CLEVELAND ORCHESTRA

Severance Hall

April 10

An elegant style and brilliant technique.

Yuja Wang prowls the keyboard like a cat, with an unbelievably soft touch and reflexes that can go from languid to lightning-quick in an instant. At one point in her Thursday night performance, her hands were a blur, flying through Rachmaninoff faster than the eye could follow. If not the deepest interpretation of the Russian composer’s daunting Piano Concerto No. 3, it was a bravura display of sheer skill and surprising power.

Which made it a good fit with the rest of the program and the conductor, Giancarlo Guerrero, who brings a bright, sunny sound to everything he touches. In his hands the lineup of Prokofiev, Rachmaninoff and Rimsky-Korsakov was a night of Russian lite, pleasant melodic takes on material that usually gets a darker reading.

Prokofiev’s Classical Symphony (No. 1) is, as the name suggests, a relatively tame, conventional piece, which made it an ideal opener. Guerrero handled it in a brisk, breezy manner, putting a sparkle on the melodies and a buoyant quality in the sound. The music was graceful at times, more like a Viennese waltz than a Russian symphony, only acquiring a bite at the very end. That was partly a function of Guerrero conducting without a baton, cuing the sections with twirling fingers.

Yuja Wang is a deceptive performer. In her publicity materials she looks more like a fashion model than a concert pianist, given to short, tight dresses and spike heels. In person she appears to be a diminutive Asian with good taste in evening gowns – until she sits down to play. Then she owns her instrument, performing with remarkable facility and impressive authority in a wonderfully fluid, legato style. Her soft touch takes the edge off even the harshest passages, but she gives away nothing to the orchestra in dynamics, and can set off colorful explosions of aural fireworks.

That was clear in the cadenzas of the first movement, brilliant displays of dexterity that cooed softly one moment, then burst into fiery runs. Those are as difficult as they look, and what distinguishes a great pianist is not just the ability to play them, but to maintain a personal voice and approach through the fierce challenges they pose. Wang never lost her liquid flow and elegant touch, which were a good match with Guerrero’s lighthearted, exuberant sound.

Wang will sacrifice some precision for style, though with Rachmaninoff, it doesn’t really matter – in the blizzard of notes, nobody misses one or two. And No. 3 is a serious workout. By the end of it, Wang was breathing hard, like a runner at the finish line. And still looking gorgeous.

After intermission, the program concluded with Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherezade, another charming and comparatively lightweight number. Guerrero gave it lots of color, drawing some fine solos from the orchestra’s stellar woodwinds. And concertmaster William Preucil and harpist Trina Struble offered a sweet version of the title character’s signature line.

If not thunder from the steppes, the concert offered a reminder that Russian music has its lighter moments, which Guerrero brought to life in well-articulated fashion. Given the country’s warmongering in other theaters these days, maybe that was the best way to go.

For more on Yuja Wang: http://www.yujawang.com

For more on Giancarlo Guerrero: http://www.clevelandorchestra.com/about/musicians-and-conductors/giancarlo-guerrero/

Photo by Gan Yuan

PAVEL HAAS QUARTET

Plymouth Church

April 8

A distinctive voice from Central Europe.

There are two ways to play classical music. One is straightforward, with absolute devotion what appears in the score – no more, no less. The other is interpretive, giving the music a fresh face with an original style or personal approach. The very best artists combine the two, bringing new dimensions to rigorous performance standards.

The Pavel Haas Quartet does that and more. Trained in Central Europe, the group embodies a long tradition of precision technique and deep expression, music played from the heart with razor-sharp technical skill. Beyond that, the ensemble’s style is modern and distinctly its own – passionate, intensely focused, fiercely elegant. It is a tightly disciplined approach that runs the music to thrilling extremes, then stops just short of going over the edge.

This style has won the group international acclaim, starting with winning the prestigious Paolo Borciani competition in Italy in 2005. Subsequent CD releases have drawn rave reviews, including a Gramophone Recording of the Year award for the 2010 “Dvořák String Quartets.” And the group is in constant demand on the concert circuit, with performances scheduled in coming months at the Prague Spring, Aldeburgh, Edinburgh and Schubertiade festivals.

At Plymouth Church last week, it was easy to see why. The program opened with Janáček’s String Quartet No. 1, a piece as gripping as any in the literature. “This is something special for us,” cellist Peter Jarůšek acknowledged afterward, a work with deep roots in the players’ home country, written in the composer’s distinctive (and complex) musical language. It was mesmerizing, played with wrenching feeling and absolute command, almost startling in its sharp breaks and explosive sound.

Just as captivating was the sense of atmosphere the group created, especially in a part of the world where Janáček’s work is not often heard. It was as if a voice had spoken from thousands of miles and decades away, fully realized and emotionally intact, with all the angst and dark drama of the music still raw on its jagged surface.

Britten’s String Quartet No. 2, another seldom-heard work, was a technical tour de force, with glistening violin lines floating ethereally one moment, then dashing off into crisp, cascading runs the next. The piece sets off contrasting bottom and top tones throughout, an effect nicely articulated by the ensemble in harmonies that occasionally sounded like entirely different instruments – an organ at one point, an accordion at another. The soundscape was fascinating, beautifully drawn in vivid colors and fine stylistic nuances.

The group finished with Beethoven’s String Quartet No. 8, putting its own distinctive stamp on the piece. Had it been first on the program, it might not have worked; the passion, phrasing and sheer power of the playing would have seemed out of place. But with the ensemble’s style well-established, the piece pulsed with radiant energy and irresistible driving rhythms. More lyrical than the previous pieces, it was by turns dark, lustrous, elegant and fiery, building to a final movement played at a blistering pace. Quicksilver lines darted and sparks flew as the music took on a life its own, the four instruments speaking in a single, organic voice.

An encore of a Dvořák waltz offered a melodic and warmly emotional return to the group’s roots, again with a keen balance of technique and expression. When the players finally left the stage, it was like waking from a dream – their performance had been spellbinding.

All dreams should be that good.

For more on the Pavel Haas Quartet: http://www.pavelhaasquartet.com/en/

The next Cleveland Chamber Music Society concert features another fearless young group, eighth blackbird. Details at: http://clevelandchambermusic.org/29apr2014.php

Photo by Marco Borggreve