Concert Report — Apollo’s Fire brings the sweet joy of Praetorius to Trinity Cathedral

by Daniel Hathaway

Michael Praetorius

Jeannette Sorrell brought the alternately dazzling and charming music of Michael Praetorius to life once again at Trinity Cathedral on Thursday evening, in her compilation program, “Christmas Vespers” — with a little help from Apollo’s Fire’s 20 instrumentalists, 27 adult singers and the 15 young vocalists who make up Apollo’s Musettes. And a near-capacity crowd of happy listeners.

Her sidespeople comprised six string players, including viola da gamba, a wind band of ten (recorders, cornetti, Trumpets, three sackbuts and percussionist) a continuo group of four (count them: three long-necked lutes or theorbos! — in addition to organ and harpsichord (Sorrell herself) and seven soloists who moved in and out of the choir during the complicated choreography that brought the right people to the right place for each variously scored piece.

Mostly drawn from the collection called Polyhymnia caduceatrix, compiled in 1619, two years before the composer’s death at the age of 50, but also using material from his Musica Sionae, Puericinium and the dance collection Terpsichore, the program ranged from the simple (chant and liturgical snippets, stark, early Lutheran chorales sung in unison and M.P.’s greatest hit, Lo, how a rose) to the fascinating polychoral complexity of works in the Venetian ceremonial style (Gloria sei Gott, and In Dulci Jubilo).

Concert Report — CityMusic Cleveland: Bright Mozart on a Dark Evening

by Daniel Hathaway

Joel Smirnoff, CIM president, makes his Ohio conducting debut with CityMusic Cleveland

On a dark and windy night, with dire predictions of a major winter storm on its way (didn’t quite happen), what better refuge than a warm, brightly lit church and an free concert of some of Mozart’s most charming small orchestra music? Several hundred people thought so, packing Fairmount Presbyterian Church from narthex to chancel for Joel Smirnoff’s Ohio conducting debut with CityMusic Cleveland.

After a greeting from Fairmount pastor Louise Westfall, who led a charming, color coded tour through the deciduous program booklet’s coupons, surveys, concert handbills and donation forms, soloists Nathan Olson and Jessica Oudin came on with Maestro Smirnoff to give us the Sinfonia Concertante for violin, viola and orchestra, K.364.

TubaChristmas at Trinity Cathedral

TubaChristmas at Trinity Cathedral in Cleveland, Ohio on November 29, 2009. Photos by Sam Hubish.

Digging Deeply into Dvorak: ‘Musically Speaking’ at Severance Hall

Photograph by Roger Mastroianni

by Mike Telin

On Sunday, November 29, the Cleveland Orchestra presented the first of three events in its new ‘Musically Speaking’ series, an initiative designed to bring Severance Hall audiences closer to the music and the musicians.

The afternoons begin with a 40-minute chamber music concert in Reinberger Hall, followed by a 3:00 multimedia exploration of the orchestral work of the day (this afternoon, Dvorak’s ‘New World’ Symphony) using a narrator, actors, projected visuals and live excerpts played by the orchestra. After intermission, the work is played in its entirety, followed by a question and answer period.

The central format of the first two ‘Musically Speaking’ events  derives from the Chicago Symphony’s ‘Beyond the Score’ series, which, as in this case, is franchised to other orchestral organizations. I experienced the CSO’s version of the Dvorak afternoon at the League of American Orchestras conference in Chicago last summer, so it was interesting to be able to compare the two throughout the afternoon.

Questions for Cleveland Cello Society president Richard Weiss

For our preview article about the Cleveland Cello Society’s ‘I Cellisti’ Concert, we wanted to interview CCS president and Cleveland Orchestra acting principal cellist Richard Weiss, but he was on tour with the Orchestra in Europe. We sent him some questions via email to Vienna, but due to a technical glitch, his response languished in cyberspace until the deadline was past. Once back in Cleveland, he forwarded his answers, which we think were such fun that they deserved publication even after the fact. Richard Weiss also taught cellist Alisa Weilerstein, whose interview appears in an earlier posting on this blog.

CC.com: Cellists seem to be a lot more gregarious than other instrumentalists. They form societies, they hang out together and support each other, they schedule events where they play works for multiple cellos, etc. Do you have any insights as to why cellists are more likely to behave this way than, say, violinists or oboists?

Richard Weiss: Possibly because the cellist population is about 1/2 in number compared to violinists, yet 3 times more than oboists (consider orchestra sections), we feel neither lost in the crowd nor like loners — perfect for bonding. As the joke goes, “Question: How many violinists does it take to screw in a light bulb? / Answer: Four… one to actually do it, and 3 more to say they could do it better!” Cellists are generally less competitive and open to working together. We also like to exploit the wide range of the cello by playing in choirs without the assistance of violin or viola. (Viola societies are increasingly popular for bonding but they lack the lower range for a bass line…)

Akron Symphony Orchestra: Verdi e Puccini

by Laura Genemans

This past Saturday, the Akron Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Maestro Christopher Wilkins and the Akron Symphony Chorus under the direction of Maestro Hugh Ferguson Floyd in no uncertain terms established its excellence and value in this area as an exceptional musical force.

Verdi’s La forza del destino: Overture opened the program and established the tonal three notes representing the forces of destiny.  Thanks to the excellent pre-concert talk by Maestro Wilkins you knew what to listen for.  Without words, the orchestra created pictures with the entrance of the strings followed by the lyrical “gypsy-like” melody from the clarinet and flute. The continual movement between the strings (celli and viola) and winds wove the story taking you to your inevitable destiny – concluding with the low brass.  The music carried you due to the way the ensemble followed each other letting the Maestro lead – never releasing that thread of interest and tension.

Fridays @ 7 at Severance Hall: An Interview with Percussionist Jamey Haddad

by Mike Telin

Jamey Haddad is in charge of programming world music for the second half of the Cleveland Orchestra’s new five-concert series ‘Fridays @ 7.’ We caught up with Jamey in New York while playing gigs for the Rock Hall Festivities, and asked him about his thoughts on why audience building initiatives such as the Fridays @ 7 are needed.

An Interview with cellist Alisa Weilerstein

by Mike Telin

We spoke to Alisa Weilerstein about many things, including the dual role she will have this week when she performs the Dvorak Cello Concerto and later joins Jamey Haddad, Dylan Moffitt, Keita Ogawa and Michael Ward-Bergeman in the World Music portion of the evening on the Fridays @ 7 series on November 20. We also talked about her passion for Russian literature, her upcoming live television performance of the Elgar Concerto with Daniel Barenboim, and her work as spokesperson for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation.

We began by asking her about her participation in Classical Music Day at the White House, and her feelings about the significance of the event that had occurred the previous day.

Music on Tap at Trinity Lutheran Church

“Music on Tap” at Trinity Lutheran Church, Cleveland, on October 10. ClevelandClassical.com’s editor and publisher, Daniel Hathaway at the historic Beckerath organ. Held the second Saturday of the month, “Music on Tap” includes informal organ concerts, West Side Market bratwursts for sale and free beer samples from Great Lakes Brewing Co. Proceeds benefit the organ restoration fund.

Trinity’s Beckerath organ is a historical landmark. Built by Rudolph von Beckerath in 1956, it is the first large modern pipe organ in North America built on historic Baroque principles.

The next “Music on Tap” is Saturday, November 14 from 1:00 – 4:00 pm. Organists Nathan Carterette (1:00 pm) Brian Wentzel (1:45 pm) and Graham Schultz (2:30 pm) will perform.  2031 West 30th Street (at Lorain).

Photos: Sam Hubish

‘Rumba Sinfónica’ comes to Severance for a CIM Benefit on Saturday: a chat with composer Ricardo Lorenz and Tiempo Libre’s music director Jorge Gomez

Carl Topilow will conduct the CIM Orchestra and Miami timba band Tiempo Libre in Ricardo Lorenz’s ‘Rumba Sinfónica’ on Saturday, October 24 at 8:30 in Severance Hall as part of the CIM Women’s Committee’s annual benefit. Tiempo Libre plays a set of their own after intermission. We reached composer Ricardo Lorenz and pianist and Tiempo Libre music director Jorge Gomez by conference call to talk about the genesis of a work for symphony orchestra and Cuban band.

Daniel Hathaway: I wanted to talk a little bit about the performance next Saturday at Severance Hall. How did this project get started in the first place?

Ricardo Lorenz (left): Well, it was a cosmic meeting in of all places, Bloomington, Indiana.

DH: At Indiana University?

Ricardo: Yes. I was teaching there for a couple of years and Jorge came to do master classes. What really caught my imagination is when I saw him doing rumba with music students. I had this idea running in my head, but it had to be put together with somebody like Jorge who brings together his classical background and his jazz and Cuban background.