Severance
Hall
April
18
Rockin' out with Stradivarius and Shostakovich. |
Music
Director Franz Welser-Möst
returned to the podium Thursday night looking agile and fit after a
bout with a bad back. And the program opened with a world premiere, a
commissioned work from Sean Shepherd, who is wrapping up a two-year
fellowship with the orchestra.
But
the real star of the show was Frank Peter Zimmermann, a German
violinist who turned in a performance that would have earned him
immediate entry to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, which was holding
its 2013 induction ceremonies simultaneously on the West Coast.
The
Shepherd piece was monumentally ambitious, a three-part work for a
large orchestra based on iconic photos taken by Ansel Adams in the
high wilds of Yosemite National Park. That area was once inhabited by
Native Americans who may have been called the Tuolumne, which
is what Shepherd titled his piece. In extensive program notes, he
characterized it not as a description of the photos, but a reaction
to them, an invocation of place and atmosphere.
Nevertheless,
Tuolumne is a highly descriptive work, starting with a flurry
of sharp flutes and other birdcalls, and gradually opening onto a
vast landscape of noisy animals, dreamy meadows, rippling streams and
towering peaks. Largely neo-classical, it balances the grandeur of
the setting with whimsical moments that include some outright humor
in the second movement, which features colorful effects like
snickering horns and kick-in-the-pants percussion. The final movement
becomes more solemn, even ominous in its use of big strings and
brass.
Shepherd
drew comparisons to Smetana and Mussorgsky in describing his
conceptual framework, but Tuolumne seems more in the vein of
Messiaen – reveling in the beauty of the natural world, mimicking
its aural delights, and finishing in a state of spiritual uncertainty
and yearning. For a 33 year-old composer, it is a surprisingly mature
work that deserves to have a broader audience.
Zimmermann
walked onstage with a stunning instrument in his hands – a 1711
Stradivarius once owned by Fritz Kreisler. Its deep, rich tone was
perfect for Shostakovich’s Violin concerto No. 1, a protest
as anguished as anything the composer wrote during a lifetime of
railing against oppression. Zimmermann caught that mood immediately,
though without the jagged edges that often characterize Shostakovich
– at least to start. The violinist is a brilliant technician who
makes even the most complicated passages sound fluid and look easy.
Zimmermann’s
star turn came in the cadenza bridging the third and fourth
movements, when he literally attacked his instrument, playing with
such fierce intensity that it looked as if he would saw the violin in
half with his bow. He threw his entire body into the passage, bending
into raw, frenzied runs and stomping around the stage like a rock
guitar player. It was a gripping interpretation, so skillful and
distressed that it earned Zimmermann the rarest of accolades: The
orchestra members didn’t just tap their bows when he finished –
they put down their instruments and applauded.
Welser-Möst
provided an appropriately dark but unusually subdued background that
would have benefited from more fire at times, particularly in the
menacing Passacaglia. In his hands, the orchestration sounded
almost too polite, more magisterial than beleaguered. But no
complaints about giving Zimmermann the spotlight, nor about the fine
control and balance in the orchestra.
And
Welser-Möst didn’t hold
back for Dvořák’s
Symphony No. 6, opening up the sound with bright brass, a
light touch in the strings and a captivating lyrical sweep. The tempo
was choppy at times in the middle movements, but they glowed with an
array of colors, particularly in the woodwinds. The final movement
started gently, building to full dynamics and an energetic finish
without losing any of the conductor’s trademark transparency.
Although
the symphony is 133 years old, it had historical resonance in this
performance led by a Viennese conductor. The premiere was supposed to
take place in Vienna in 1880, but when members of the Vienna
Philharmonic objected, Dvořák
took the piece back to Prague, where the Czech Philhamonic premiered
it the following year. Coming full circle in the New World, this work
is in the Cleveland Orchestra’s wheelhouse: Romantic, full-blooded
and filled with exquisite detail. It made for a robust conclusion to
a smart, stimulating program.
For
more on Frank Peter Zimmermann:
http://www.ks-gasteig.de/en/kuenstleragentur/artists/violin/frank-peter-zimmermann/
A
video of Zimmermann performing Shostakovich’s Violin
concerto No. 1 is posted
online at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uBuhjIhe6WY
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