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Cleveland Orchestra @ Severance Hall 5/24 The stage at Severance Hall was as full of instruments and musicians as I think I’ve ever seen it (without chorus, that is) for this marvelous concert featuring The Cleveland Orchestra conducted by Richard Kaufmann. He appeared to be enjoying the music as much as or more than anyone in the audience. In fact, after the first few selections, he turned to the audience with a huge grin on his face and remarked “Conducting is such fun!” In addition, he also applauded the orchestra after each piece, before he turned around to acknowledge the applause from the enthusiastic audience. Nice touch, that.

Even if you don’t much go to movies, you’d have loved this concert because the music is overwhelmingly familiar in our lives. We hear it everywhere! Every selection except one was either nominated for or won an Oscar for best score, and in many cases the film was also nominated amd/or won for best picture. This really was the cream of the crop! The exception? A sampling of the (then) 9-days-old new Star Trek – 2009! It’s not too often you get to hear the music almost before you’ve had the opportunity to see the film.

But then, as Mr. Kaufmann remarked more than once – ‘this music, played by this orchestra’ was simply superb. There were a good many soloes by principal players, but Joella Jones won the award this time: she had the two most familiar themes of all—on two different instruments! First was on the accordian in The Godfather II (1974) by Nino Rota, and the second –that fabulous piano rendition of As Time Goes By from everyone’s favorite Casablanca by Max Steiner from 1943. The latter produced a unanimous sigh of recognition from the very large audience. (I saw NO empty seats from where I sat in the balcony!) This suite also reminded the listener of the clever ways in which the composer created subtle variations on La Marseillaise throughout the film. Awesome!

Many of the musical segments were accompanied by stills or clips from the films, shown on a large screen hanging over the front portion of the stage. It could have been bigger, I think. But oh! Those handsome men from days gone by. Mercy me! The oldest clip, of course, was Casablanca, but just 16 years later came Ben Hur and Miklós Rózsa’s stirring Parade of the Charioteers. Had he not written it, someone else would have had to, or we wouldn’t have then had the Theme from Star Wars (1977) by John Williams or Jerry Goldsmith’s Patton from 1970.

John Williams also created the encore: from E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial dating from 1982. Mr. Kaufmann lauded the composer as ‘the best!’. If you consider his 45 nominations and 5 Oscars to date, it’s pretty hard to argue with the man.

Other films represented musically here were The Untouchables from 1987 by Ennio Morricone; Silverado from 1985 by Bruce Broughton; and the recent (2005) Finding Neverland by Jan A.P. Kaczmarek, all played without visual assistance. Accompanied by stills and clips were 1962’s champ To Kill a Mockingbird with music by Elmer Bernstein; Prelude and ‘Lara's Theme’ from 1965’s Dr. Zhivago, by Maurice Jarre (who passed away recently, and to whom the conductor dedicated that segment), and three other Jerry Goldsmith movies—1982’s Poltergeist, Papillon from 1973, and 1975’s Star Trek - The Movie.

Two other segments were especially evocative visually as well as musically—the segment titled Flying over Africa from the 1985 movie Out of Africa by John Barry, and selections from 1962’s Mutiny on the Bounty by Bronislau Kaper. Mr. Kaufmann preceeded Randy Newman’s music from The Natural (1984) with a dramatic reading from the script, adding extra oomph to the performance.

Overall, it was a stunning presentation. Even without popcorn!

The orchestra ends the 2008-09 season this weekend at Severance Hall, when Franz Welser-Möst returns for a program featuring the world premiere of On Comparative Meteorology by Johannes Maria Staud, and the Symphony No. 5 of Gustav Mahler. For tickets or other information, call 231-1111 or visit the website http://www.ClevelandOrchestra.com.

From Cool Cleveland contributor Kelly Ferjutz artswriterATroadrunner.com
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