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Cleveland Orchestra: West Side Story (the movie) at Severance Hall (June 4)

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by Daniel Hathaway

WSSAfter the deaths of Riff and Bernardo during the rumble in West Side Story, Ice tells the simmering Jets to “keep cool, boy.” Associate conductor Brett Mitchell minded that advice early on Sunday afternoon at Severance Hall when his video monitor gave up the ghost right after intermission. Calmly watching two technicians grapple with that show-stopping problem, he quipped to the audience, “We could just tell you how it ends.” After some tugging on wires, the monitor came to life and the 1961 film version of the show went on to its inevitable, tragic climax amid the symphonic splendor of live music from The Cleveland Orchestra. [Read more…]

Cleveland Orchestra: Haydn symphonies, Cheung premiere & Ligeti with Aimard (May 18)

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by Daniel Hathaway

TCO-051817-FWM-AimardThursday evening’s Cleveland Orchestra program at Severance Hall cozied two ear-stretching modern works by Anthony Cheung and György Ligeti between a pair of Haydn Symphonies — No. 39 from the composer’s “Storm and Stress” period, and No. 96 from his late, mature period. [Read more…]

Cleveland Orchestra: Mendelssohn & Henze with Julia Fischer (May 11)

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by Daniel Hathaway

TiranFWMWhen the 17-year-old Felix Mendelssohn saw A Midsummer Night’s Dream with his sister, he ran right home to write a piano duet on the subject that turned into an overture and later a whole suite of incidental music. Did he have any idea that his music would be inextricably bound to Shakespeare’s play — or its march appropriated for countless wedding recessionals? [Read more…]

Rocky River Chamber Music Society: “Cincinnati Meets Cleveland” (May 8)

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by Daniel Hathaway

FreimuthOhio is one of the few states to harbor more than one major symphony orchestra within its borders. Three members of the Cincinnati Symphony joined bows, keys, and valves with a trio from The Cleveland Orchestra on Monday evening, May 8 at West Shore Unitarian Universalist Church. The program, featuring some unusual music by Carl Reinecke, Franz Strauss, and Ernst von Dohnányi, as well as a not-so-often-heard version of Romances by Robert Schumann, made a gradual crescendo of sophistication. [Read more…]

Cleveland Orchestra: Pierre-Laurent Aimard talks about György Ligeti’s Piano Concerto

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by Daniel Hathaway

AimardAlthough French-born pianist Pierre-Laurent Aimard plays a wide range of literature, he has a special affinity for the avant-garde music of Hungarian composer György Ligeti. This weekend, Cleveland audiences will have the excitement of hearing him tackle Ligeti’s phenomenally difficult Piano Concerto in partnership with Franz Welser-Möst and The Cleveland Orchestra. Performances begin on Thursday evening, May 18, and continue on Friday morning, May 19, and Saturday evening, May 20.

Aimard first encountered Ligeti’s music in the mid-1980s, and from 1993 to 2001, the composer entrusted the pianist with the premieres of nearly all of his late Etudes. Ligeti dedicated Nos. 10 and 12 to Aimard himself. He said the pianist had inspired him to compose some of his most complex piano works.

Complex, but remarkably accessible. Speaking by telephone from his home in Berlin, Aimard said, “From the very beginning, I found his music extremely original, and whatever his ideas are, he can communicate them in a clear and efficient way. [Read more…]

Cleveland Orchestra to premiere Anthony Cheung’s Topos this week

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by Mike Telin

cheungWhat do you think of when you hear horn calls filling the hall with majestic sound during Haydn’s The Seasons, or any Mahler symphony? Perhaps you visualize hunting, a warning of encroaching armies, or a ship sailing into a foggy harbor.

What listeners think of when hearing such musical gestures served as inspiration for Anthony Cheung’s new work, Topos, which will receive its world premiere by The Cleveland Orchestra under the direction of Franz Welser-Möst this week at Severance Hall. Check our concert listings page for dates and times.

In the program notes, Cheung, the Orchestra’s ninth Daniel R. Lewis Young Composer Fellow, writes:

Each movement is based on one or several related musical topics: representational tropes with special recurring characteristics that evoke scenery, psychological affect, natural and cultural phenomena, etc. The fluidity of meaning in these topics fascinates me. For example, horn calls were originally indicative of hunting, signaling, and fanfare but reemerged in the 19th century as symbols of nostalgia and even leave-taking. [Read more…]

Cleveland Orchestra: a conversation with Midsummer Night’s Dream actor Itay Tiran

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by Mike Telin

TIRAN-ItayAfter three performances of Debussy’s opera Pelléas and Mélisande last week, the spirit of theater continues at Severance Hall when Franz Welser-Möst leads The Cleveland Orchestra in Felix Mendelssohn’s incidental music to Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream with soprano Anya Matanovic, mezzo-soprano Emily Fons, and members of TCO’s Youth Chorus.
The program, to be presented on Thursday at 7:30 pm, Sunday at 8:00 pm, and Sunday at 3:00 pm, also includes Hans Werner Henze’s Il Vitalino raddoppiato, based on a chaconne by the Baroque composer Vitali, featuring violinist Julia Fischer.

“Shakespeare’s play is full of fairies, dwarves, elves, and demons,” Israeli actor Itay Tiran, who will be the narrator, said during a recent telephone conversation. [Read more…]

Cleveland Orchestra: a conversation with Pelléas and Mélisande’s Golaud

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by Mike Telin

Muller-BrachmannClaude Debussy’s journey to writing an opera had many false starts. Then he happened across the symbolist plays of Maurice Maeterlinck. After discovering that the author had given Vincent d’Indy permission to to set his La princesse Maleine to music, Debussy turned his attention to Maeterlinck’s Pelléas et Mélisande.

On May 2nd, 4th, and 6th at 7:30 pm at Severance Hall, The Cleveland Orchestra under the direction of Franz Welser-Möst will present three performances of the new fully-staged production by Yuval Sharon of Debussy’s only completed opera. The cast will include Elliot Madore (as Pelléas), Martina Janková (Mélisande), Hanno Müller-Brachmann (Golaud), Nancy Maultsby (Genevieve), Peter Rose (Arkel), Julie Mathevet (Yniold), and David Castillo (Doctor/Shepherd). [Read more…]

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