by Kevin McLaughlin
Northeast Ohio is home to an astounding number of community orchestras and choruses, many with proud histories that go back decades. To attend a concert by such a plucky band is to experience the excitement and joy of the performers, and to see their seriousness of purpose realized.
On Sunday, March 16, in Mandel Hall at Severance Music Center the Suburban Symphony celebrated its 70th anniversary. Under the direction of music director Domenico Boyagian, they did so in style with performances of Sibelius’ Karelia Suite and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 (“Choral”).
The Orchestra was joined onstage by two other longstanding musical organizations: the Western Reserve Chorale, (David Gilson, artistic director) and the West Shore Chorale (Michael Lisi, artistic director). All told, there were around 240 smiling faces gathered onstage.
WCLV’s Bill O’Connell was a genial emcee, emphasizing the healthy state and abundance of community musical ensembles in and around Cleveland, both orchestral and choral.
With little pomp, despite plenty of circumstance, Boyagian addressed the audience and went straight to work, opening with a fine performance of the folklore-inspired Karelia Suite. The brass, especially the horns, shone splendidly in the outer movements where principal horn Martin Layman set a high bar for his colleagues. A lovely English horn solo was featured in the middle movement “Ballade,” and the string pianissimo notes at the main theme’s return were like fairy dust. Spurred on by Boyagian’s baton, the brass rejoiced in rustic folklife for the final Alla marcia.
Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, arguably the summit of his — and possibly all symphonic achievements — is a masterful celebration of humanity, causing all who hear it to feel better about life. How appropriate to experience such unadulterated joy for a 70th anniversary, and how appropriate given our current times.
Boyagian largely ignored Beethoven’s controversial (fast and slow) metronome markings. The Orchestra members may well have been thankful for the prudent tempos. Many were confronting the idea and now the reality of the Ninth for the first time. Conservative tempos also offered opportunities for grandeur and weight and an alternative to the usual helter-skelter onslaught, though a plodding uniformity crept in as the music developed.
Outstanding solo playing from the winds added beauty and rhythmic stability to the scherzo, while the timpani brought nervous energy and character to the finale.
The music in the third movement was allowed to unfold organically, with melodies emerging and receding with a floating quality — a state of innocence just before the storm.
In the final movement, cellos and double basses were hospitable harbingers of the Ode to Joy melody in advance of baritone Young-Kwang Too’s thrilling entrance.
This is incredible music, but it’s not all instrumental. The singers had a long wait before their first Freude! But when it arrived they were on fire with Promethean joy — just as Beethoven intended — and united behind the fine solo voices of Young-Kwang Too, soprano Emily Margevich, mezzo-soprano, Quinn Middleman, and tenor John Pickle. All projected Beethoven’s words of rejoicing and calls to brotherhood outward, to where they might do good.
Directors Gilson and Lisi deserve congratulations for their thorough preparation — how much rehearsing did the two choral groups do in one room? And conductor Boyagian, for pulling off this formidable endeavor.
Published on ClevelandClassical.com March 25, 2025.
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