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.
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.
Out of Vienna is the title of the Leonkoro Quartet’s latest album, but that phrase could easily stand in for all of the ensemble’s recent performances.
No matter their theme, most classical guitar concerts eventually circle around to a piece by one of the instrument’s most famous composers. Agustín Barrios. Heitor Villa-Lobos. Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco. But none of those names appeared on the Cleveland Classical Guitar Society’s program on March 7.