There were no unorthodox interpretations in this program, which featured The Cleveland Orchestra’s associate concertmaster Jung-Min Amy Lee in Samuel Barber’s Violin Concerto, just excellent, straightforward music making.
Andrey Boreyko’s Blossom Music Center program included Beethoven’s “Emperor” concerto with Francesco Piemontesi and a rare but convincing performance of Zemlinsky’s Die Seejungfrau.
Welser-Möst led The Cleveland Orchestra in Mahler’s Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen along with his own transcription for string orchestra of Beethoven’s Op.132 quartet.
Sibelius’s rarely performed orchestral songs received memorable performances by Keenlyside and The Cleveland Orchestra conducted by Welser-Möst. Grieg’s Peer Gynt and Strauss’s early Aus Italien filled out the program.
Franz Welser-Möst thoughtfully paired Schubert’s final mass with Bartók’s final piano concerto, the latter featuring Mitsuko Uchida in her 100th Cleveland Orchestra appearance.
Semyon Bychkov was the guest conductor for a fine concert that also included the US premiere of Detlev Glanert’s evocative Wide Open Land, Music with Brahms, and expansive Smetana.
An orchestral program on the theme of ecstasy, religious and profane, included a piano concerto by James MacMillan along with works by Jennifer Higdon, Debussy, and Scriabin.
In the last program at home before an international tour, Franz Welser-Möst led The Cleveland Orchestra in an imposing performance of Strauss’ Ein Heldenleben, prefaced by works of Schubert and Webern.
Paul Jacobs was soloist in Bernd Richard Deutsch’s Okeanos, which made a strong impression. Haydn’s Symphony No. 34 in D minor and Tchaikovsky’s indestructible Symphony No. 5 filled out this outstanding program.
Debussy’s student work Rêve received its first Cleveland performance, and pianist Javier Perianes was an impeccable soloist for Ravel’s Concerto in G Major.
Harry Bicket’s Mozart program traversed a sampling of the composer’s works in various forms, including the Prague Symphonyand Exsultate, jubilate with Kiera Duffy.
This titanic performance of Busoni’s 70-minute concerto was riveting, but exhausting to hear. It was preceded by a sparkling reading of Haydn’s “Military” Symphony.
Tamara Wilson was a top-notch Ariadne, supported by a strong cast, including Kate Lindsey as a passionate Composer, a thrilling Zerbinetta by Daniela Fally, and an unbeatable Bacchus in Andreas Schager.
John Adams returned to Cleveland to lead two of his own works – including the local première of Scheherazade.2 – framing Copland’s Quiet City and Appalachian Spring.
Jakub Hrůša returned to Cleveland to conduct a rarity by Kabeláč and a warhorse by Shostakovich while joining forces with Emanuel Ax for an interlude of Stravinsky.
The orchestra’s principal flute Joshua Smith was soloist for the local première of Matthias Pintscher’s Transir. Three Ravel favorites completed the program.
Gustavo Gimeno conducts a program anchored by Scheherazade as well as a cello concerto by Ginastera, featuring Cleveland Orchestra principal Mark Kosower.
This weekend’s performance of the Symphony no. 2 in C minor had innumerable beautifully detailed moments, with two excellent soloists and an immaculately prepared chorus.
Franz Welser-Möst selected a Viennese-inspired program for The Cleveland Orchestra’s annual gala, with works of Strauss (both Richard and Johann II) and Ravel following a Mozart piano concerto.
Yefim Bronfman was the powerful soloist in Bartók’s Second Piano Concerto. Welser-Möst’s expressionistic reading of Prokofiev’s Third Symphony evoked nightmares of tormented souls.
Pantheon, by Cleveland Orchestra oboist Jeffrey Rathbun, and Hans Abrahamsen’s Left, alone with pianist Alexandre Tharaud in his TCO debut showed the ensemble’s strengths.
A fresh and compelling performance of Carl Orff’s classic. Aaron Copland’s rarely-performed Statements filled out the orchestra’s last concert performance at the Blossom Music Festival for 2018.
Jonathan Cohen led The Cleveland Orchestra in sparkling performances of works by Handel and Mozart, with pianist Kristian Bezuidenhout as a brilliant soloist in Haydn.
Excellent performances by James Gaffigan and The Cleveland Orchestra of music by Barber, Mendelssohn, and Sibelius made for an enjoyable summer evening at the Blossom Music Festival. Stephen Hough was an outstanding piano soloist.
Under the baton of John Storgårds, Vilde Frang made her Cleveland Orchestra debut in Britten's Violin Concerto, with works of Antheil and Schumann rounding out a diverse selection.
A line-up of well-matched vocal soloists and a chorus in top form, along with passionate conducting by Franz Welser-Möst made for a memorable closing concert of this important milestone season.
Suk's five-movement "dance of death" gets a rare Cleveland outing under guest conductor Jakub Hrůša after Sergey Khachatryan performed Brahms' Violin Concerto.
Jory Vinikour was the soloist for Poulenc’s rarely heard Concert champêtre. A performance of Rachmaninov's Symphony no. 2, in which thrilling excess ruled, completed the program.
In his first Cleveland Orchestra engagement since 2006, MTT offered a powerful Russian evening of Stravinsky, Tchaikovsky and a Prokofiev concerto with Daniil Trifonov.
Nikolaj Znaider led The Cleveland Orchestra in two works that shared a key but were otherwise quite disparate: Beethoven’s Emperor Concerto with Yefim Bronfman, and Elgar’s Second Symphony.
Jean-Yves Thibaudet was the soloist for a stylish account of Ravel’s Piano Concerto for the left hand, and the complete music for Daphnis et Chloé filled out the program.
Mitsuko Uchida returned to Cleveland for elegant performances of Mozart’s first and last piano concertos, with selections from Handel’s Water Music interjected between.
Illness caused two baritones to bow out, plus an indisposed tenor on the night of the first performance. But soprano Golda Schultz, the Cleveland Orchestra Chorus and Orchestra, led by Franz Welser-Möst, ultimately revelled in Haydn’s late masterpiece.
Music director Franz Welser-Möst returned to conduct a recent work of Johannes Maria Staud that fit remarkably well with Mahler’s final completed symphony.
Mikko Franck’s Cleveland debut showed the conductor in fine form with a recent work of Julian Anderson, a Brahms symphony, and a Mozart piano concerto with Richard Goode.
Fabio Luisi led The Cleveland Orchestra in Bruckner’s mighty Fourth Symphony, prefaced by a recently composed piano concerto by Sciarrino with Jonathan Biss.
The Thanksgiving weekend concert conducted by Giancarlo Guerrero, also included a dramatic reading of Tchaikovsky’s Fourth Symphony and Copland’s El Salón México.
Nicholas McGegan led The Cleveland Orchestra in spirited performances of a Mozart symphony and concerto, the latter with Marc-André Hamelin, and the program was rounded off with suites of music by Rameau and Gluck.
