Cleveland Orchestra 4/29 @ Severance Hall Please come back, Alan Gilbert! Alan Gilbert returned to Cleveland this past week to masterly conduct the Cleveland Orchestra. Mr. Gilbert at the youthful age of 35 is a great talent and I hope to hear more from him at Severance Hall in the coming years. Mr. Gilbert previously held a post with the Cleveland Orchestra as assistant conductor from 1995 to 1997. He currently holds various conducting and directorship positions with the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, North German Radio Symphony Orchestra and the Santa Fe Opera. Mr. Gilbert has the rare ability of seeing the piece in is full state, from beginning to end. And rather than conducting through the music he is in the music and this makes for extraordinary music making. Mr. Gilbert has a very clear idea as to how he wants the music to sound. He conducts the piece with his complete self. This may include a dance or a hop for a big statement or a smile or raised eyebrow for a slight statement. All of which communicates to the players the music that he wants to hear. Not that he is the first conductor to communicate in such a manner, but his clear and straightforward vision make for great conducting. What was especially impressive was the various styles of music that he conducted through the evening beginning with Gran Duo by Magnus Linberg. Mr. Linberg is a 46 year old Finnish composer who wrote this work for woodwinds and brass only. The piece beautifully textured the horns and the winds and at times revealed a harsh side that was reminiscent of Sean Sibelius, a fellow Finn. Next on the program was the Cleveland Premier of the Swedish composer, Wilhelm Stenhammar’s Serenade in F major, Op. 31. Mr. Gilbert conducted this piece with such authority that it sounded as if this piece had been in the Cleveland Orchestra repertoire since 1911 when it was written. The second half of the concert brought Joseph Haydn’s Cello Concerto in D major with Jian Wang as soloist. Mr. Wang performance was outstanding with a memorable solo that even Jimi Hendrix would have approved. The evening concluded with Maurice Ravel’s Rapsodie espagnole, an impressionistic stroll through Spanish themes. This concert could very well have been a snooze if left to lesser hands. Mr. Gilbert’s conducting performance may be matched this season only by Pierre Boulez. Let’s hope Mr. Gilbert’s busy schedule includes more frequent visits to Cleveland in the near future. from Cool Cleveland contributor Brian E. Schriefer briancpa@msn.com

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