Cleveland Orchestra @ Severance Hall 11/27/09


When you go away from home, you write letters (or at least you used to!) to those you left behind, trying to share the experience with those at home. Time was, one made sketches or watercolors, perhaps, in the days before cameras. Or one might keep a journal, noting the comings and goings and interesting events. But Antonín Dvorák took it one step further. He wrote a description of his adventures—in music. Fortunately, the music still lives, so even more than a hundred years later, we can know what he saw and felt about his trip. That’s the premise of his Symphony No. 9 in E minor, Op. 95 (‘From the New World’).

Anticipation mixes with melancholy as he leaves his Czech homeland 1892 for the new frontier of America, where he was to spend the next three years. Fortunately, he was able to bring some of his family (wife and two children) with him. By the time he’d completed the symphony in 1893, his other four children joined the family in New York.

He combined elements of various elements that impressed him during his stay: tunes based on spirituals from the Black people he encountered, and Indian rhythms from the Native Americans. Mixed with his European sensibilities, the ensuing 9th symphony is like no other, for its variety of inspiration.

Guest conductor Bertrand de Billy set rather a fast pace, as if both he and Dvorák were in a hurry to go elsewhere. Robert Walters has probably played the famous English Horn solo so many times that whether fast or slow, he was more than capable of producing the beautiful mellow sounds required. He was as lyrical as possible, considering the somewhat rushed tempos.

Along the way, there were piquant bird songs and lavishly-described wide prairies in this new land to capture Dvorák’s attention. To be sure we understood his meanings, the composer repeats himself—and a few other composers, as well. The jaunty march in the fourth movement molto vivace was possibly his way of signaling his wish to return home again. Whatever, it’s a lovely tribute to a country he seemed to enjoy for a time, even if he didn’t want to live here.

Ludwig van Beethoven’s Overture to Egmont, Op. 84, led off the program, and received a robust performance. Beethoven felt a distinct connection to the subjects of opposition and freedom, which is the basis for his only opera Fidelio. The German poet Goethe wrote such a stage work, titled Egmont, when Beethoven was a teenager, and more susceptible to such romanticism. But twenty-five more years would elapse before he would produce his incidental music for the dramatic tragedy. By itself, the music is occasionally declamatory, and this performance certainly brought out that aspect in a fine manner.

Pianist Jonathan Biss was the soloist for the Concerto for Piano and Orchestra No. 9 in E-flat major, K. 271 of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Long known by the nickname Jeunehomme (which actually made little sense) recent scholarship believes it to be Jenamy the surname of the young woman for whom the piece may have been written. (Certainly if composers of 200-250 years ago knew the confusion they would cause by messy handwriting, they would have taken steps to print more clearly!)

At any rate, the old nickname is still appropriate for the first movement, Allegro, which really sounds like a young composer at work, whereas the latter two movements represent the more mature composer. Mr. Biss is a lean and lanky young man, who gives the initial appearance of being all arms and legs. Long arms are definitely a good thing for a pianist, and the various tricks employed by the composer seemed to be totally within the soloist’s grasp. Good thing he’s so technically proficient, as this rendition was also very fast. However, the notes were never muddy, but articulated crisply.

The latter portion of the middle movement was suitably light and delicate, before Mr. de Billy rushed into the finale Rondo, amid much frantic page turning by the orchestra musicians.

Holiday weeks present special challenges to conductors, especially a guest conductor making his debut here, as well as the musicians of the orchestra. Certainly by Sunday’s final performance, all the notes will be securely where they are supposed to be. The Symphony No. 9 of Dvorák will receive special treatment as part of a Musically Speaking concert, which will turn the music inside out and then put it back together again in a totally new concept.

This week, Ivan Fischer returns to conduct Weber, Beethoven and Rachmaninoff, with Richard Goode as soloist in Beethoven’s second piano concerto. For tickets or other information, visit the website: http://www.clevelandorchestra.com or call the ticket office at 216.231.1111.

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 to 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.