After an unconventional first night at Carnegie Hall – opening with Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony and concluding with one of his Leonore overtures instead of the usual overture-first structure – The Cleveland Orchestra, under Franz Welser-Möst, followed with a second programme that again defied expectations. This time, they inverted the historical sequence of the evening’s two major Russian works, inviting listeners to consider Stravinsky’s Petrushka before turning to Tchaikovsky’s Symphony no. 5 in E minor.
By reversing the chronology, Welser-Möst encouraged listeners to hear Stravinsky not as a successor refining a tradition, but as a modernist reshaping its very foundations. Although Stravinsky never studied under Tchaikovsky – his mentor was Rimsky-Korsakov – he deeply admired his predecessor’s craftsmanship while rejecting the emotional excesses of late Romanticism. The conductor’s approach highlighted both continuity and rapture. Both works are anchored in Russian tradition – paradoxically, the later one even more so – but also share a distinct theatricality. In both, fate looms large, whether in the tragic inevitability of Petrushka’s demise or the relentless recurrence of Tchaikovsky’s “Fate” motif, yet their responses could not be more different: one fragmented, ironic, with rhythmically volatile patterns; the other striving for grandeur and resolution.
Even more, by choosing the 1947 version of the ballet, Welser-Möst further heightened the contrasts. Compared with the more opulent textures of the 1911 original, Stravinsky streamlined the later version’s orchestration, stripping away some of its instrumental coloristic flourishes to better align it with his neoclassical ideals of clarity, balance and restraint. While Tchaikovsky shared Stravinsky’s concern for structural coherence, his orchestration was far more emotionally charged. As heard in The Cleveland Orchestra’s remarkable rendition, the sharper edges and more detached, mechanistic energy of the 1947 score stood in even starker opposition to the Fifth’s sweeping expressivity, reinforcing Stravinsky’s distinct modernist stance.
Welser-Möst’s Petrushka was sharply defined and rhythmically taut, balancing driving intensity with textural transparency while avoiding any hint of sentimentality. The Cleveland Orchestra’s vaunted precision ensured that every meter shift felt seamless, maintaining a steady pulse without sacrificing colour and dynamic contrast. The Shrovetide Fair and the Dance of the Coachmen burst with energy, propelled by piercing trumpets and the bright, agile interplay of woodwinds. The piano’s percussive clarity reinforced the score’s sharp-edged momentum, while the lower brass injected weight into the Moor’s brutal presence. The flute and clarinet exchanges in Petrushka’s theme shimmered with nervous energy, capturing his tragic fragility. The closing scene – Petrushka’s spectral taunt – was eerily subdued, the muted brass and brittle woodwinds leaving a haunting afterglow.
Playing in New York under guest leader Jan Mráček, the Czech Philharmonic's concertmaster, The Cleveland Orchestra displayed its signature cohesion in a performance of Tchaikovsky’s Fifth that maintained a compelling ebb and flow of tension, resisting overstatement while preserving expressive urgency. Occasional wind glitches surfaced, but the overall textural balance remained compelling. Lower strings provided a deep, burnished foundation, particularly in the Andante, where their phrasing lent weight to the movement’s surging intensity. Throughout the symphony, the dialogues between woodwinds and strings were particularly striking: in the first movement, the clarinets’ hesitant questioning met the violins’ searching responses, reinforcing the music’s brooding introspection. The oboe and bassoon exchanges in the Andante added a sense of wistful melancholy, intertwining seamlessly with the strings’ sweeping lines.
Welser-Möst shaped the Valse with balletic poise, light yet never insubstantial. In the Finale, he avoided bombast, allowing the movement to unfold in a succession of waves, its momentum fluid and natural. Brass and strings drove the resolution to a commanding yet unforced close.
