The esteemed conductor brought two old friends with him this week: Beethoven's Symphony No. 4 in B-flat major, Opus 60, and Nielsen's Symphony No. 5, Opus 50. One might almost say it was a rather short but sweet—and filling performance.
Although the two symphonies were written somewhat more than one hundred years apart, they have one similarity—they each start off in a quiet, ethereal manner. This is a quality in which our orchestra excels, and indeed, it is sometimes difficult to tell if they really are playing or are waiting to play.
From this beginning, however, the two symphonies diverged, becoming their own individual entities. The Beethoven enlarged into a more vigorous creation, with pizzicato notes from the strings, and gorgeous bassoon playing by principal John Clouser. The third movement sounded for all the world like a scherzo, even if it wasn’t referred to as such, and moved along very briskly. The finale was frantic in pace, keeping the cellos and basses fleet-fingered, to put it mildly. And again, Mr. Clouser, along with Franklin Cohen, principal clarinet, demonstrated that very fast can still be beautifully played.
Overall, it was a controlled, disciplined performance that should be on anyone’s list of the season’s highlights.
Nielson’s Fifth Symphony (one of a series of Fifths being performed this season by the Orchestra) is not as familiar perhaps, but it deserves to be. Even though much of his music is from the early twentieth century, it is still accessible, although looking forward to new structures and tonality. The brashness of the snare drum is what makes this particular work so readily identifiable, and it gave Richard Weiner, principal percussionist, a chance to shine—both on-stage and off. The symphony is in two somewhat long, segmented movements.
Although there is nothing to indicate the composer was necessarily thinking of the sea when he composed this work, it nevertheless conjures up that image while listening to it. Here is the lap of the water against the shore, melodic yet rhythmic; while there is the sound of a foghorn, echoing eerily over all. The music is truly fluid, before it changes to the march, highlighted by the snare drum, with the basses in pizzicato underneath. And while this is happening on one side, on the other, the upper strings play a slightly oriental melody. It all works splendidly, drawing to a close with a gorgeous clarinet solo, both lovely and mournful at the same time.
Nielson was Danish by birth and heritage, yet the beginning of the second movement sounded very like the ethnic Hungarian folk tunes brought to life by Bartók. Several seemingly disjointed melodies and rhythms were seamlessly melded together into a very distinctive whole. The performance was brilliant, drawing frequently on the contrasts between subtle shading and bombastic interludes.
Conductor Blomstedt was most generous with his acknowledgement of the beautiful solos of various principal players, but it was a special pleasure to see him actually go up into the orchestra to pay tribute to Mr. Cohen, whose solo at the end of the first movement was of the quality to draw tears from some of the listeners.
Next week, Donald Runnicles returns as guest conductor for a program of Mozart, Paulus (with William Preucil as soloist) and Elgar. For tickets or information about these or other upcoming concerts, call (216) 231-1111, or visit the orchestra’s web-site: http://www.ClevelandOrchestra.com
From Cool Cleveland contributor Kelly Ferjutz artswriterATadelphia.net (:divend:)