Blossom
Music Center
July
6
A refined approach to passionate music. |
The
thunder came early in the orchestra’s Saturday night concert –
literally. A brief but ferocious thunderstorm roared through Blossom
during the opening piece, Beethoven’s Grosse Fuge (Op. 133),
unleashing wind-whipped sheets of rain and booming thunderclaps. The
apocalyptic atmospherics would have been a better fit with the second
piece on the program, Liszt’s portentous Totentanz (Dance of
Death).
Or
perhaps not. The Grosse Fuge was deemed incomprehensible (and nearly unplayable) when it premiered in 1826, and is still considered
a radical work today. Departing from the conventions of the string
quartet, Beethoven composed a furious, deeply introspective movement
that no less an authority than Igor Stravinsky declared “will be
contemporary forever.” It has survived as a standalone piece that
taxes players’ abilities and listeners’ stamina.
But
there was little of that in the orchestra’s performance, which was
nuanced, well-informed and altogether pleasant. Conductor Franz
Welser-Möst managed to
build some drama in the final minutes, but otherwise it was a
spirited romp. This may be a function of transposing the piece from a
string quartet to an orchestral work; there is no way dozens of
strings, especially the golden Cleveland Orchestra violins, are going
to have a jagged edge. Mother Nature had to step in to provide that.
Dancing with Mr. D. |
Liszt’s
Totentanz brought the return
of French pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet, who plays with an authority
and flair well-suited for the piece. A tempestuous set of variations
on the 13th-century Dies Irae
hymn (which also survives in the Catholic funeral Mass), Totentanz
is noted for its percussive use of the piano, an innovation when
Liszt composed the work in the 1850s.
Thibaudet
attacked the piece like a percussionist, hammering out the opening
four-note theme like a blacksmith on an anvil, then ripping into
blazing cadenzas. Anyone can bang, but what most impressed about
Thibaudet was his virtuosity – his technical command, facile
phrasing, fluid segues to lyrical passages and superb rendering of
light and dark tones. Somehow he made it all sound spontaneous, as if
the sound were erupting from the keyboard. And the orchestra amped
up a fireworks finish that matched the electricity in the sky.
Welser-Möst
brings an air of refinement to whatever he touches, and Beethoven’s
Symphony No. 3
(“Eroica”) was no exception. He opened the work in grand,
glorious terms, with powerful internal dynamics and bright splashes
of color. As it developed, the conductor’s usual strengths came to
the fore – crystal clarity, exceptional balance and careful
attention to fine details, in particular a light touch in the violins
that was lustrous against the horns and woodwinds.
If
the tempo dragged a bit in the second movement, it picked up again in
the third, which was still tightly controlled as it built to majestic
proportions. The final movement captured the heroic element of the
work, though not quite in the ringing, full-bodied dimensions one
might wish for in Beethoven. But whatever one’s tastes, hearing
this expansive, inspirational symphony in the open air of a summer
night is a divine experience.
Even
if you have to brave the wrath of the heavens to do it.
For
more on Jean-Yves Thibaudet:
http://www.jeanyvesthibaudet.com
To
hear Thibaudet play Totentanz:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wnboa80gIQI
Orchestra photo by Roger Mastroianni
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