by Daniel Hathaway
“In first impressions,” writes David Wright in his Severance Hall program book notes, Ariadne auf Naxos “can feel like little more than impassioned music filled with an ever-flowing river of non-sequiturs.” But on Sunday afternoon, Richard Strauss’ fervent score — superbly sung and played by a top-notch cast and The Cleveland Orchestra under the direction of Franz Welser-Möst — paved over the gap between high art and comedy, making the opening performance of Ariadne an event to remember for a long time. [Read more…]
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