by Daniel Hathaway
Czech musicians were highlighted on the first half of last weekend’s Cleveland Orchestra programs, including guest conductor Jakub Hrůša and composers Leoš Janáček and Antonín Dvořák, but it was Russian music scored by a Frenchman that brought down the house after intermission — or should we say, knocked the paintings right off the walls? [Read more…]
by Jarrett Hoffman
Listening to a concert is like hugging: you can tell when someone is into it and when they aren’t. A performer might revel in a slow movement or delight in a fast one — or every now and then they might just go through the motions. Both ways of playing were on display Wednesday night, January 21 in Oberlin’s Kulas Recital Hall. [Read more…]
by Daniel Hathaway
More performers — at least those who can write lucid prose — should pen their own program notes to let us know what mental wheels were spinning when they decided what they were going to play. Jonathan Biss thinks and writes as eloquently as he plays the piano, and his choice of repertoire is deliberate and insightful, as he proved in his excellent performance on January 20 for the Tuesday Musical Association at Akron’s E.J. Thomas Hall. [Read more…]
by Daniel Hathaway
Apollo’s Fire’s “Fireside Concerts” this season gather audiences around the hypothetical hearth of the Bach family in Leipzig (before moving on to Zimmermann’s Coffee House). Music by Johann Christian (1735-1782) Wilhelm Friedmann (1710-1784) and Papa Bach himself feature the talented members of the ensemble’s Young Artist Apprentice Program performing alongside AF regulars, with a special appearance by three even younger members of Apollo’s Musettes. [Read more…]
by Mike Telin
One person’s music is another’s noise. On Friday, January 16 in Gartner Auditorium at the Cleveland Museum of Art, Italian musicologist, composer and musician Luciano Chessa led a fascinating and brilliantly programmed concert by the “Orchestra of Future Noise Intoners” or “Intonarumori,” which challenged listeners to hear the musical possibilities that can be found in noise. [Read more…]
by Daniel Hathaway
The fourteenth century was a strange time in the history of Europe, as those who have read Barbara W. Tuchman’s 1978 book, A Distant Mirror, already know. Amid all its tumult, that period also became a fertile era for musical experimentation, a subject Les Délices explored in two concerts last weekend presented in collaboration with the Boston ensemble Blue Heron. [Read more…]
by Monica Hunter-Hart, Guest Contributor
Who among us can recall, through personal memory, the Weimar Republic’s cultural renaissance from 1924-1929, considered the German Golden Era? Such a person would have to be around a hundred years old. German tenor Jonas Kaufmann probably won’t find many centenarians among his audience—but Sony Classical’s September 2014 release Du bist die Welt für mich (“You Mean the World to Me”) is sure to make listeners yearn for a time they never knew. [Read more…]
by Daniel Hathaway
Although the second concert of this busy Severance Hall week wasn’t formally part of the Boulez tribute, Friday’s performance fit right in, featuring as it did the premiere of a new work by British composer-conductor Ryan Wigglesworth, and an expedition into one of Gustav Mahler’s more enigmatic and unwieldy symphonies. [Read more…]
by Daniel Hathaway
Though the man of the hour was unable to travel and bask in his celebration, The Cleveland Orchestra’s tribute to Pierre Boulez on Thursday, January 15, was a festive one, warmed by video tributes from long-time Orchestra members and illuminated by thrilling performances of works written or led by the French composer-conductor during his forty-some year relationship with the organization. [Read more…]
by Daniel Hautzinger
Northeastern Ohio has some fantastic musicians. Case in point: the chamber concert in Oberlin’s Kulas Recital Hall on January 14, part of the conservatory’s Winter Chamber Music Festival. Featuring the abundant talents of members of The Cleveland Orchestra, Oberlin faculty, and one student, it offered a cornucopia of musicality, passion, and delight. [Read more…]