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A Bouquet of CDs & a Book: 18 recommendations for the holidays by our correspondents

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To guide your last-minute shopping, the staff of ClevelandClassical.com has compiled a list of 17 CDs by artists who work or have a regular presence in the classical music scene in Northeast Ohio, and a book about New York City Opera that will interest local opera fans. Support your local musicians by gifting their music to family and friends!

Some of the following recordings are being reviewed here for the first time, while reviews of others are reposted from editions of ClevelandClassical.com since our last CD roundup in December of 2017.

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CityMusic Cleveland to feature Frank Rosenwein in Strauss’ Oboe Concerto

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by Jarrett Hoffman

Having served in the U.S. army during World War II, oboist John de Lancie had the opportunity to meet Richard Strauss at his home in a Bavarian resort town following the war. He asked the composer if he had ever thought about writing an oboe concerto — Strauss said that he hadn’t.

And then, suddenly, the composer had. His Oboe Concerto would be premiered just months later in Zürich. And what a concerto it was — and is. As Cleveland Orchestra principal oboe Frank Rosenwein (above) told me during a recent phone call, “it stands at the pinnacle of oboe writing in terms of its beauty, but also its difficulty.”

Rosenwein will play the Strauss Concerto with CityMusic Cleveland and principal guest conductor Stefan Willich in five free performances this week. As is the orchestra’s custom, the concerts will jump from venue to venue each day from Wednesday, December 12 through Sunday, December 16 (details below).

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Composer Stephen Hartke takes us inside Da Pacem, concerto for cello and orchestra

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by Mike Telin

When Stephen Hartke composed his piano concerto Ship of State in 2017, he purposely wrote a piece that would send a S.O.S. to listeners that all was not going well for civilization. “The process of undergoing the emotional journey of writing a piece changes who you are,” Hartke said during an interview in his studio at the Oberlin Conservatory where he is chair of the Composition Department.

But having recently completed Da Pacem, his new concerto for cello and orchestra, the Grammy-winning composer said he feels “a little more serene” than when he began the work. “I had a lot of fun writing the piano concerto, but that was more of a violent roller coaster, while this piece seeks closure.”

On Wednesday, December 12 at 8:00 pm in Finney Chapel, cellist Darrett Adkins will perform the world premiere of Da Pacem with the Oberlin Orchestra under the direction of Robert Spano. The program will also include Jennifer Higdon’s Concerto for Orchestra. (Da Pacem was commissioned by Oberlin College and Conservatory, the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, the Aspen Music Festival, and the American Composers Orchestra.) [Read more…]

Essay:
Calder & Cage

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by Parker Ramsay

On a recent trip to Los Angeles, the author visited an Alexander Calder retrospective and saw productions of John Cage’s Europeras 1 & 2 by Yuval Sharon and Industry Opera, inspiring him to consider what vivifies or stagnates art. (Sharon has directed productions of Janacek’s The Cunning Little Vixen and Debussy’s Pelléas et Mélisande for The Cleveland Orchestra.)

On East 3rd Street in Los Angeles, the showrooms at Hauser & Wirth break away from the typical post-industrial chic of the surrounding Arts District. Solid white walls and polished concrete floors bear a sheen of sterility, defiant against trends to hang art on brick walls. There is light everywhere, eliminating the possibility of shadows. Windows and ventilation grates are absent, prohibiting the passage of moving air. And so, Alexander Calder’s mobiles sit frozen, restricted from displaying the anti-gravitational nuance for which they are known. Rotational joints appear locked in place, constraining metal ligaments from separating or conjoining in motion. Touching is strictly not allowed. Attempts by children to blow air are met with reprimands from security, loaded five or six guards deep in a showroom containing only twelve pieces.

The viewer can physically move around the art, imagining the possibility of various spirals and spins, but any permutation of the sculptures’ various elements is limited by the human mind. [Read more…]

Cleveland Orchestra: Jane Glover celebrates her 100th Messiah performance

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by Daniel Hathaway

Although she didn’t set out to make her appearance with The Cleveland Orchestra and Chorus this week one for the record books, British conductor Jane Glover will reach her century mark of Messiah performances on Thursday evening, December 6 at Severance Hall, the first of four presentations of Handel’s oratorio through Sunday, December 9.

I reached Glover by telephone in London late last week during her quick trip home between engagements. “I was in Chicago doing the Christmas Oratorio until Tuesday,” she said. “I got back here on Wednesday morning and have had four days to turn around, and I’ll be coming back on Sunday. I’m so looking forward to Messiah in Cleveland. It’s going to be a high point of the year.”

I wanted to chat with the conductor about her personal approach to George Frideric Handel’s most famous oratorio, but I began by asking whether these concerts were to be her third or fourth engagements with the Orchestra.

Jane Glover: It will be my third appearance with The Cleveland Orchestra. I’m thrilled because it’s my favorite orchestra on the planet.

Daniel Hathaway: I believe I read an interview in which you said you’d already led 100 performances of Messiah.

JG: Actually, the first performance with Cleveland will be number 100. Last year I had a couple in the book that I had to cancel because something clashed with them. [Read more…]

Dipping into the holidays: chatting with Cleveland Chamber Choir mezzo & managing director Kira McGirr

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by Jarrett Hoffman

One minute, plastic skeletons dangle from rows of porches. Next, the country fixates on turkeys. Then a menagerie of menorahs and evergreens take the scene.

In other words, the last few months can be a lot to handle, even without singing in and managing a choir — or taking care of sick and injured children. “One son has a broken arm, and my other son has pneumonia,” Kira McGirr, Cleveland Chamber Choir mezzo-soprano and the group’s new Managing Director, told me recently over the phone. “So things are a little intense, but they’re both back to school now.”

Speedy recoveries to them. Meanwhile, McGirr and her husband, Oberlin Conservatory musicologist Charles Edward McGuire, will balance caretaking and preparations for the Choir’s first-ever holiday offerings. Their two free concerts led by artistic director Scott MacPherson will take place on Saturday, December 8 at the Church of the Covenant in Cleveland, and Sunday, December 9 at Christ Episcopal Church in Oberlin, both at 7:30 pm. McGuire will talk about the music at 6:45 pm on both dates.

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No Exit continues Cleveland Composers Series this week

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by Tian Yoon Teh

This poem served as inspiration for Hong-Da Chin’s …the arc of a tear…, which depicts a tear flowing down one’s face very slowly.

You can hear Chin’s vivid work when No Exit continues their Cleveland Composers Series on Saturday, December 8 at 3:00 pm at the Bop Stop. Joining the ensemble will be special guest Patchwork Duo — Noa Even, saxophone, and Stephen Klunk, drum set. The evening will include works by James Praznik, Colin Holter, Ty Emerson, and Timothy Beyer. The program will be repeated on Friday, December 14 at 8:00 pm at SPACES. As always, the concerts are free.

What is striking about the Chinese influence in composition is the poetry of images depicted in sound. Chin uses such imagery in his recent works. When asked about …the arc of a tear… during a telephone conversation, Chin laughed. “The title is exactly what the piece is. In fact, I now like to compose with a title first!” [Read more…]

Cleveland Orchestra: Leila Josefowicz to solo in Scheherazade.2 with the composer on the podium

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by Jarrett Hoffman

In some cases, a compelling background or story is at least half the appeal of a piece of music — and John Adams’ Scheherazade.2 certainly tells an interesting tale. But while violinist Leila Josefowicz fully appreciates that side of the concerto, there’s something else she thinks is important to say.

“We can talk endlessly about the narrative of this piece, and what it means, and what it symbolizes,” she said during a recent telephone conversation. “But man, what I really love is that at the end of the day, it’s just a great, great piece of music. Even if it had no narrative, no political agenda, it would still be a total masterwork.”

Josefowicz, for whom Adams wrote Scheherazade.2, will tackle the concerto this week with The Cleveland Orchestra behind her, and Adams himself on the podium to her side. The rest of the program is fascinating too. Adams will take the Orchestra for a Short Ride in a Fast Machine — another of his own works — in addition to leading two pieces by Copland: the Suite from Appalachian Spring (in its 1945 orchestration) and Quiet City, featuring two Cleveland Orchestra members as soloists, principal trumpet Michael Sachs and solo English horn Robert Walters.

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No Exit: Cleveland Composers Series

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by Mike Telin

Since its founding, the inimitable new music ensemble No Exit has regularly given a voice to area composers, and the ensemble will continue that tradition with its upcoming Cleveland Composers Series. The program spotlights five new works by composers who are recognized for their singular and distinctive voices.

On Friday, November 30 at 8:00 pm at Cleveland State University’s Drinko Hall, No Exit will be joined by special guest Patchwork Duo — Noa Even, saxophone, and Stephen Klunk, drum set. The evening will include works by James Praznik, Colin Holter, Hong-Da Chin, Ty Emerson, and Timothy Beyer. The program will be repeated on Saturday, December 8 at 3:00 pm at the Bop Stop and Friday, December 14 at 8:00 pm at SPACES. As always, the concerts are free.

“For a long time, composers have sought inspiration from finding connections between music and other mediums of art,” No Exit artistic director Timothy Beyer said during a telephone conversation. “This series of concerts features a few works that fit that bill.”

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Wine, doodling, flutes, and jazz piano: Urban Troubadour’s “Concert of Creativity”

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by Jarrett Hoffman

“I’m really excited about the kinds of concerts that we’re making happen,” Urban Troubadour flutist and artistic director Jane Berkner told me during a recent conversation. “They’re not only cultural events, they’re also social events. I’m finding that our audiences are enjoying meeting each other over a glass of wine and cultural activity.”

And for those whose creative juices get flowing after a little bit of vino — as some of us may have experienced, or at least witnessed, during a round of post-Thanksgiving Charades — this next Urban Troubadour concert on Saturday, December 1 at WhiteSpace Creative in Akron might be one to circle on the calendar.

Things start off at 5:00 pm with wine, small bites, and doodling. 6:00 brings the main event: a concert by Berkner (flute and piccolo), George Pope (flute and alto flute), and Eric Charnofsky (piano), who together will take on a wide-ranging program of works by eight composers of five nationalities. Then at 7:30, jazz pianist Theron Brown will play while audience members make something creative to take home. Tickets are available online.

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