City Music Cleveland @ Fairmount Church 2/3/10

When the music is charming to begin with, not even a most unusual choice for an arranger can change that aspect. And so it was with the first work on last week’s program by CityMusic Cleveland. Six German Dances (D820) by Franz Schubert were originally written for piano, but were then lost for some hundred years. When they were discovered, Anton Webern’s publisher decided he’d be the perfect person to orchestrate them. Talk about your odd couple! But, even so, they retained their charm and exuberance, although I thought the ländler was a tad too waltzy for the early 1800s when it was composed. I suppose Webern would only have known the waltz as filtered by the Viennese Strauss family, which didn’t happen for some forty or so years after Schubert.

Guest conductor Danail Rachev generally kept the tempos lively throughout, and at times, with his mop of curls floating around his head, somewhat even resembled illustrations of the composer.

Cellist Matt Haimovitz resembles only himself, which is more than sufficient. His talent is awesome and his passion for the music is constant, no matter what he plays. His intensity is so strong, one almost expects sparks to fly from the strings as his bow flashes back and forth across them. (Note: Isn’t it amazing how many of the greatest—most passionate and emotional—concertos were written for cello? Haydn, Dvorak, Elgar, Shostakovich, to name just a few. They leave the listener absolutely wrung out, wondering how the cellist can still have enough energy to stand up at the conclusion.)

The first concerto by Dmitri Shostakovich requires (in addition to cello soloist, of course) a virtuoso horn player who has almost as much tricky work as the solo cellist. Fortunately, CMC has Robert Boden in that capacity. After a very few balance problems at the beginning, Mr. Rachev led a strong, intelligent rendition of this emotional piece, well-suited to the temperament of the soloist.

After the explosive type ending of the first movement, the solo cello and orchestral viola engage in a lovely lyrical duet for a short time, before the composer’s mood changes again. Eerie harmonics lead the soloist into an extended cadenza which is by turns, manic or peaceful. The four-note theme with which the composer began the work emerges here and there, almost playing peek-a-boo just to see if you’re paying attention to it. The final movement is once again fierce, and mostly taken at a super-brisk pace. The performance was extraordinary by any standards one wishes to consider.

After intermission, we went back in time again, to Mozart this time, even if late Mozart. It was his Symphony No. 40 in g minor, K 550, to be exact. Again Mr. Rachev incorporated lively tempos, keeping the first movement light and airy. The Andante second movement was sassy and dreamy with a rather insouciant air to it, while the Menuetto was delightfully lively. The Trio was almost martial in appearance, although hardly marchable. In the finale (allegro assai) the principal winds had their turn in the spotlight, all to good effect.

The next series of concerts will be the week of April 14 through 18, with daytime presentations of Peter and the Wolf for students and evening concerts featuring Beethoven’s Symphony No. 8, and Stravinsky's L'histoire du Soldat. For detailed information, please visit the web-site: http://www.citymusiccleveland.org or call 216.321.8273. If you attended and were enthralled by December’s all-Mozart concert (or if you had to miss it) you might like the new CD of that concert conducted by CIM’s Joel Smirnoff. It is available at the web-site or at future concerts.

From Cool Cleveland contributor Kelly Ferjutz, who writes: My most recently published book is Ardenwycke Unveiled (e-book and trade paper). Cerridwen has another contemporary romance from me, But Not For Love, currently available only as an e-book, but perhaps will be in print next year. I hope to soon get around to completing some of the 30+ incomplete books in my computer!

By the way, Cerridwen has also accepted two of my short stories in their Scintillating Samples (complimentary reads) area: Song of the Swan and Unexpected Comfort. I love photography as well, as you can see here. Occasionally I teach writing workshops and sometimes do editing or ghostwriting on a free-lance basis. But over and above everything else, there's always been the writing. I can't imagine my life without it.