CLEVELAND ORCHESTRA

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

BLOSSOM SEASON OPENER

Blossom Music Center

July 5

Enlightenment outdoors, with natural accompaniment.

The incomparable summer home of the Cleveland Orchestra adds its own color to classical concerts. Birds chirping, children playing on the hillside and tree frogs croaking in the deepening twilight can be charming asides. But the opening concert of this year’s summer season was so riveting that an earthquake could have shaken the pavilion without causing a distraction.

Especially with Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 8 on the bill, an earthquake in itself.

The evening opened with Richard Strauss’ Four Last Songs, composed in 1948, a year before the composer’s death at the age of 85. Had Strauss written nothing in his life but those songs and his Oboe Concerto (composed in 1945 and performed by the orchestra at Severance last September), he would still have a place in music history. They are brilliant distillations of both the period and the waning years of an individual life.

Shy on the high end.

Conductor Franz Welser-Möst strode on stage with a longtime colleague, Slovak soprano Luba Orgonášová. A well-regarded lyric coloratura who has worked throughout Europe with a succession of esteemed conductors, Orgonášová is, at 42, past her prime. In its best moments, her voice has a crystalline beauty with a delicate, airy quality, seeming to float on the melody. And her purity of tone is breathtaking. But in the highest registers her voice simply disappears, fading into a refined wisp swallowed by the orchestra.

Still, with warm, sometimes glowing backing from Welser-Möst and his players, the songs were captivating. In particular, Orgonášová gave the concluding Im Abendrot (At Sunset) a haunting, elegiac feel. And Welser-Möst could have put lions to sleep with his lush, tender treatment of Beim Schlafengehen (At Bedtime).

Shostakovich is always a wake-up call, and No. 8 is packed with his full inventory: elaborate orchestration, raging passion, explosive percussion and the occasional playful moment designed to keep everyone (especially Soviet censors) guessing about his true intentions. The symphony makes serious demands on both the musicians and audience – the first movement alone is nearly a half-hour long – but Welser-Möst and the orchestra have assayed it before, even performing the piece on tour during the 2002-03 season.

A more finely crafted version would be hard to find. With his signature attention to detail, Welser-Möst created a transparent sound featuring crisp strings, sharp percussion, brilliant colors in the woodwinds and horns, and dramatic swells of emotion. Tension simmered even in the quiet passages, and the rhythms were propulsive, particularly in the animated third movement. The overall effect was like a grand painting teeming with masterly accents and flourishes, rendered in exceptional clarity.

It was also remarkably polite, not a word often used to describe Shostakovich’s music. More typically, it comes with rough edges that sacrifice some detail but better convey the powerful emotional impact of the score. This is a matter of taste, not a question of interpretation. No. 8 is a sprawling work that can be presented from many different viewpoints, and it certainly benefited from Welser-Möst’s elegant treatment. But the performance lacked fire, which is a defining element of Shostakovich’s symphonies.

It also lacked a sizable audience, which is a shame. Perhaps concert-goers had their fill of fireworks the previous night, or were put off by the Strauss/Shostakovich program. Beethoven and Mozart certainly go down easier. But these 20th-century masterpieces deserve to be heard, and the orchestra deserves credit for opening its summer season with a substantial and very satisfying program.

For more on Blossom Music Center and the orchestra’s summer schedule: http://www.clevelandorchestra.com/about/blossom-festival.aspx

Blossom photo by Roger Mastroianni