Cleveland Orchestra @ Severance Hall 10/2 Music lovers who skipped the VP debate live on Thursday found a harmonious alternative in Severance Hall when Franz Welser-Most conducted a delightfully upbeat concert that began with Mozart's weltzschmertzian early work (Symphony No. 25 in G minor, K. 183). Its darkness (in a teen-aged "end-of-the-world" sense) was so charmingly conveyed that it mitigated the minor key and instead of making us sad, reminded us of the marvels this (then) 17-year-old-genius would compose.

Emanuel Ax, the featured soloist, brought his usual air [that is, one of supreme confidence] to the stage in Karol Szymanowski's Symphony No. 4 and in Richard Strauss's Burleske. Szymanowski's work (which premiered in Severance Hall in 1933) is not often heard, but based on this performance, it should be. It luxuriates in fierce chromatic harmonies and eloquent (barely sounding at times) string passages, crazy pulses thundering low brass, and basses. Ax (in another masterful interpretation) and the orchestra brought this early Strauss work to life and showed how it, too, anticipated later works of genius. In particular, the harsh thunderous tones to come in Salome, the jokes in Til Eulenspiegel, and the lyrical lilting joy in Der Rosenkavalier were already present, just waiting to be further amplified in later works. The concert closed with four "dance tunes" (to put it mildly) by Dvorak. Welser-Most got in the Slavonic Dances with great spirit (at times doing a little dance himself) to lead the orchestra in a spirit-lifting performance. And those of us who skipped the debates weren't really bad citizens. It's much more satisfying to read the text of a debate the next day than it is to read the review of a concert (even this one).

From Cool Cleveland contributor Laura Kennelly lkennellyATgmail.com
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