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Re•Views

Cleveland Silent Film Festival 3: Heart of Cleveland (1924) & Man With a Movie Camera (1929, Sept. 8)

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by Daniel Hathaway

The third of four evenings of soundless cinema presented by the Cleveland Silent Film Festival featured a charming industrial propaganda piece and an exuberant compendium of filming and editing techniques, both from the 1920s and both screened with live underscores by the excellent and indefatigable Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra.

Now in its second season, the Silent Film Festival has obviously attracted a following. The crowd gathered on Friday evening September 8 in Gartner Auditorium at the Cleveland Museum of Art so far exceeded expectations that attendees were asked to recycle their programs for the Saturday screening. [Read more…]

Zimmermann Remembered (Sept. 10)

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by Kevin McLaughlin

The late Gerhardt Zimmermann was remembered with affection by family and friends in a concert given by the Canton Symphony Orchestra at Umstaddt Hall on Sunday, September 10.

Former conducting students and colleagues took turns at the podium, and soloists whose careers Zimmermann had touched also took part in a program of works by Mahler, Brahms, Mozart, and Tchaikovsky, among others.

Possibly the most shining example of Zimmermann’s legacy is the orchestra that he developed and led for 43 years. In an age of peripatetic conductors and short-lived musical directorships, the Canton Symphony Orchestra, an ensemble of ninety mostly young professionals, has remained remarkably excellent and intact over the years.

[Read more…]

Simone Lamsma brings Saint-Saëns violin concerto to Blossom Music Center (Aug. 26)

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by Kevin McLaughlin

The Cleveland Orchestra’s final classical concert at Blossom Music Center on Saturday, like the last rose of summer, was the unexpected apogee of the season. Transforming a generic-sounding program titled “Impressions of France and Spain,” conductor Fabien Gabel captivated in works of Ravel, de Falla, and Saint-Saëns’ Violin Concerto No. 3, with which soloist Simone Lamsma won everyone’s heart.

[Read more…]

Pianist Mao Fujita leads Cleveland Orchestra in bold performance of Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 1 (Aug 19)

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This article was originally published on Cleveland.com

By Peter Feher

CUYAHOGA FALLS, Ohio — The Cleveland Orchestra went into Saturday’s concert at Blossom Music Center with more than a few unknowns. It’s not every week that this ensemble tackles a pair of new pieces, welcomes both a debuting conductor and soloist, and even takes a risk with the order of the evening’s program.

Still, for all the novelty, the Orchestra’s performance on Aug. 19 followed the same satisfying arc of any conventional symphonic concert. In classical music, the formula for success — and one surefire way to get a crowd on its feet — is to save the best for last.

[Read more…]

Audra McDonald teams up with The Cleveland Orchestra for a glorious tour of the Great American Songbook (Aug 13)

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This article was originally published on Cleveland.com

(Photo by Roger Mastroianni)

by Kevin McLaughlin

If there is a more complete singing-and-acting talent than Audra McDonald, I can’t think of one. For a generation she has poured her heart out and done so with such vocal and dramatic authority it is difficult to imagine what we did before she came along. The near-capacity crowd at Blossom Music Center on Sunday was treated to a delightful program of Broadway standards and unguarded reflections on life and living.   [Read more…]

Cleveland Orchestra delivers charming resourceful spin on Mozart at Blossom Music Center (Aug 12)

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This article was originally published on Cleveland.com

(Photo: Roger Mastroianni)

By Peter Feher

CUYAHOGA FALLS, Ohio — In a playful twist, this summer’s all-Mozart program at Blossom Music Center featured a couple of pieces that weren’t by Mozart.

Call it counterintuitive, but The Cleveland Orchestra’s concert on Saturday, Aug. 12 stayed true to the spirit of this singular composer. The traits that typify Mozart’s style — a combination of instant charm and endless resourcefulness — were also the qualities that brought together the entire evening.

[Read more…]

Cooper Piano Competition: Final Round with The Cleveland Orchestra (Aug. 4)

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by Daniel Hathaway

The winners with the Coopers and Oberlin Conservatory Dean William Quillen

Thanks to our not-so-friendly coronavirus, the Thomas and Evon Cooper International Piano Competition has been on hiatus for five years. It returned, fresh and energized, last week in Oberlin and Cleveland, fielding what many considered the most impressive group of young pianists in the history of the contest — which was inaugurated in 2010.

The week began with nineteen competitors who had made it to the semifinals in Oberlin. Three remained after the piano-with-piano concerto round on Wednesday and would go on to play concertos with David Robertson and The Cleveland Orchestra at Severance Music Center on Friday evening.

Although the Friday event was a competition round, it could have stood alone as a memorable concert experience. [Read more…]

Cleveland Orchestra partners with pianist Conrad Tao for a sublime, noteworthy performance of John Adams’ ‘Century Rolls’ (Aug 5)

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This article was originally published on Cleveland.com  

by Daniel Hathaway

CUYAHOGA FALLS, Ohio — If Conrad Tao and The Cleveland Orchestra were being paid by the note for their mind-boggling performance of John Adams’ “Century Rolls” at Blossom Music Center on Saturday evening, the Musical Arts Association might well have flirted with bankruptcy.

The centerpiece of a program that included Sarah Kirkland Snider’s “Something for the Dark” and Jan Sibelius’s “First Symphony,” Adams’ 1997 work was inspired by the 20th-century technology that fueled player pianos and other musical devices, from street organs to mechanically bowed violins.

Slots punched onto long rolls of heavy paper fed through a playing mechanism, pneumatically activating levers that produced notes. While pianists have only ten digits at their disposal, you can punch as many slots into a paper roll as you have notes to play them, and superhuman feats become possible.

Not only possible but astonishing in such a live performance by human musicians as this one — perfectly coordinated by the cool-headed conductor David Robertson. [Read more…]

Kent Blossom Music Festival: students step in for faculty (Aug. 2)

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by Peter Feher

The crowd at Ludwig Recital Hall on August 2 got a sneak peek of the Kent Blossom Music Festival’s annual side-by-side concert with The Cleveland Orchestra.

A mix of student and faculty players took the stage for Wednesday’s program, which was originally meant to feature a trio of past and present Orchestra members. Assistant principal flutist Jessica Sindell still anchored the performance, but her colleagues — pianist Joela Jones and cellist Richard Weiss — had to withdraw, with Jones citing health reasons. Two student chamber ensembles, coached by Jones and Sindell, were ready to step in, bringing some of the waiting-in-the-wings energy that makes each summer at Kent Blossom so stimulating.

The standout piece of the evening was destined to make a splash. [Read more…]

Cooper International Piano Competition: Seven Perform in Concerto Round (Aug. 2)

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by Daniel Hathaway

Andrew Sijie Li, 15, from Boston, Canada & Hong Kong, led off the Wednesday afternoon piano-with-piano session with an assured performance of Beethoven’s Concerto No. 3 in c. The opening movement was grand, the slow movement had a lovely vocal quality, and he kept in close contact with his collaborator Annie Lin. [Read more…]

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