Severance
Hall
February
21
A hit with both the audience and musicians. |
Inspiration
returned to Severance Hall with a flourish this weekend in the person
of conductor Herbert Blomstedt, who offered a masterful treatment of
Mozart’s Symphony No. 40 and a thrilling rendition of
Dvořák’s Symphony
No. 9 (“From the New World”).
This
space was critical of Blomstedt’s handling of Nielsen and Beethoven
symphonies the previous weekend, in his first of two consecutive
appearances with the Cleveland Orchestra. The music sounded pro
forma – competent, but not what one expects from a conductor of
Blomstedt’s caliber. By comparison, the Mozart and Dvořák
symphonies were electric, carefully crafted interpretations that
imbued old warhorses with fresh energy.
Blomstedt
conducted the Mozart symphony much as one imagines the composer
himself would have: standing on the stage floor rather than a podium,
working without a baton or score. Reduced to about 40 players, the
orchestra was also in an 18th-century mode. From the opening bars,
Blomstedt established a tone befitting Mozart’s later works –
darker in color, with a steady, somber tempo. It’s not uncommon to
hear that in the first movement of this symphony, but Blomstedt kept
a tight rein throughout, lending the piece gravitas.
The
stately tempo let the music breathe in the second movement, space
that Blomstedt used to good advantage in creating light, elegant
strings and clear, rounded woodwinds. Turning both the volume and
tempo up a bit in the third movement gave him an opportunity to draw
strong contrasts between the top and bottom strings. The famous
fourth movement also demands a faster pace, but Blomstedt maintained
superb control, finding nuances in the music and keeping it clear and
balanced. Even more impressive than the sound was watching him
regulate it with an understated roll of the wrist, or sometimes a
single finger.
The
orchestra doubled in size for Dvořák,
and unlike the timid percussion he used in Beethoven’s Symphony.
No. 7, Blomstedt came out blazing in the New World – not just
with a booming timpani, but piercing horns that remained prominent
throughout the entire piece. As someone who has heard Czech
orchestras play this symphony on a number of occasions, this critic
found the horn treatment, along with much of Blomstedt’s phrasing,
unusual but not unsatisfying. The Czechs tend to identify with and
emphasize the emotion in the piece. Blomstedt approached it as a
masterwork of composition, giving equal weight to every section of
the orchestra and maintaining sterling transparency even in the
noisier passages.
That
gave the woodwinds in the second movement an added sparkle, though
what really impressed was the hushed sound of the violins – a
distinctive feature of the second movement that is very difficult to
achieve. Blomstedt was by turns explosive and restrained in the third
movement, and maintained a fine balance in the fourth until the
closing moments, when the horns rightfully came to the fore. In all,
it was a well-considered and lovingly crafted interpretation, the
work of a mature professional.
Blomstedt
ended the evening with a love note, one of Dvořák’s
Slavonic Dances (Opus 46, No. 1) as an encore. The music was
almost overwhelming coming from such a large orchestra, but the big
sound matched the love everyone was feeling at that point –
including the players, who stamped their feet and tapped their bows,
echoing the enthusiastic applause from the audience. It was a fitting
tribute not just to that evening’s performance, but to a
world-class artist who, at 85, still has something to say.
To
hear George Szell’s version of Dvořák’s
Symphony No. 9:
http://www.clevelandorchestra.com/event-detail/2013-Feb-23.aspx?pid=10058
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