Concert Reports: CIM Orchestra
at Severance Hall
By Daniel Hathaway
April 21, 2010 - In a dramatic reversal of roles, Cleveland
Orchestra members took seats in the audience and their students
occupied the stage of Severance Hall on Wednesday evening. Not a
sit-in, though, just the CIM Orchestra's annual visit to the Big
Hall down the street for a program of Verdi, Lutoslawski and
Brahms. Carl Topilow was at the helm and Sergei Babayan's
student Stanislav Khristenko (left) at the Steinway for this
festive, free-but-tickets-required, sold-out event.
CIM president Joel Smirnoff kicked the evening off with a nod
to the thirty Cleveland Orchestra members who serve on the CIM
faculty and with thanks to Keybank and other financial supporters,
then without further ado -- and without waiting for the applause
to subside -- Carl Topilow bounded onto the podium and began the
concert with the portentous brass calls of Verdi's La Forza del
Destino overture. The orchestra obviously enjoyed the opportunity
to luxuriate in the acoustics of Severance Hall. Aside from some
intonation problems between flute and clarinet in a long unison
duet, and a bit of imprecision between strings and winds, they
sounded quite fine. The ending was brassy and satisfyingly loud.
Quite a few personnel swaps took place between Verdi and
Lutoslawski -- the objective being to give as many students a part
in the evening as possible, and there were eight flutes/piccolos,
six oboes/English horns, 5 clarinets/bass clarinets, 7
bassoons/contra bassoons, 8 horns, six trumpets, 5 trombones/bass
trombones, 2 tubas, 3 harps, and 10 percussionists to choose from.
It would have taken some seriously extravagant piece to completely
empty the bench tonight.
Lutoslawski's Concerto for Orchestra is obviously patterned
after Bartok's, but with more experimental gestures and many more
sonic effects. The winds swirled over chords in horns and
trombones, the strings skittered or sighed, the brass interrupted,
the marimba and harp contributed piquant comments, the strings
pizzicatti. The third movement, Passacaglia, began on the other
side of silence and proceeded with English horn and flute solos, a
scream of brass, a fluttering of flutes, more swirls of woodwinds,
brass punctuations and a big cacophonous chord before becoming
calmer. The coda invoked trumpet fanfares, horn flutters, lyric
brass chorales and sweet strings, then volleys of repeated notes,
stentorian chords and a final, punched out, full orchestra note as
if to put a period on an extended essay that contained almost
every possible orchestral effect. The playing was brilliant
throughout.
After intermission, Mr. Khristenko took the stage for Brahms'
First Piano Concerto amid a new wave of player swaps. Maestro
Topilow constructed a big, imposing piece of musical architecture
for this work, which is said to have symphonic aspirations. The
ladies of a certain age in my row thought this exposition was a
good opportunity to continue their intermission conversation, but
finally came to attention when Mr. Khristenko made motions toward
the keyboard ("There he goes!") The excellent soloist was game for
a muscular account of the concerto and matched the orchestra even
in its loudest moments, but also played with clear articulations
and sensitively voiced tremolos. The first movement cadenza was
totally bravura in character, and Mr. Khristenko seemed to be
thoroughly enjoying himself, blissfully casting his eyes to the
heavens in rapturous moments. In the slow movement, bassoons and
later oboes layered on a surprising amount of vibrato but the
strings achieved a lovely pianissimo. The second movement led
directly into the concluding Rondo, which seemed to beg for a bit
more expansiveness and warmth. Conductor and pianist were in close
contact throughout and the audience (a lot of relatives and
friends were here, to be sure) was admiringly exuberant.
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