Thu 3/6 @ 7:30PM
Sat 3/8 @ 8PM
Benjamin Britten said that his Spring Symphony, which debuted in 1949, is about “the progress of winter to spring and the reawakening of the earth and life, which that means.”
Let’s hope it’s a good sign that the Cleveland Orchestra has marshaled the mighty forced needed to perform this choral symphony, which they’ll do twice this week at Severance Hall. (Photo above was taken just two weeks after these concerts take place in 2012, when spring came early).
The work incorporates a series of song, works mostly by 16th and 17th century poets that Britten set to music, as well as the traditional round “Sumer Is a Cumin In.” So you say, Britten.
Music director Franz Welser-Möst and the orchestra will be joined by vocal soloists soprano Kate Royal and mezzo-soprano Jamie Barton, both making their Cleveland Orchestra debut, tenor John Tessier, the Cleveland Orchestra Chorus, and the Cleveland Orchestra Children’s Chorus.
The programs also include the concerto-like Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini by Rachmaninoff, with Rudolf Buchbinder as the piano soloist, the U.S. premiere of contemporary composer Ryan Wigglesworth’s 2007 Sternenfall, and Lemminkäinen’s Return from Jean Sibelius’ Four Legends Suite.
Tickets are $49-$149.