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.
Playing music by Copland, Hovland and Sibelius, the Oslo Philharmonic and Dalia Stasevska gave exciting performances, even though the quality of the music did not always match.
The reason for this all-American programme was ostensibly pragmatic: the concert was to coincide with the opening night of the British-American Business Council annual conference. In practice, the programme was a triumph. Significantly, dozens of schoolchildren were present to witness an evening of fine and involving music-making.The concert began with Charles Ives’ Variations on America.
It’s rare to see a soloist perform two concertos in a single programme. RSNO Associate Leader William Chandler promised, in his highly entertaining and informative pre-concert talk, that we were in for some very exciting playing from pianist Xiayin Wang. Indeed we were.
Inspiration for a composition can come in many forms; a letter from Clara Schumann, the brutality of Stalin's police, growing deaf or hearing birdsong. The final concert of John Adams’ short residency at the Barbican focused on a more reverent strain of influence, however: the peculiar tendency for living composers to want to reference dead ones.
Three of the four American pieces performed this evening by Northern Sinfonia were written to evoke very particular places, and got me thinking about the evocative power of a well-chosen title.
Joshua Weilerstein dirigiert das Mozarteumorchester im Großen Festspielhaus und entführt das Publikum auf eine spannende Reise durch das Amerika des 20. Jahrhunderts.
