by Daniel Hathaway
HAPPENING THIS WEEKEND:
We list 21 events from Friday through Sunday, including multiple performances by several organizations. Visit our Concert Listings for details, and read previews on this page for
- BlueWater Chamber Orchestra (Saturday at 7:30 at the Church of the Covenant, and Sunday at 4 at St. Noel Church)
- Les Délices in “Moonlit Mozart” (Saturday at 7:30 at Disciples Church, and Sunday at 4 at West Shore Unitarian Universalist Church
- Conrad Tao premiering Adam Roberts’ Book of Flowers (pictured) on the Kent Keyboard Series (Sunday at 5 in Ludwig Recital Hall)
- Salar Nader and Homayoun Sakhi bring Afghan music to Oberlin (Sunday at 7:30 in Finney Chapel).
INTERESTING READ:
The October issue of Gramophone includes a feature about Swedish violinist Johan Dalene, who has released a new album paying tribute to virtuoso icons from the past. Dalene won first prize in the 2017 Thomas and Evon Cooper International Competition in Oberlin, after performing the Tchaikovsky concerto with Jahja Ling and The Cleveland Orchestra at Severance Hall. Click here to explore the issue.
WEEKEND ALMANAC:
October 4 — by Jarrett Hoffman
This October 4th marks 42 years since the death of pianist Glenn Gould, who is best known for his celebrated interpretations of the music of J.S. Bach and for his all-around unconventional approach to music-making, from his maverick interpretations to his distinctive mannerisms.
One famous incident that illustrates his unique persona came on April 6, 1962, when he soloed with the New York Philharmonic at Carnegie Hall. The conductor was Leonard Bernstein, who felt compelled to offer the audience an explanation of sorts before the performance of Brahms’ Piano Concerto No. 1 in d.
Listen to the speech and the performance on YouTube, and read about critics’ reactions to both of those here.
October 5
German-born French composer Jacques Offenbach died on this date in 1880 in Paris. His most famous work was his last one, the opera Tales of Hoffmann, which he left unfinished — he died four months before the premiere. But providing a better snapshot of his career are his nearly 100 operettas, which would go on to influence composers such as Johann Strauss Jr., Arthur Sullivan, and Franz Lehar.
That style is right up the alley of Ohio Light Opera, which in recent years has put on Offenbach’s La Vie Parisienne and La Périchole, which Kelly Ferjutz described as “a screwball comedy disguised as an operetta” in her review of the production for ClevelandClassical.com. More recently, during OLO’s 2020 online season, members of the company came together virtually for performances of “Ne’er for a Trip” and “Love the Deceiver” from Offenbach’s Voyage to the Moon.
October 6
On October 6, 1882, Polish modernist composer Karol Szymanowski was born in Tomoshovka, Ukraine. Influenced by Wagner, Strauss, Reger, Scriabin, Debussy, and Ravel, as well as by Chopin and the folk music of the Polish Highlanders, his works were popular in the 1920s and 1930s and are experiencing a recent revival.
Szymanowski’s controversial opera Krol Roger was produced by Cleveland’s Opera Circle in October, 2011, and Frank Peter Zimmermann played his First Violin Concerto with Thomas Dausgaard and The Cleveland Orchestra in February, 2011.
Watch a performance of the First Violin Concerto in May, 2019 by Christian Tetzlaff and the Helsinki Philharmonic led by Susanna Mälkki here, and view the second half of pianist Marc-Andre Hamelin’s 2002 recital in Tokyo, devoted to works by Szymanowski, including the Second Piano Sonata.
