Last week at Severance Hall, the Cleveland Orchestra with music director Franz Welser-Möst conducting, took the audience on a tour of a great Austrian cathedral as depicted in Bruckner’s massive Symphony No. 5 in B-flat major. Actually, the building described might more properly be called an Abbey, as the Orchestra and Mr. Welser-Möst are scheduled to record this work at the Saint Florian Abbey in Linz, Austria, in September as part of their upcoming 2006 European Tour. It will be released on TV and DVD.
Bruckner’s 5th is frequently compared to Beethoven’s 5th as being almost a turning point in each composer’s output. But other than each possessing four movements, they’re vastly different. Bruckner is nearly twice as long, to begin with, and uses a much larger orchestra. The overall scale is much more grand and spacious.
Although it begins softly, with a pizzicato melody in the violas and violins, the first movement ends with massive monumental chords. Here, Bruckner’s orchestra most resembles a fine pipe organ. The second movement allows the principal woodwind players their chance to shine against the glistening strings. It’s hard to imagine a sprightly Bruckner, but yet the scherzo he wrote in the third movement is exactly that. He also incorporates a delightful accelerando (much like the ones of Rossini); in fact, he repeats this idea several times, but it never wore out its welcome. The finale provides more architectural details, by way of a huge double fugue. The music builds, becoming grander and grander before morphing into grandeur.
While having plenty of forward motion, this performance also allowed ample breathing space for Bruckner’s large vision. It’ll be interesting to hear the version from Linz.
It’s unfortunate that just the name Schoenberg tends to scare people away from the concert hall. If nothing else, he tends to surprise one on occasion. In the mid-1930s, not long before coming to the US, Schoenberg turned back to his Jewish heritage, after having converted to Christianity some thirty years earlier. Then, perhaps in realization of the numbers of Jewish persons through the centuries who had been forced to convert, he chose to write a work of prayer that could be played in either a synagogue or a concert hall.
Schoenberg chose the title Kol Nidre or '‘All Vows’' to symbolize the annulment of personal vows, possibly made under duress, that would then come between man and his God while seeking forgiveness. He utilized the combination of chorus and small orchestra, with a speaker, much in the Sprechstimme fashion. The music itself is mournful and melancholy in a strangely beautiful way. The Cleveland Orchestra Chorus under the direction of Robert Porco sang their smallish portion sincerely and believably. Swiss actor Andreas Zimmermann was mostly audible, although at times the combined forces overpowered him. His sense of timing, however, and the emphasis placed on each word was very impressive. Unbelievably, this was the first time The Cleveland Orchestra had ever performed this work which is almost 68 years old!
This week’s concerts feature The Passion According to Saint Matthew by Bach, again employing the chorus and soloists along with the orchestra, with Mr. Welser-Möst conducting. 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:)