performing Arts Hall on March 3, with a program for Tuesday Musical that strolled through several musical neighborhoods — French impressionism, a touch of Scotland, American concert music, and Kansas City jazz. Branford Marsalis and Timothy McAllister handled the saxophones, Liz Ames the piano.

Between them, the saxophonists covered much of the instrument’s extended family, from baritone sax upward, switching horns as the repertoire required. For the first half, Marsalis stayed with the soprano — Coltrane’s instrument — which, in Marsalis’ hands, had a sweet, veiled quality that especially suited the program’s opening music.

Marsalis is widely known as a jazz musician, but he has long been at ease in classical repertoire as well — an aspect of his playing documented early on, as in his 1986 album Romances for Saxophone.

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Chatham Baroque at Rocky River Chamber Music Society (Mar. 2)

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By Kevin McLaughlin

The Rocky River Chamber Music Society welcomed the Pittsburgh-based early-music ensemble Chatham Baroque on Friday, March 2, for a program of 17th and 18th century sonatas from the German-speaking world.

Performed at West Shore Unitarian Universalist Church, the concert traced a path from the courts of Vienna and Salzburg to North German towns and, eventually to London. The three musicians played with distinction, vitality, and an easy rapport.

Founded in 1990, Chatham Baroque includes Andrew Fouts (violin), Patricia Halverson (viola da gamba), and Scott Pauley (archlute and theorbo). Even by period-instrument standards, the ensemble has a distinctive sound: violin and viola da gamba often share the lead, supported by the quiet plucked resonance of the lutes.

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Arts Renaissance Tremont: The Art of Influence (Mar. 1)

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by Kevin McLaughlin

Arts Renaissance Tremont titled their program on Sunday, March 1 “The Art of Influence.” The premise was simple: students now fully launched into professional life performing beside the teachers who shaped them. It was partly debutante’s ball, partly show of pride.

Pilgrim Congregational UCC is a round room — its pews curve inward, the ceiling rises gently, and sound returns generously. On Sunday afternoon the space felt less like a sanctuary than a living room. Erica Brenner, president of ART, greeted the audience warmly, and artistic director Feza Zweifel served as a calm and appreciative emcee.

Cleveland Orchestra percussionists Thomas Sherwood and Tanner Tanyeri opened with Andy Akiho’s Karakurenai. Written for variable instrumentation and played here on orchestral bells (Sherwood) and vibraphone (Tanyeri), it’s a study in interlocking rhythm. As a duet, the piece becomes a test of alignment and nerve.

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Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra, Youth Chorus shine in three grand works at Severance (Feb. 22)

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by Kevin McLaughlin

This article was originally published on Cleveland.com

CLEVELAND, Ohio — The Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra and Youth Chorus filled Mandel Concert Hall on February 22 with music that asks for breadth of sound and steadiness of purpose. Under the direction of James Feddeck, the young musicians took on three grand and optimistic works: Camille Saint-Saëns’ Symphony No. 3, “Organ,” Antonín Dvořák’s Te Deum, and Howard Hanson’s Song of Democracy. They met them well and, at key moments, with real poise.

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