MUSIC REVIEW: The @CleveOrchestra Plays Beethoven With Pianist Yefim Bronfman

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On a recent trip to New York we toured Carnegie Hall. As we entered the famous auditorium, someone asked, “How are the acoustics?” The seasoned tour guide answered, “They are good, but not as good as Cleveland’s Severance Hall.”

He went on to say, “Though this is a beautiful setting, it doesn’t compare to Cleveland’s Severance Hall.” This was followed, about ten minutes later by the comment, “The orchestras that play here are topnotch, especially the Cleveland Orchestra.” Following the tour I asked if he was a northern Ohio native. He responded that he wasn’t, but he came to Cleveland at least twice a year to hear the orchestra and always attended their performances in the Big Apple.

As I settled into my seat for our orchestra’s all-Beethoven program, I glanced around the grand Severance Hall and thought, “That guide was right. This place is gorgeous.” Our tour guide also would have been in musical heaven on Thursday night when the orchestra brilliantly played Beethoven’s String Quartet, No. 15, Opus 132, Piano Concerto No. 3 and Choral Fantasy.

String Quartet No. 15, Opus 132, was written as a quartet (two violins, one viola and one cello). It’s thought to be the second of Beethoven’s “late” writings for those instruments. For this concert, the orchestra’s music director Franz Welser-Möst expanded the sound by adding string basses and doubling the cello line an octave lower in many sections of the music.

An examination of the human spirit and the passion of life, it contains the feelings of struggle, remembrance and a search for reenergizing. The mostly soothing sounds vary from loveliness, to marching, to dancing, to renewal. No sound overpowers the senses, but carries the listener on an enveloping journey.

Piano Concerto No. 3 in C minor, Opus 37 found Yefim Bronfman at the piano. The Russian-Israeli-American is noted for his commanding technique and exceptional lyrical playing. A bear of a man, watching him play almost contradicts the sounds that his large fingers and hands are expected to produce. Even when he is attacking the keyboard, the sounds are light and airy. The experience of hearing him interpret the Beethoven work is breathtaking.

The piece is a classic reminder that Beethoven composed his piano concertos for himself to play. This not only gave him attention as a great composer, but as a master pianist.

Piano Concerto No. 3 starts as a strings and select brass and winds rendering, without piano accompaniment, followed by the pianist interacting with the instruments. A series of piano runs then grab and hold the audience. Bronfman did not disappoint. His technique mesmerized the nearly sold-out audience. The orchestra responded in kind by doing what it does best — “put on a musical feast of near perfection.”

Choral Fantasy, Opus 80 combined the skills of Bronfman on the piano, the orchestra and the Cleveland Orchestra Chorus, the latter under the direction of Robert Porco. The composition, which music critics claim was the forerunner to Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9, with its “Ode to Joy,” is “an expression of humanity’s indomitable strength.”

The ever-changing sounds ranged from light to sprightly to full grandeur to a finale of emotional power. The composition, the playing and the singing combined into a compelling experience which concluded with the audience leaping to its feet in a vocal and physical explosion of approval.

Before the concert, Welser-Möst paid tribute to his long time friend Pierre Boulez, who passed away on January 5. The audience stood as Welser-Möst read a poem of remembrance.

Capsule judgment: Beethoven once said, “Music is a higher revelation than all wisdom and philosophy.” If he had been present to hear his trio of pieces played by the Cleveland Orchestra and pianist Yefim Bronfman, he probably would have smiled and nodded in approval. Bravo!

The All-Beethoven concert was repeated on Sat 1/9 with only the first two sections played at the Friday morning concert.

Future Cleveland Orchestra performances:

Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 4: 1/14 & 15.
Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration Concert: 1/16
Ravel and Debussy: 2/4-6
Mitsuko Uchida’s Mozart: 2/11-13
Family Dance Concert— Gotta Dance: 2/26

For tickets call 216-231-1111 or go to http://www.clevelandorchestra.com.

[Written by Roy Berko]
 

Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH 44106

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One Response to “MUSIC REVIEW: The @CleveOrchestra Plays Beethoven With Pianist Yefim Bronfman”

  1. Nancy Bell

    As a lover of rock music, as well as jazz, my entire life, I find in my 50’s , that classical music is outstanding once you give it a chance. No one is more surprised than me, but I think a big part of my appreciation is helped by the fact that we have such a magnificent Orchestra here in Cleveland. And I have to just say “Live Music is Better Bumper Stickers Should Be Issued” ( to quote Neil Young) Including Live classical music!!! There is simply Nothing that compares to hearing a great performance at Severance Hall. This should be on everyone’s bucket list. ( & Blossom on the lawn with a picnic & wine, beer, whatever, is 2nd best on a summer night– another great way to hear our Orchestra). I predict someday, the Orchestra will perform a Frank Zappa piece ( he has an album with London Symphony y’know). It can happen in our lifetime:). Last night’s Beethoven concert was sold out & it did not disappoint.

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