NYT: Rave Review of Cleveland Orchestra Concert @ Carnegie
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I saw this in today's Times (I know, it's Tommasini, but, whatever):
Music Review
Cleveland’s Voluptuous ‘Lulu,’ Surrounded by Beethoven
Hiroyuki Ito for The New York Times
By ANTHONY TOMMASINI
Published: May 23, 2010
In assessing an orchestra, classical music insiders and audiences can
get too caught up with the issue of sound. Yes, to be enveloped in the
sheer sonic splendor of a great orchestra is a wonderful thing. But I
am willing to trade a little aural roughness for bracing performances
when a conductor and players challenge themselves in the best sense
and bring striking insights to standard repertory or champion living
composers. There is more at stake for the American orchestra than the
pursuit of glorious sound.
As a rebuttal to this point of view, however, there was the Cleveland
Orchestra’s concert on Friday night at Carnegie Hall, conducted by
Franz Welser-Möst. The opening work was Beethoven’s “Coriolan”
Overture, and from the first moments — three vigorous statements of a
stern, sustained C in the strings, each one bursting into a slashing
chord — the sheer sound of the orchestra was mesmerizing. Throughout
the program, which included a sensual account of Berg’s “Lulu” Suite
and a fleet, involving performance of Beethoven’s “Eroica” Symphony,
the overall sound was so rich, deep and focused, it was almost
tactile.
This should have been no surprise. The Cleveland Orchestra has been
renowned for its sound since the glory days of George Szell a half-
century ago. But for the first few seasons after Mr. Welser-Möst
became music director in 2002, a surprise choice to succeed the
towering Christoph von Dohnanyi, he seemed not up to the job and
struggled to get his footing. At the time he struck me as a solid and
earnest but not especially compelling musician. Even the sound of the
orchestra lost luster and focus during those first shaky seasons,
although I heard the Clevelanders only during their regular visits to
New York.
In recent years the bond between this committed Austrian conductor,
who turns 50 in August, and the Cleveland players has grown steadily,
it would appear. On Friday the orchestra sounded phenomenal, and
finally Mr. Welser-Möst impressed me as a major musician.
Despite my reservations about cultivating orchestral sound as an end
in itself, this inspiring concert was a reminder that everything in
music is, of course, expressed through sound. In the main theme of the
“Coriolan” Overture, which begins with a stream of restless notes in C
minor, the sound of the subdued strings still had body, russet
coloring and character. As the piece unfolded, crescendos swelled
effortlessly, with not a trace of exaggeration. Mr. Welser-Möst led a
sober, classically proportioned performance. Still, the playing was so
transparent, textured and articulate that every moment was exciting.
In Berg’s “Lulu” Suite Mr. Welser-Möst seemed bent on persuading
listeners, especially Berg skeptics, to put out of their minds any
notions about intimidating 12-tone compositional procedures and just
listen to the voluptuous, intensely expressive music. The orchestra
sensitively cushioned the astringent harmonies and incisively
dispatched the jagged rhythms and bursts of wrenching atonality. The
bright-voiced soprano Erin Morley was a bewitching soloist in “Lulu’s
Song,” an excerpt from Act II of the opera in which the manipulative
Lulu tells her ineffectual husband that she has never tried to appear
to be “anything other than what I am taken for.”
In Beethoven’s “Eroica” Mr. Welser-Möst’s tempos were as brisk as any
you will hear from period-instrument orchestras. Yet the playing,
though lithe and buoyant, always had resonance and warmth. There was
vigor and élan in the first movement but also shape and grandeur. As
the hushed opening of the Scherzo raced by, the sound of the strings
was almost a murmur filtering through the hall. Yet if you listened
closer, you could hear every note cleanly played. The final ovation
was tremendous.
Some performances of the “Eroica” are driven by a top-down maestro. It
takes nothing away from Mr. Welser-Möst to say that in this “Eroica”
he came across as an empowering musician among trusting colleagues.
And the sound? Wow.
Bob Harper
(snip rave)
>Wow.
Wow, indeed. Sounds like FW-M's got it together in spades.
Bob Harper
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I heard them at Severance Hall back at the beginning of April and they
sounded great. Dohnanyi was the conductor that night.
Thornhill
> This should have been no surprise. The Cleveland Orchestra has been
> renowned for its sound since the glory days of George Szell a half-
> century ago.
What's the Dohnanyi quote? "We give a good concert and George Szell
gets a great review."
Anyway, I heard the Orchestra on tour last year with FWM conducting
the Shostakovich 7; I thought it was excellent and the orchestra
sounded outstanding. Too bad they couldn't figure out a way to record
one of the performances.