Great Performances The Cleveland Orchestra Centennial Celebration

[lennygoran]

Fri Jan 11 Thirteen PBS 9:00 pm

Great Performances
The Cleveland Orchestra Centennial Celebration

A 30 second preview is here:

https://www.thirteen.org/programs/great ... ew-9qsozi/

Celebrate the orchestra's centennial with a gala concert conducted by Franz Welser-Most, featuring pianist Lang Lang and works by Mozart, Strauss and Ravel, with vignettes of past music directors.

BTW WLIW21 here:

Jan 14 2:00 pm

Great Performances
The Cleveland Orchestra Centennial Celebration

[maestrob]

Looking forward to it Len, thanks!

[jserraglio]

Looking forward to it Len, thanks!

J. STRAUSS - Waltz: Wiener Blut [Viennese Spirit]
MOZART - Piano Concerto No. 24 [Lang Lang]
R. STRAUSS - Fantasy from Die Frau ohne Schatten
RAVEL - La Valse

I downloaded from somewhere and watched this video a couple weeks ago. The CleveOrch minus Preucil sounds as good as ever with their trademark understated blended chamber sound, and Lang Lang impresses too. I had never heard him perform before this b/c of all the bad press he gets from the criticati.

[maestrob]

Looking forward to it Len, thanks!

J. STRAUSS - Waltz: Wiener Blut [Viennese Spirit]
MOZART - Piano Concerto No. 24 [Lang Lang]
R. STRAUSS - Fantasy from Die Frau ohne Schatten
RAVEL - La Valse

I downloaded from somewhere and watched this video a couple weeks ago. The CleveOrch minus Preucil sounds as good as ever with their trademark understated blended chamber sound, and Lang Lang impresses too. I had never heard him perform before this b/c of all the bad press he gets from the criticati.

Lang Lang (IMHO) when disciplined by Mozart's music and XXth Century repertoire plays like a serious contender, but I've only heard him on disc twice. His debut with Mostly Mozart (also televised) was rather ordinary Mozart Concerto, but his encore of a Liszt piece was staggering and brought the house down. I've not heard him on a bad night, but I have read and heard that he takes too many liberties with romantic music. FWIW, I am neither as prejudiced against him as are some here, nor as enthusiastic as his most ardent fans.

[jserraglio]

Fri Jan 11 Thirteen PBS 9:00 pm
Celebrate the orchestra's centennial with a gala concert conducted by Franz Welser-Most, featuring pianist Lang Lang and works by Mozart, Strauss and Ravel, with vignettes of past music directors.
BTW WLIW21 here:
Jan 14 2:00 pm
Great Performances
The Cleveland Orchestra Centennial Celebration

Commercial release on Blu-ray disc.

[jserraglio]

Lang Lang headlines Cleveland Orchestra’s 100th anniversary gala

By Sam Jacobson

Following The Cleveland Orchestra's momentous centennial season, one final 100th birthday celebration remained in the shape of last weekend’s annual gala. Franz Welser-Möst, now in his 17th season as music director, led an appealing program of works, Viennese in origin or inspiration, with superstar pianist Lang Lang initiating matters by way of a Mozart piano concerto. Adding to the sense of occasion was an impressive rigging of video equipment, as the concert was filmed for Great Performances on PBS, slated for broadcast this coming January.

Mozart’s Piano Concerto no. 24 in C minor is one of only two the composer cast in the minor; that alone makes it a standout amongst his prodigious output in the medium. It opened in searching introspection, with the orchestral introduction swelling to a gripping intensity. Lang Lang’s entry was delicate, measured, and keenly phrased. Later the movement saw him in rippling dialogue with the woodwinds and a cadenza of Beethovenian drama. The Larghetto proceeded as a gentle song without words in the relative major, and while one wondered if the pianist’s emoting was genuine or calculated for effect, the end result was nonetheless wondrously lyrical. A stately return to the minor marked the finale, with sprightly playing evidencing Lang Lang’s tremendous dexterity. Episodes of great drama and vigor were increasingly unbuttoned, leading to a conclusion of deep pathos. In spite of Lang Lang’s reputation for showmanship, this performance was the work of a serious artist – a pity then there wasn’t time for an encore.

Perhaps Welser-Möst’s greatest achievement in Cleveland has been his commitment to opera, with complete performances of Richard Strauss’ Ariadne auf Naxos later this season promising to be a highlight. One got something of a preview with the same composer’s imposing Symphonic Fantasy from Die Frau ohne Schatten, a concoction very much in the spirit of Liszt’s operatic paraphrases, capturing the essence of the entire opera in twenty or so minutes and thereby aspiring to a much greater cohesion than a straightforward suite of excerpts. The Fantasy was composed in 1946, almost three decades after the opera in question, and wove together most of the orchestral interludes along with certain additional passages. It began with a descending gesture of dark foreboding, giving way to a noble lyricism. The music erupted in searing passion and crested to majestic climaxes in a tapestry of rich color and dizzying density which Welser-Möst and the orchestra negotiated with a knife-edge precision. The stentorian trombones were in particularly strong form, while the eventual close was tranquil and serene. A welcome alternative to Strauss’ more well-worn tone poems, this was to my mind the evening’s highpoint.

Music from another Strauss followed, namely Johann II’s Wiener Blut. Lilting and graceful, it ensued as a quintessential Viennese waltz, its never-ending high spirits bringing to life a grand ballroom in imperial Vienna. Concluding the program was Ravel’s La Valse, a fitting foil to Wiener Blut in many regards, more of an anti-waltz, a musical response to the disaffection brought on by World War 1. It opened in an ominous rumble, with barely discernable shards of a shattered waltz theme eventually coalescing, but only as refracted through a wary modernity. Much like Richard Strauss, Ravel was a remarkable master of orchestration, fully apparent in the Clevelanders’ variegated reading. Principal oboe Frank Rosenwein offered a very fine solo passage, and the coda was formidable in its fiery intensity, replete with crashing cymbals and tam-tam, and finally an unrelenting five-note gesture – so out of place in the triple meter of the waltz, as if the form had come toppling down upon itself.

[maestrob]

Thanks for that excellent review. I enjoyed the program immensely. Lang Lang's playing was superb, although his facial contortions were annoying. I thought the concert as a whole was superb. The suite from Die Frau ohne Schatten was new to me, and welcome.

[jserraglio]

The suite from Die Frau ohne Schatten was new to me, and welcome.

That was my favorite work on the program and new to me too. FWM has improved greatly as a conductor over his 17 years as MD, and the Cleveland still plays with that sound derived from Szell, as in the Ravel, sounding even more blended when you are seated in Severance Hall.

Today, Thursday and Saturday FWM conducts Strauss's Ariadne auf Naxos semi-staged.

[maestrob]

The suite from Die Frau ohne Schatten was new to me, and welcome.

That was my favorite work on the program and new to me too. FWM has improved greatly as a conductor over his 17 years as MD, and the Cleveland strings are still playing with that unitary blended sound, as in the Ravel, sounding even more so when you are seated in Severance Hall.

Today, Thursday and Saturday FWM is leading a concert performance of Ariadne auf Naxos.

This telecast was actually my first glimpse of Severance Hall, and it's a beauty. FWM has developed into a fine conductor, if this concert is any indication of his quality, which I hope is consistent. Now, why can't we in NY have a hall that's of equal quality? I find David Geffen Hall to be quite drab by comparison.

[jserraglio]

What did Szell say of NY's hall? "Tear it down and start over. It's an insult to music." I attended a Severance Hall recital by Richard Goode, and even from the cheapest seat in the upper balcony I could hear his sotto voce accompaniment to his own playing. In the drab, modernist, pre-renovation stage shell of Severance Hall you got this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=od7sAfV ... .be&t=2941

[John F]

Now, why can't we in NY have a hall that's of equal quality?

We do. Its name is Carnegie Hall.

[jserraglio]

Now, why can't we in NY have a hall that's of equal quality?

We do. Its name is Carnegie Hall.

Symphony Hall, Jordan Hall and Sanders Theatre are all within reach for New Yorkers in search of other good-sounding halls.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vsGDYcbANGg

[maestrob]

What did Szell say of NY's hall? "Tear it down and start over. It's an insult to music." I attended a Severance Hall recital by Richard Goode, and even from the cheapest seat in the upper balcony I could hear his sotto voce accompaniment to his own playing. In the drab, modernist, pre-renovation stage shell of Severance Hall you got this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=od7sAfV ... .be&t=2941

Szell was right, and in 1975 we did just that. Philharmonic Hall was an acoustical disaster when it first opened, with red velvet everywhere, and no way to hear yourself on stage (I sang there for 50 or so performances from 1972-1980). The renovation that turned the hall gold & yellow didn't help at all, and it eliminated roughly 300 seats. It wasn't until Masur's tenure that the then Avery Fisher Hall installed the reflectors that finally brought some sound back to the performers on stage, but by then the Hall had begun to look dowdy, and it has remained so to this day.

JohnF's right: our premiere concert venue for orchestras is indeed Carnegie Hall. I loved performing there: 50 concerts in the main auditorium, and 35 in Weill Recital Hall. No comparison to Lincoln Center whatsoever.

[jserraglio]

I attended exactly one concert in Philharmonic Hall. My young ears couldn't hear a damn thing! Also been to Carnegie Hall once. Too pricey for a student budget. But that one-off experience was nice.

I guess I had been spoiled by the likes of Symphony, Severance and Jordan Halls, Sanders Theatre and Hill Auditorium.

[Lance]

Hey, that's MY auditorium. Glad you enjoyed it!

I guess I had been spoiled by the likes of Symphony, Severance and Jordan Halls, Sanders Theatre and Hill Auditorium.