Cleveland plays Carnegie, with mixed results

Nikolaj Szeps-Znaider, Franz Welser-Möst and The Cleveland Orchestra

Franz Welser-Möst conducts The Cleveland Orchestra in Carnegie Hall

Franz Welser-Möst conducts The Cleveland Orchestra

By David Wolfson, 03 June 2022

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“textures were sculpturally precise, balances were perfectly calibrated”

Reviewed at Carnegie Hall: Stern Auditorium, New York City on 1 June 2022

Walker, Sinfonia no. 4, "Strands"

Szymanowski, Violin Concerto no. 2, Op.61

Schubert, Symphony no. 9 in C major, "The Great", D.944

The Cleveland Orchestra

Franz Welser-Möst, Conductor

Nikolaj Szeps-Znaider, Violin

From a ‘classical‘ symphony to Götterdämmerung in Cleveland

Sam Jacobson, 7th May

Franz Welser-Möst leads a program reflective of the artistic threads that have defined his Cleveland tenure: Prokofiev, contemporary Austrian music and Wagner.

****1

Barbara Hannigan surveys American voices with The Cleveland Orchestra

Sam Jacobson, 14th February

Works by Crumb, Ruggles, Barber and Gershwin offer four distinct ideas of what American music can sound like in Barbara Hannigan’s explorative Cleveland Orchestra program.

***11

The Cleveland Orchestra at Carnegie Hall: symphonic extremes

Sam Jacobson, 21st January

Following a polished account of Mozart’s Jupiter Symphony, Shostakovich’s Eleventh erupted with visceral force, as Franz Welser-Möst led The Cleveland Orchestra in a performance of gripping intensity.

*****

A study in control and proportion: the Clevelanders’ Verdi Requiem

Edward Sava-Segal, 20th January

Asmik Grigorian leads a strong quartet of soloists and the Cleveland Orchestra Chorus shape the performance at Carnegie Hall.

****1

An uneven symphonic pairing from Franz Welser-Möst in Cleveland

Frank Kuznik, 10th January

Mozart and Shostakovich make an uncomfortable fit in a program designed to highlight their differences.

***11

Yuja Wang serves an iridescent musical feast in Cleveland

Sam Jacobson, 28th November

Yuja Wang does double duty in demanding piano concertos by Ravel and Ligeti, while conductor Petr Popelka shows his chemistry with the orchestra in Pictures at an Exhibition.

****1

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David Wolfson

David Wolfson holds a PhD in composition from Rutgers University, and has taught at Rutgers University, Montclair State University and Hunter College. He is enjoying an eclectic career, having composed opera, musical theatre, touring children’s musicals, and incidental music for plays; choral music, band music, orchestral music, chamber music, art songs, and music for solo piano; comedy songs, cabaret songs and one memorable score for an amusement park big-headed-costumed-character show. You can find more information here.