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Cleveland Latvian Concert Association imports Carion Wind Quintet (Feb. 21)

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by Daniel Hathaway

Any chamber music society in the United States seeking to spice up its roster of artists should waste no time in booking the Carion Wind Quintet. Based in Denmark and staffed by two Danes, two Latvians, and a Hungarian, this group stands out for playing its repertoire from memory, physically choreographing its movements, and lacing its programs with irresistibly dry Nordic humor. On Saturday, February 21 at Lakewood’s Latvian Church Hall, the ensemble gave refreshing performances of music by Ligeti, Mozart, Ibert, Shostakovich and Liszt during a stop on its first American tour. [Read more…]

Cleveland Orchestra guest conductors lead memorable Concerts (Feb. 23 & 27)

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by Daniel Hathaway

Michael Tilson Thomas succeeded Herbert Blomstedt as music director of the San Francisco Symphony in 1995. In a nice coincidence, Blomstedt turned the tables last month, following Tilson Thomas on the Severance Hall podium during adjacent weeks in February. [Read more…]

fp Creative: “Samples” at Snap House Studios (Feb. 20)

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by David Kulma

fp Creative is making a slow revolution in how concerts happen. By handing over the reins of each event to guest producers/curators, the organization is empowering musicians to experiment with any facet of how music is presented in their post-industrial venue Snap House Studios. On Thursday, February 20, soprano Melanie Emig was in control for an event titled “Samples,” a fascinating shuffle of vocal music ranging from Hildegard’s elaborate Medieval chant to current alt hip-hop. [Read more…]

Canton Youth Symphony joins the Pros in a side-by-side (Feb. 16)

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by Tom Wachunas

Unlike some other MasterWorks concerts by the Canton Symphony Orchestra, there was no single, dominant musical theme or concept uniting the selections on its February 16 program. There certainly was, however, a unifying energy working from the podium — CSO Assistant Conductor Matthew Jenkins Jaroszewicz. [Read more…]

Akron Symphony & Chorus: Mozart’s Requiem (Feb. 22)

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by Peter Feher

The history of classical music sometimes borders on mythology. The music on the Akron Symphony’s Saturday, February 22 program has taken on this fabled, quasi-historical quality — Mozart’s Requiem, Schubert’s “Unfinished” Symphony, and Beethoven’s over-finished Leonore Overture No. 3. Fortunately, in performance the music more than lived up to the story. [Read more…]

Apollo’s Fire: “L’Amore — an Old Italian Valentine” (Feb. 14)

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by Timothy Robson

Cleveland’s Baroque Orchestra celebrated the Valentine’s Day weekend with four performances of “L’Amore: An Old Italian Valentine.” I heard the second concert on the evening of Valentine’s Day itself at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Cleveland Heights. Apollo’s Fire conductor and harpsichordist Jeannette Sorrell greeted the audience with the adage, “Italian is the language of music, of the angels, and of love.” [Read more…]

Phaeton Trio on Rocky River Chamber Society Series (Feb. 10)

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by Nicholas Stevens

Every so often, the first seconds of a concert bring neither anxiety over how the rest will go nor twitchy overstimulation, neither boredom nor ecstasy, but a satisfying assurance. Some performances click right away, the musicians’ technique unimpeachable, their artistry and expression powerful, their manner warm but professional. Such concerts hold attention in a special way — the chances of a misstep negligible enough that listening never involves comparison to an abstract standard. In the Phaeton Trio’s recent tour de force in Rocky River, the initial gestures of the performance set a high standard that held throughout. [Read more…]

Tri-C Classical Piano Series: Pierre Réach at CMA (Feb. 9)

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by Nicholas Stevens

Musicians love a good metaphor: take, for instance, that of summiting a mountain. When a violinist speaks this way after playing all of Bach’s partitas, or a soprano recalls preparations for a Wagner opera, the image of the artist mounting some hostile peak offers implications of persistence, struggle, and of course triumph. Pianists might describe Beethoven’s sonatas this way. But how many have actually played at the top of a mountain? Archival video confirms that French pianist Pierre Réach literalized this image of the soloist at the summit over twenty years ago. A recent concert in Cleveland confirmed that the figurative Everest of Beethoven’s piano music still bears his banner as well. [Read more…]

Cleveland Orchestra Fridays@7 with Philippe Herreweghe (Feb. 14)

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by Daniel Hathaway

The Cleveland Orchestra — or at least half of it — marked Valentine’s Day with a straight-through, 50-minute concert led by Belgian early music guru Philippe Herreweghe. The February 14 performance, marketed as a romantic evening of orchestral classics, played to a packed house (marketing works!). [Read more…]

Cleveland Orchestra with Mälkki & Josefowicz (Feb. 8)

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by Daniel Hathaway

Music is said to be a universal language, but it does speak with different accents. When you’re playing music by Jean Sibelius, it’s helpful to have a Finnish conductor on the podium, which is what made Susanna Mälkki’s pair of Cleveland Orchestra concerts so lucid and communicative earlier this month. [Read more…]

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