Kitchen Conductor: Scores of Great Recipes is the newest edition of recipe books available from The Cleveland Orchestra, but it bears little resemblance to the earlier (and very successful) productions.
This a bigger, easier-to-read collection, and if it’s in your kitchen, you’ll be able to prepare unforgettable meals a deux or tout ensemble! Local food mavens Gail Kichler and Louise Morris (friends since high school) are both strong supporters of the orchestra and they know their way around a kitchen. Big-time! It’s been a good many years now since that earlier collection of cookbooks, and the two ladies thought it might be time for a new book with a new look. This one is gorgeous!
It’s 7¼ x 9¼, spiral bound so it opens and lays flat with 268 pages, including a very comprehensive index. There’s a handy glossary at the beginning and categories are musically delineated; thirteen in all, from beverages to appetizers to desserts with every imaginable stop in between.
Not only did the ladies use their own recipes, they also sought contributions from friends as well as local chefs, Brandt Evans in particular. Other participating chefs hail from Chicago, New York, Florida, California and Stratford, Ontario. It’s a joyous and colorful book, as each section divider is printed on colored cardstock featuring a photo from the orchestra’s archives.
The book sells for $22 per copy and is available from The Cleveland Orchestra Store or the orchestra’s website. Shipping is extra, but you can pick up a copy during store hours, or when you next attend a concert. Call the store directly at 216-231-7478 for more information. It is also available at Nordstrom’s (in their At-Home department) in Beachwood. All proceeds benefit the orchestra.
To enhance your dining experience, the Orchestra has two recent releases from Deutsche Grammophon, plus two principals each offer their talents via CD release.
The two orchestra CDs were recorded during performances last February at Severance Hall when Pierre Boulez visited here (and coincidentally celebrated his 85th birthday while he was here. A bit early, but who’s counting?) From enfant terrible in his younger days, Mr. Boulez is now the eminence gris of the musical world, and all the many accolades heaped upon him are very well-deserved. He is still adventuresome and curious and precise, and his Mahler recordings will stand for a good long while as a tribute to that composer.
This CD combines twelve songs from Mahler’s Des Knaben Wunderhorn or Youth’s Magic Horn, and features Magdalena Kožená, mezzo-soprano and Christian Gerhaher, baritone as soloists, plus the Adagio from the unfinished Symphony No. 10. Ms. Kožená’s luminous voice and terrific expression makes it easy for the listener to easily grasp the meaning of the lied she sings. Mr. Gerhaher has a slightly lighter but equally beautiful voice, well-suited to Mahler, and is properly brave or wistful as required of the music.
The Adagio demonstrates almost more than any other work in the repertoire the silken strength of the Cleveland Orchestra musicians, individually (as soloists) and as an ensemble. The ability of 105 musicians to sound as perhaps half of just one of them is astonishing, yet they’re equally capable of raising the roof when necessary. This CD should be in everyone’s collection.
The handsome booklet features a conversation with Mr. Boulez and the words to the poems Mahler used for his song cycle. (They’re in English, German and French.) Official title of this CD: Mahler|Das Knaben Wunderhorn|Adagio. It’s DG # B00289 477 9060.
Also last spring, Mr. Boulez and the Orchestra collaborated with Pierre-Laurent Aimard, the renowned French pianist (who was for two years artist-in-residence here) on the two concertos by their French compatriot Maurice Ravel. It’s very difficult to believe that Ravel actually wrote these concertos during the same time-span, they are so different from one another. One is very jazzy, the other is more straightforward. One is for left hand alone, the other uses both hands, but the listener will swear to at least five hands being utilized during most of both concertos!
I was fortunate to be present during one evening’s presentation of these concertos and I confess to being exhausted from merely watching and listening. There are vast amounts of notes scattered around and I honestly believe there are more of them in the concerto for left hand than the one for both hands. It was an amazing feat, and one that will live in my memory for many years to come!
Mr. Aimard not only wonderfully demonstrates the vast range of Ravel’s styles in the concertos, but also in the near-tone poem Miroirs or Mirrors. Indeed, there are moths and birds and a boat on the ocean as well as bells to be heard in his graceful performance. This CD’s title is Ravel: The Piano Concertos – B0014764-02.
If you think trombones are only used to lead the parade or make admittedly-pleasant yet brassy sounds in jazz, you owe it to your ears to listen to Cantando [pictured], the first CD by the new principal trombonist of the Cleveland Orchestra, Massimo La Rosa. (This CD was also recorded and produced in Cleveland.)
I don’t speak Italian, but the word Cantando certainly indicates singing, and that is exactly what Mr. La Rosa coaxes from his instrument. Beautiful, gorgeous singing. This CD, on which Elizabeth DeMio very capably shares the duties of collaborative pianist with Teddy Abrams, presents the trombone as lyrical soloist in works you’d perhaps not associate as possible solos for any brass instrument. But you’d be wrong. His version of the Adagietto from Mahler’s Fifth Symphony could wring tears from a stone, it is so limpid and languid and just truly lovely.
You may be forgiven for conjuring up the image of Bugs Bunny as you listen to Mr. La Rosa’s take on the Overture to the Barber of Seville by Rossini. Another piece of operatic origin is the famed Intermezzo from Cavalleria Rusticana by Mascagni. There’s a Romance by Weber, a Sonata by Šulek and Ave Maria no Morro by Martins, along with two longer works: the Sonata by Hindemith and a Concerto by Grøndahl. Unless you are a trombonist yourself, this CD should easily change your mind about that somewhat abused instrument. In Mr. La Rosa’s hands, it is a thing of beauty, indeed.
This CD, MLR 2010, released by Five/Four Productions, Ltd., is available for $18.50 from CD Baby: http://CDBaby.com/cd/massimolarosa or http://LaRosaMassimo.com or the Orchestra store at Severance Hall.
And last, but by no means least, the orchestra’s principal flutist Josh Smith has released volume two of his Bach collaboration with Jory Vinikour [pictured]. I loved their first one (http://CoolCleveland.com/wiki/Newsletter/Kelly010610) and thought it would be hard to beat. I was wrong. This time around, they’ve added two more instrumentalists to the mix. Two plus two adds up to way more than four, although coincidentally, that’s how many Bach works are featured. Ann Marie Morgan provides continuo with baroque cello and Allison Guest Edberg’s baroque violin contributes occasional harmonies and/or obbligatos. It’s a gorgeous combination, so subtle at times it’s not easy to discern the four distinct voices. They really all shine brightly on the third of the four selections here: the Trio Sonata in C Minor for flute, violin and continuo. The other three works are all Sonatas: BWV 1034 in E minor, BWV 1033 in C Major and BWV 1035 in E major. The overall performance is simply exquisite.
The handsome booklet enclosed provides photos and wonderful notes, and not just bios of the four performers but also commentary from each of them regarding their affection for the music of Bach as well as a few words about this recording encounter. Another page is devoted to information about the respective instruments used here, as told by the musician. I find such background info to be absolutely fascinating, as it adds so much to the listening experience.
This Delos disk (DE 3408) is available most places where you’d expect to find classical music CDs, including the Orchestra’s gift shop. More information is available at: http://SoloFlute.com.
Of course, you could just order everything all at one time: http://ClevelandOrchestra.com.
From Cool Cleveland contributor Kelly Ferjutz, who writes: My most recently published book is Ardenwycke Unveiled (e-book and trade paper). Cerridwen has another contemporary romance from me, But Not For Love, currently available only as an e-book, but perhaps will be in print later this year. I hope to soon get around to completing some of the 30+ incomplete books in my computer!Actually, I’ve just re-issued my very first published book (from Berkley in NY 1993) Secret Shores which is available now in regular print, plus large print and as a Kindle.
By the way, Cerridwen has also accepted two of my short stories in their Scintillating Samples (complimentary reads) area: Song of the Swan and Unexpected Comfort. I love photography as well, as you can see here. Occasionally I teach writing workshops and sometimes do editing or ghostwriting on a free-lance basis. But over and above everything else, there’s always been the writing. I can’t imagine my life without it.
And now, after more than a few requests, I’ve started a blog about writing. You can find it here.