Conductors who were originally bassoonists are not all that common either, but his early musical training certainly didn’t hinder Mark Minkowski, a youngish Frenchman who turned to conducting some years ago. While his background includes everything from Baroque to contemporary and most music in between, it should come as no great surprise that he has a special Gallic sensitivity to the music of France, which comprised the first half of the program.
Local audiences may find the “Roman Carnival Overture” of Hector Berlioz to be more recognizable than concert-goers in other cities. For that, we may thank WCLV and the sponsors of the nightly “Symphony at Seven” for which it is the theme song. On the other hand, the version heard at Severance Hall on Thursday evening was fresh and vibrant—and somewhat different from the usual. Mr. Minkowski stretched tempos here and there, while emphasizing some dynamics more than others. The long love theme for the English Horn was given shimmering and absolutely gorgeous life by Robert Walters.
Dame Felicity Lott has quickly become a favorite visitor to Severance Hall in the few years since her debut here, and Thursday night provided even more reasons for this to be so. In a stunning emerald satin gown, she was the essence of languid in her performance of Ernest Chaus-son’s Poème de l’amour et de la mer—settings of poems by Maurice Bouchor. While seemingly expending no effort at all, Dame Felicity displays the exact degree of vocal shading and vibrato necessary, with no deviation of pitch. The lift of an eyebrow has never expressed any sentiment more impressively.
At times, segments of the lush musical accompaniment sounded rather like 30s film scores, but overall, it is entirely French: transparent and elegant. Several instrumental solos were performed with excellent sensitivity by Barrick Stees, bassoon; Desmond Hoebig, cello and Michael Mayhew, French horn. This work is much too beautiful to be so long absent from the repertoire.
The final work on the program was also somewhat of a stranger—in this format. Portions have been heard in recent years, but this ‘kitchen sink’ version was just simply smashing! Along with the orchestra, we heard Dame Felicity, Mr. Minkowski, the plummy mezzo of Della Jones and the ravishing women’s voices of the Cleveland Orchestra Youth Chorus, the Oberlin College Choir and Cleveland State University Chorale, in the complete incidental music to Shakespeare’s "A Mid-summer Night’s Dream" by Felix Mendelssohn. This was a major treat.
In a slight change of seating, tuba player Yasuhito Sugiyama was moved from stage left (near the trombones and double basses) to stage right (in back of the second violins) near the horns. To my ears, this move produced excellent balance for those low notes that provide the foundation for the rest of the music.
Generally speaking, Mr. Minkowski set a brisk pace for the piece, while not neglecting smaller details. For instance, I’ve never heard the ‘hee-haws’ of Bottom played quite so distinctly as they were in this overture. The scherzo featured brisk yet sensitive playing. When either of the two soloists spoke (which they did a bit more than singing) each word was clearly understandable, and with no surtitles, either! “You Spotted Snakes” by the women’s choruses was buoyant and light leading into the next spoken parts. It is amazing how much these spoken words added to the performance.
The famous nocturne with its even more famous horn solo, which was magnificently rendered by Richard King, was followed soon after by perhaps the speediest Wedding March ever. It was definitely a quick-step, but didn’t faze these musicians one little bit. It was absolutely splendid, and the reverberation of the final chord could have challenged the greatest organ in the greatest cathedral setting for longest air-time.
The somewhat lugubrious ‘funeral march’ brought to mind the theme music for the Alfred Hitchcock TV shows of times past, but led into one of the many highlights—the scene between Pyramus and Thisbe, comically enacted by Dame Felicity, who then ‘died’ in her chair. The ‘Dance of the Clowns’ was more like a batch of dancing bears, although very light on their feet, to be sure, before the grand finale with its reprise of the Wedding March and scherzo.
To acknowledge the wonderful contributions by the musicians, Mr. Minkowski went into the orchestra to single out each section, individually, for a special bow. Everyone who participated was entitled to such recognition and the audience was happy to oblige. Smiles all around.
For tickets or information about upcoming concerts, call (216) 231-1111, or visit the orchestra’s web-site: http://www.clevelandorchestra.com
From Cool Cleveland contributor Kelly Ferjutz hidden-email:negfjevgre@nqrycuvn.arg? (:divend:)