by Daniel Hathaway
HAPPENING TODAY:
At 12 noon, the Cleveland Museum of Art hosts Chamber Music in the Galleries featuring young artists from Case Western Reserve University’s Historical Performance Practice Program in the Donna and James Reid Gallery.
NEW — WEEKEND HIGHLIGHTS:
Beginning this week, we’ll publish a select list of weekend classical music events that we believe have special merit and shouldn’t be missed. Look for those in the Wednesday Diary and the Thursday Newsletter. (If you’re not receiving our newsletter, sign up here. It’s free!)
This week’s recommendations are all orchestra concerts.
- Franz Welser-Möst leads The Cleveland Orchestra in Gustav Mahler’s Das Lied von die Erde (Song of the Earth) featuring tenor Limmie Puilliam and baritone Iurii Samoilov and Arthur Honegger’s symphony liturgique on Thursday at 8 and Saturday at 3 at Severance.
- The Cleveland Institute of Music will inaugurate its renovated Kulas Hall (pictured) on Friday at 7:30 with a Grand Re-opening program by the CIM Orchestra conducted by Carlos Miguel Prieto and starring Gabriela Montero both as composer and piano soloist. On the playlist: Montero’s Concerto No. 1, “Latin,” Jerod Tate’s “Fani’ (Squirrel)” from Woodland Songs, Silvestre Revueltas’ Sensemayá, Carlos Chávez’s Symphony No. 2, “Sinfonía India,” and José Pablo Moncayo’s Huapango.
- BlueWater Chamber Orchestra will open its season on Saturday at 7:30 in Lakewood Civic Auditorium in collaboration with Ohio Contemporary Ballet. Daniel Meyer will conduct three dance pieces — Nicholas Rose’s Sehnsucht (music from Elgar’s Serenade for Strings), Heinz Poll’s Adagio for Two (music from Albinoni’s Adagio in G minor), and Paul Taylor’s Airs (music by George Frideric Handel) — as well as Schubert’s Symphony No. 5.
TODAY’S ALMANAC:
On this date in 1865, French composer Paul Dukas was born in Paris. Who can listen to Dukas’ orchestral fantasy The Sorcerer’s Apprentice without conjuring visions of Mickey Mouse? While this would be a good time to search out one of the versions of Disney’s Fantasia to reconnect with the 12-minute work, why not leave the animation to your imagination and enjoy a purely musical performance by Jader Bignamini (pictured) and the Detroit Symphony recorded live in Orchestra Hall on March 23, 2024.
The celebrated Russian American pianist Vladimir Horowitz was born on this date either in 1903 or 1904. Among his personal quirks: he ate only Dover Sole, and only played recitals (if he didn’t cancel) on Sundays at 4:00 pm. Watch a documentary of his life in the film The Last Romantic, and a video of his famous return to Moscow concert in 1986. There’s also a live recording of his recital in Cleveland in 1974.
Austrian American composer Ernst Toch died in Santa Monica, California on October 1, 1964. Although he wrote film music in Hollywood after escaping the Third Reich, perhaps he’s best known for his experimental works, including Gesprochene Musik (Spoken Music) suite, and its catchy “Geographical Fugue.” The suite was meant to be recorded on a 78 rpm record and played at a higher speed in concert. As Toch wrote in a program note, “increasing the tempo, and the resulting pitch level … created a type of instrumental music, which leads the listener to forget that it originated from speaking.” The Fugue is performed here on a concert by Houston’s River Oaks Chamber Orchestra guest conducted by former Cleveland Orchestra associate conductor Brett Mitchell. (The fugue’s even better sung in German!)
And in 1979, American composer Roy Harris died — also in Santa Monica on this date. Born in rural Oklahoma, with the help of Aaron Copland he studied in Paris with Nadia Boulanger, and went on to write numerous works on American themes. His big breakthrough was his Third Symphony, captured here in a live performance by Leon Botstein and the American Symphony Orchestra in 2010.
