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Cleveland Orchestra: Baroque fest with Harry Bicket (April 1)

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by Daniel Hathaway

BicketWhen you’re programming English Baroque music by Handel and Purcell for an American orchestra, it’s helpful to have a native Englishman in charge, especially someone who has produced music in some of the same halls as those storied composers. Having served early in his career as sub-organist at Westminster Abbey, Harry Bicket knows how to recreate British pomp and ceremony on this side of the pond, as he demonstrated in a scintillating concert with The Cleveland Orchestra on Saturday evening, April 1 in Severance Hall. [Read more…]

Cleveland Orchestra: all-Stravinsky with Cleveland Orchestra Chorus & Seraphic Fire (Mar. 16)

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by Daniel Hathaway

Stravinsky-Wide-MastroianniThose who say they like or don’t like the music of Igor Stravinsky risk being detained for further questioning: which of the different styles the composer took on and discarded during his long 20th-century career are you referring to? There were several to be heard on The Cleveland Orchestra’s all-Stravinsky program on Thursday evening, all masterfully performed under the direction of Franz Welser-Möst with the help of the Cleveland Orchestra Chorus and Miami’s Seraphic Fire. [Read more…]

Cleveland Orchestra & Chamber Chorus: Bach’s St. John Passion at Severance (Mar. 9)

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by Daniel Hathaway

TCO-Herr-unser-HerrscherUnder the direction of Franz Welser-Möst on Thursday evening, members of The Cleveland Orchestra and Chorus and an excellent team of soloists made a strong case for a not-so-historically informed approach to Bach’s sacred vocal works. The quality of Welser-Möst’s interpretation and the excellence of its execution got right to the heart of the composer’s Passion According to St. John and left a powerful emotional impression. [Read more…]

Cleveland Cello Society: a chat with recitalist Mark Kosower

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by Mike Telin

kosower-oh“The purpose of a cello society is to raise awareness of the instrument and what it brings to music,” Cleveland Orchestra Principal Cello Mark Kosower said during a recent conversation. “It’s also a place to share ideas about cello playing and music making. So the societies are important to cello communities, and communities at large.”

On Friday, March 10 at 7:00 pm at The Music Settlement, The Cleveland Cello Society will present Mark Kosower and pianist Jee-Won Oh in a recital that will feature works by Beethoven, Brahms, Khachaturian, Martinů, and Schubert.

Kosower said that the cello is one of the most versatile and expressive instruments around. “It’s a remarkable instrument. Few others can compare, in my humble but correct opinion,” he said, laughing. “Its range runs the entire spectrum of the human voice.” [Read more…]

The Gift of Music

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CDsThe gift of music is always a wonderful way to say happy holidays to friends and family. The week, the editors and correspondents of ClevelandClassical.com are pleased to suggest nineteen CDs released in 2016 by outstanding musicians, most of whom call Northeast Ohio home.

There’s certainly something on this list for every classical music lover. Click on the links at the end of each paragraph to read complete reviews of each album. [Read more…]

Mark Kosower and Jee-Won Oh open Arts Renaissance Tremont season (Oct. 2)

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by Robert Rollin

kosower-ohOn Sunday, October 2, Arts Renaissance Tremont kicked off its 2016-17 classical music season with an outstanding matinee recital at the Art Nouveau Pilgrim Church. Pilgrim’s rose-colored, domed interior, with its two exquisite Tiffany stained glass windows, created a beautiful, atmospheric location for the concert. [Read more…]

Kosower & Oh celebrate Ginastera’s 100th anniversary at CIM (Sept. 23)

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by Daniel Hathaway

kosower-oh-ginastera-rehearsalIn a thrilling and revelatory recital on September 23, Cleveland Orchestra principal cello Mark Kosower and pianist Jee-Won Oh celebrated the centenary of Argentine composer Alberto Ginastera. Drawing a large audience to Mixon Hall at the Cleveland Institute of Music, Kosower visited all three of Ginastera’s style periods and offered his own tribute to Aurora Nátola, who inspired most of the composer’s works for the cello. [Read more…]

Mark Kosower and Jee Won Oh plan a tribute to Alberto Ginastera at CIM

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by Daniel Hathaway

Kosower & Oh“Alberto Ginastera’s career was made in America and his name became famous both here and in Europe,” said cellist Mark Kosower in a recent telephone conversation. “But his music just isn’t performed enough and he’s not taken with the same seriousness as European composers. He’s rooted in tradition, but in the second part of his career he became cutting-edge, writing in new ways all the time. I think that’s a model for any modern composer.” The Cleveland Orchestra’s principal cellist will join his wife, pianist Jee-Won Oh, in a celebration of the Argentine composer’s 100th birth anniversary on Friday, September 23 at 8:00 pm in Mixon Hall at the Cleveland Institute of Music. [Read more…]

Cleveland Orchestra at Blossom: a chat with guest conductor Nicholas McGegan

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by Mike Telin

McGegan-Nicholas-kbd“If I were to have a dinner party, whom would I invite from a list of composers?” conductor Nicholas McGegan asked himself during a recent telephone conversation. “You could pretty much count on Handel eating all your food, or on Mozart disgracing himself with the girls, but Haydn and Mendelssohn would be two of the most perfectly wonderful guests. Mendelssohn could talk to people in almost any language, and Haydn was just a charmer. And that comes through in their music.”

On Sunday, August 7 at 7:00 pm, Nicholas McGegan will return to Blossom Music Center to lead The Cleveland Orchestra in a concert that will feature music by his two preferred dinner guests: Joseph Haydn (Symphony No. 99) and Felix Mendelssohn (Symphony No. 3). The evening will also include George Benjamin’s Divertimento on Themes by Gluck with the Orchestra’s assistant principal oboe, Jeffrey Rathbun, as soloist.

McGegan, who admitted to be being a little bit of a foodie — he was putting vegetable soup on to simmer when I phoned — said that he looks forward to returning to Blossom. [Read more…]

CD Review: Victor Herbert Cello Concertos with Mark Kosower & the Ulster Orchestra

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by Timothy Robson

Naxos Herbert CD Poor Victor Herbert, the Irish-born, German-trained cellist, conductor, and composer, has gotten the short end of the music history stick. In the late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century he was one of the most acclaimed American musical figures, both as a performer and as a composer of concert works — as well as a successful grand opera (Natoma, 1911) which starred soprano Mary Garden and a young Irish tenor making his operatic debut, John McCormick. [Read more…]

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