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Cleveland Orchestra @ Severance Hall 4/23 When an enthusiastic and appreciative ovation greets a performer or conductor at their first appearance on the stage (before ever a note is played) generally speaking, the evening is off to a great start. Thursday night at Severance Hall was no exception to this rule.

Sir Colin Davis returned to conduct The Cleveland Orchestra for the first time in 25 years, and the full house was very aware of that fact, as were the musicians, who put down their instruments to join in the warm applause. Sir Colin was accepting, but anxious to get on with the music, and quickly gave the downbeat for the Overture to Beatrice and Benedict of Hector Berlioz.

Based on Shakespeare’s play Much Ado About Nothing, Berlioz wrote both libretto and score for his comic rendition of the play, and left out none of the major elements. Having completed the opera, the overture reflects the overall proceedings in sprightly fashion. The elegant white-haired conductor led a performance that was crisp or languid as required.

Mitsuko Uchida continued the pattern of excellence as soloist in Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 25 in C major (K503), as she did here in May 2006. During the first long chords and rather long introduction, the piano finally joins in the fun, and indeed Sir Colin turned around on the podium to watch her. The cadenza was reminiscent of a set of variations on La Marseillaise, which would soon become the French National Anthem. Considering that the composer had been planning a trip to Paris, this makes perfect sense.

Dainty crystalline notes and trills led up to a delightful dialogue between piano soloist and the various wind soloists. Joshua Smith, flute; Frank Rosenwein, oboe, Richard King, horn; Barrick Stees, bassoon, and Michael Sachs, trumpet, all proved themselves to be sparkling conversationalists. As did, of course, Ms. Uchida. The winds again came to the fore in the second movement, making it all sound as if they’d been playing it all for nearly ever. They have, actually, but not always in this combination of musicians. All told, it was marvelous.

Sir Colin has special fondness for and affinity with the music of both Berlioz and the Finnish master, Jean Sibelius, so it was entirely fitting to have the concert open with the former and conclude with Symphony No. 2 in D major, Opus 43 of the latter. The listener may easily imagine him or herself on a tour of that frigid yet beautiful country when hearing this particular work. It’s all in there.

Thursday evening’s performance seemed a bit off-kilter at the very beginning of the symphony, to this listener, at least. However, it soon righted itself and from there on in, was only lush and warm sounds. Again, the winds distinguished themselves (with John Clouser on bassoon this time, plus the addition of Franklin Cohen on clarinet.) The lineup of brass across the rear of the stage—horns, trumpets, trombones and tuba—were nothing less than majestic in their sound.

Someone in the balcony dropped something—several times—during the softest part of the ending of the first movement, but it apparently didn’t ruffle the conductor or the musicians in the slightest. Basses and cellos combined in the prolonged pizzicato beginning of the second movement, providing a solid foundation under the melody in the bassoons, and then the horns.

The conductor created extra tension in the chords, long pauses and brilliant szforzandos, and the two-note repetitive motif of the tuba, hypnotically performed by Yasuhito Sugiyama. Principal cellist Desmond Hoebig gave us a brilliant small solo near the end of the work, which ended triumphantly.

This week, Jahja Ling returns to conduct Mendelssohn’s Symphony No. 3 (“Scottish”), and Til Eulenspiegel’s Merry Pranks by Richard Strauss. Principal violist Robert Vernon will be the soloist in the world premiere of Paul Chiara’s Concerto for viola and orchestra. For tickets and/or other information, call 231-1111 or visit the website http://www.ClevelandOrchestra.com.

From Cool Cleveland contributor Kelly Ferjutz artswriterATroadrunner.com
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