Severance Hall 9/20/12
Reviewed by Laura Kennelly
The Cleveland Orchestra’s season-opening concert featured Mahler’s Symphony No. 3 conducted by Franz Welser-Most. Fondly referred to as the “kitchen sink symphony” (because it includes so many musical delights one feels that the composer did the equivalent of tossing in everything, including the kitchen sink), the performance showed what an outstanding musical presence the orchestra remains.
From the opening drumbeats and brass (where trombonist Massimo La Rosa showed both force and finesse) to the “Midnight Song” (where mezzo-soprano Zoryana Kushpler’s smoky voice infused beauty and poetic meaning to Nietzsche’s soul-twisting queries about the meaning of life), it was a mesmerizing and musically satisfying performance.
The Women of the Cleveland Orchestra Chorus and the Children’s Chorus gave sweet voice to Mahler’s optimistic (for him) and hopeful conclusion. We all pondered life and savored the silence after the last note (Franz held his hands up so we knew to wait). We hardly noticed there was no intermission and that an hour and a half had flown by in a musical dream.
Next up: Oct. 11-14, Igor Stravinsky’s Pétrouchka (ballet music, but no dancers), the world premiere performances of Stephen Paulus’s Violin Concerto No. 3 (with Cleveland Orchestra Concertmaster William Preucil as soloist) and Maurice Ravel’s Rhapsodie espagnole with guest conductor Giancarlo Guerrero.
For more information or to order tickets, call 216-231-1111 or 800-686-1141, or visit clevelandorchestra.com.
Laura Kennelly is a freelance arts journalist, a member of the Music Critics Association of North America, and an associate editor of BACH, a scholarly journal devoted to J. S. Bach and his circle.Listening to and learning more about music has been a life-long passion. She knows there’s no better place to do that than the Cleveland area.