Cleveland Orchestra: Honeck Conducts Tchaikovsky's Fifth

Martinsson: Open Mind
Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 3 in C minor, Op. 37 (Lars Vogt, piano)
Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 5 in E minor, Op. 64
Manfred Honeck, Conductor

Last weekend, Severance Hall played host to Case Western Reserve University graduation ceremonies; tonight -- as the last concert in The Cleveland Orchestra's 2012-13 Severance Hall Season -- seemed like the last day of school before Summer Vacation as ushers and frequent patrons exchanged calls of "Enjoy your summer", "Are you doing anything fun?", and "What will you do with all of your free time".

The Orchestra did not disappoint and during one of the ovations of the season, a gentleman in a nearby box could be heard to comment "[Honeck] really pulled everything out of the Orchestra". And he did.

Rolf Martinsson's Open Mind was a delightful 10-minute overture to the concert, starting with a bold and overtly cinematic punch, with explosions of musical energy, a gentle romantic interlude and the mystery of a dark dripping cave.

Beethoven's third piano concerto was a well balanced endeavor between pianist and orchestra, with the long orchestral introduction giving way to the pianists, taking up the music as if old friends conversing and occasionally completing the others sentences. The slow second movement was beautifully solemn and introspective and my favorite from the piece (I'll admit that the third didn't really hold my attention, though I have nothing against it).

The program concluded with Tchaikovsky's Fifth Symphony, another beautiful four movement piece, though the third movement was undoubtedly my favorite with the waltz -- a gossamer-like piece where the orchestra, lead by the strings, just gracefully fluttered in midair before turning into an orchestral battle cry full of weighty energy.

See you at Blossom...

Lincoln

Cleveland Museum of Art: Art Crawl II

Almost exactly two years ago, the Cleveland Museum of Art hosted it's first Art Crawl -- still one of the most interesting events I've attended.

Tonight, Art Crawl Mark II was hosted after hours at the Cleveland Museum of Art. Though the Museum closed at 5:00, the doors reopened at 6:00 for eighty invited guests at the Circles donor levels and above. Divided into intimate groups of about twenty, we had four stops, each lead by a curator or conservator and paired with creative h'dourves and wine.

All four stops were wonderful and really demonstrated both  the passion and personality of CMA's staff. While it's easy to be intimidated by the academic aspects of art but the passion and enthusiasim is contageous.

Stop 1, Reto Thuring, Associate Curator of Contemporary Art with Janet Cardiff's Forty Part Motet

Until a couple weeks ago I can say I honestly had no idea who Janet Cardiff was -- until I got stuck at O'Hare with her when United decided to let our flight to Cleveland leave despite knowing our (different) arriving flights were only slightly delayed and arriving at the gate while the aircraft was still there. (No I'm not bitter, United).  Hearing the artist describe her work I wasn't sure what to expect, and to be honest based on other AV installations I was a little skeptical. Before tonight I had not experienced the work.

Reto provided some background on the artist and the work standing outside the 1916 building in the Atrium -- while occasionally the parting doors would let gasps of choral voices escape. Introduction complete we entered the 1916 building to a chorus of voices -- and the combination of voices and the imagery of the art displayed in the gallery was a powerful, almost religious experience much as if walking into an active cathedral. If you find the right pace in the room it is as if you are in the middle of a choir.

I highly recommend visiting the work (in a 1916-building level 2 gallery) before it disappears in early June.

Stop 2, Sona Rhie Quintanilla, Curator of Indian and Southeast Asian Art with the late 1400s Mandala of Vajradakini

Another relatively new curator to the Museum, Ms. Quintanilla provided  great insight into the Mandala of Vajradakini, currently in Gallery One's focus area just off the main entrance to the museum. Extending beond the surface artistic elements of the work I thought the discussion on Tantra, Yoga reincarnation and Enlightenment -- to be very enlightening (pun not intended).

Stop 3, Louise W. Mackie, Curator of Textiles & Islamic Art with Afruz Amighi's His Lantern.

A piece that I've walked by several times since the Islamic galleries opened and thought was interesting, Ms. Mackie's explanation of the piece -- a hanging woven polyethylene piece with projected light creating shadows -- brought an entirely new level of understanding to the piece and the artist. Connecting the symbols in the art to classic counterparts, such as a nearby prayer niche as well as subtle but more modern political statement -- keys echoing those worn in a war brought new understandings to the piece. Ms. Mackie's enthusiasm for the piece and her description of meeting the artist and artist's execution (hand cut with a hot metal knife) was also infectious.

Stop 4, Moyna Stanton, Conservator of Paper with Antonio del Pollaiuolo's Battle of the Nudes

The last stop was certainly not least -- and I'm not only saying that because paper conservation is an area of particular interest for Rachel -- Ms. Stanton's wonderfully in depth look at the history of Battle of the Nudes was a crash course in print making, differences between "states" in prints, the technique Antonio del Pollaiuolo's work, and the history of repairs to the piece and what has been filled in.

Like a good television drama she was really getting rolling and while I was on the edge of my seat (looking forward to hearing more about the work, particularly the photomechnical infill in one corner) the time was up and we had to move on.

The evening concluded with a light reception and quick remarks from museum director David Franklin, a nice way to wind down and chat with other patrons.

I can't wait for the next one -- and I really hope it will be less than two years this time.

Lincoln

Heights Arts: Schubertiade (House Concert/Close Encounters)

Schubert: Sonata in D Major for violin and piano, D.384^*
Schubert: Sonata in G Minor for violin and piano, D.408^%
Schubert: Der Hirt auf Felsen (The Shepherd on the Rock)^¹²
Schubert: String Quartet in G Majorª
At the Koelz Residence, Cleveland Heights
^- Rafael Sorka, piano; *- Isabel Trautwein, violin; %- Alicia Koelz, violin; ¹- Jung Oh, soprano; ²-Robert Woolfrey, clarinet; ª- The Omni Quartet (Jung-Min Amy Lee, Alicia Kolez, violins; Joanna Patterson, viola; Tanya Ell, cello)

It would be horribly neglectful to not note that tonight's concert -- the last of the Heights Arts 2012-13 Close Encounters house concert season -- also marks the last for Heights Arts founding Executive Director Peggy Spaeth before she retires July 2nd after 13 years of dedicated service. (And just to reiterate my standard disclosure: I do serve on the Heights Arts board)

Tonight's concert was our first expedition to the beautiful home of Ms. Kolez and her husband. While not Ms. Koelz's first performance with Height Arts, I believe the first time the host of a concert has also performed.

An all-Schubert event featuring six members of The Cleveland Orchestra alongside two other very talented musicians the music and company was even more delightful than expected -- and that bar is high. All four pieces on the program were passionately played and a joy to hear, although I didn't really attach strong imagery to any of the pieces -- the way I most effectively communicate about music.

Thus, I cannot say that I enjoyed any of the pieces any more or less than any other on the program. The first two pieces -- both violin-and-piano  sonatas -- were lovely and left me to just close my eyes and enjoy the beauty of music for a large swath of both pieces. The inner movement of the Sonata in D was lovely, while the first movement reminded me of the emotional release of crying.

Der Hirt auf dem Felsen with singer Jung Oh and clarinetist Robert Woolfrey joining Rafael Sorka changed things up with Ms. Oh and Mr. Woolfrey's playing faithfully echoing the sentiments of the lyrics -- from the brighter beginning to the sadness and grief-stricken middle.

After an intermission, gears shifted completely with the String Quartet in G Major, D.877 where despite an extended tuning necessitated from Cleveland's indecisive Is-it-Summer-or-Winter weather (I'm glad it's not just me) the passionate playing made it a memorable piece with finely textured drops into darkness and emergences into brightness. Adding interest to the piece were rapid-fire tremors of notes executed with precision.

Clevelanders are incredibly lucky to have access to this level of musicianship in these incredibly intimate settings

I'm already looking forward to the next season...

Lincoln

Cleveland Orchestra: Handel's Water Music

Handel: Water Music Suite No. 1 in F minor
Handel: Zadok the Priest, Coronation Anthem No. 1
Handel: Te Deum ("Dettingen") in D major
The Cleveland Orchestra Chamber Chorus, Robert Porto, Director; Jay Carter, countertenor; Steven Soph, tenor; Klaus Mertens, bass-baritone.
Ton Koopman, conductor.

So I made it back from Vancouver (no thanks to United Airlines) and I'll have to post an update on that trip later -- You may recall though, that for the first time I begged off last week's Cleveland Orchestra concert on the account of both illness and death in the family [it was not a good week...] -- and I was really looking forward to getting back to the hall tonight.

Conductor Ton Koopman has an effervescent stage presence, but unfortunately that didn't carry through to the music; both of the substantial pieces on the program (Handel's Water Music and Te Deum) largely felt hollow and passionless -- there was no technical fault with the execution, but the artists involved seemed to be enjoying plying roughly as much as observing an actual execution. Of course, neither piece was completely without redemption, and particularly in Te Deum, the Cleveland Orchestra Chamber Chorus came through with passages that would have felt right at home in any church.

The shortest piece on tonight's program at about five minutes - Zadok the Priest - was also the piece I most enjoyed as it was very focused, and had a consistent feeling and wasn't quite as devoid of passion as the others

[For the sake of disclosure, I should say that I was much further house (side) right than usual -- in the past I've noted differences in sound in the off-axis seats, though I don't think that played into my perception of tonight's program]

In two weeks my dad is visiting for a delayed birthday weekend, so I'll attend my last concert of the 12-13 season on Thursday evening... and the Blossom season is just around the corner.

Lincoln

What a down-and-up week / I'm In Canada!

So this last week has been somewhere between "less than great" and "completely s****y", but this week is promising.

Starting last Wednesday -- or maybe Tuesday evening if you want to be picky -- I came down with one of the nastier bugs I've had in the past decade (I think it ranks #2)...while I was in a hotel in Columbus. Being sick is miserable. Being sick on the road is worse. Being sick on the road and having to drive yourself three hours home doesn't help things either. I have a feeling the effects of whatever I had were magnified by my stress lately (snowed under with work + lots of looming travel + not sleeping well + grandfather's health + ...) until I reached a breaking point.

I think I'm still suffering with some of the tailing ends of that bug -- but at least I can stand up and generally function in public without feeling light headed. But while lying in bed on Friday -- semicoherent and Rachel nursing me -- I got a call from my mom. Not a good sign. My grandfather -- the same grandfather I visited last week to celebrate his 86th birthday and because he wasn't doing very well -- passed after a 7 year battle with cancer. I can't say it was surprising (The Wikipedia article calls out median survival as 3-4 years or 5-7 years "with advanced treatments" and it was really tough to see him last week) but it was still not the news I was hoping for.

Anyway, on Saturday thought feeling a smidge better, in the interest of my health and the health of those around me I unfortunately had to wave off both  a CIM student recital that had sounded very interesting and the Cleveland Orchestra's Saturday evening performance -- not an easy decision but in hindsight not regretted at all.

This morning I woke up and -- with Rachel serving as escort -- made it to the airport shortly after 7 am. I've flown "enough" (~255 times based on my FlightMemory.com data*) but this was my first time using my passport, or leaving the country so for some reason I found myself exceptionally nervous.

The reward, though, was an International Premier Access boarding pass for a "premium" cabin (for some reason the same seat on a domestic flight is called "First Class" yet on an international flight it becomes "Business Class") -- thus granting access to the hallowed halls of the United Club (formerly Red Carpet Club or President's Club) at no charge. I've been curious about the clubs, but always too cheap to pony up on my own and too guilt-ridden to expense it to the company.

But clearing security in Cleveland I didn't feel like I had enough time to make it to the club, enjoy, and get back to the gate in time for my flight. The flight from Cleveland to Denver was uneventful, and on arriving in Denver -- since I had to walk past the club to get to my connecting gate, I figured "What the heck".

Oh, what a glorious space -- free food, plenty of comfortable seating, and almost frighteningly quiet. Plus free WiFi. I almost talked myself into the $475/year fee before I had to leave to board the flight to Canada.

If you really want to -- click for larger.

Arriving in Canada was a weird experience -- off the plane and on to beautiful glass-enclosed jetways (which are prohibited by a particularly irrational fire safety law in the US) and into a never ending segregated corridor, before dropping in the immigration lobby. I will say, that while the walk seemed interminable it was pleasant -- including some almost natural-history-museum-seeming settings (This video captures the experience fairy well -- including the sound effects in the hall)

As we snaked back and forth, back and forth through a line that would make Disneyland proud I was nervous -- my first experience with Customs & Immigration, with a "Business and Pleasure" answer, and a coworker who answered the "Business" question incorrectly and wound up denied entry and on Canada's Terrorist Watch List.

I approached the window "Business or Pleasure" he asked while scanning the declaration form that we had been given on the aircraft -- "Both" I answered.

"Can you elaborate on the nature of your business?". Ah crap. But I did, and he stamped my card and said to have a nice day. After an interminable wait for my luggage, I walked to the "green" exit (as I wasn't above any of my duty free allowances) handed the office the same form, who took it without even looking and I walked past... and into free Canadian air.

It was a little anti-climatic. From there I picked up my rental car from Hertz (somehow a Toyota Crayola turned into a Jeep SUV, but I won't complain) and used the GPS feature on my phone to find my way to my fist ("Pleasure") hotel for this trip...

"In 600 meters, turn right..."

WTF? How far is that? Ok I know Canadians (and the rest of the civilized world) use metric -- and I got used to matching speed limit signs to the speedometer, even if it's  a foreign language. But I can't believe my own phone would betray me and suddenly start spouting off distances that I don't fluently comprehend. By the time I had done the mental conversion to a distance my brain could cope with it was time to turn.

In any event I made it to the hotel, and as I conclude this post I'm about ready to crawl under the covers and spend my first night outside of the United States. My first night after 10,576 consecutive nights in the US. I suppose it's about time -- and just in the nick of time to do it before my 29th birthday. And in honor of my wanderlust grandfather.

My grandfather inspecting my travel map last week.
"One traveler to another" he said.

Lincoln
*- It's "extremely accurate" (date, time, flight number, and specific aircraft and seat) for flights since 2005ish, "very accurate" (at least date and flight number) for flights since 2000ish, and "a general representation" for all flights before -- not all of my early flights are logged

Sometimes the little thins make a huge difference

I've had a rough week -- beyond being stressed by the volume of work that needs to be accomplished in a frighteningly short amount of time, and more importantly, my Grandfather in Northern Michigan is not doing so well.

For as long as I can remember he's been physically and intellectually strong, and with an engineer's mind we share a lot in common, including a love of travel (he prefers to drive; I prefer to fly), even after a multiple myeloma diagnosis a few years ago he was still in relatively good condition. But over the past few months his condition has deteriorated alarmingly.

My mother flew out from Portland to visit him this weekend and I took Friday to make the 7-hour/450-mile drive up to see both my mom and my grandfather; it was tough to see him so incapacitated. And even tougher to leave -- but it was necessary as I need to be in Columbus (where I am now) for a project Monday morning.

While my grandfather would have no problems with it, putting in another 470 miles and 7 hours to get from Michigan to Columbus in two days is a little more than my ideal tolerance for driving, and combined with an emotionally draining few days...well... There were more than a few times I thought about just pulling off the road and taking a nap.

But I made it to the hotel -- the Hampton Inn Columbus/Dublin -- and checked in. I've stayed at this property before -- most recently about two months ago -- but I didn't recognize the gentleman behind the counter. As he checked me in he mentioned "Stephanie said to say Hi."

That lifted my spirits a little -- as a mid-grade road warrior I tend to feel like I fall into obscurity on the road. Despite the scripted, almost robotic, greetings that are doled out as part of the "standard" Hilton HHonors Gold greeting, I don't get the sense of human-to-human connection.

I remember Stephanie well from my last visit -- actually her genuine hospitality is probably 90% of the reason I came back to this property rather than "shopping around" a bit. I also remember asking the "crazy question" about the keycards.

(Aside) You see: Hampton Inn has, for as long as I've been a "road warrior", issued a unique keycard for each state ("Welcome To ________"). The first Hampton I visit in each state, I keep one of the key cards -- working towards my unwritten goal of "Collecting all 50". I was somewhat alarmed on my last visit to note that instead of the "Welcome to Ohio" keycard, there was a new card advertising USA Today. Not because I needed an Ohio card, but rather because I was looking forward to adding Arizona to my collection with my first trip to that state. Aside from graciously answering my question and offering to find an Ohio card if I needed one, I had largely forgotten the specific question.

But as I trundled up to my room, I noticed a piece of paper in with my key card. On it, the hand-written note:

"Hey! Welcome back! So apparently the keys you had last time were a promo. I believe we are all going back to the state keys. See you tomorrow! Stephanie"

It sounds a little goofy, but I have to say it instantly buoyed my spirits -- rather than being a faceless reservation number or a nameless person wandering the halls of a global corporation I felt like I was truly someone's guest, not to mention that I was tremendously impressed that despite the number of travelers seen on any given day she remembered both me and my question from my last visit -- almost exactly two months ago.

It was a simple -- but extremely nice -- end to a very long weekend.

Lincoln

Cleveland Orchestra: Franz Welser-Most Conducts Dvorak's Sixth

Shepherd: Tuolome (World Premiere Performances)
Shostakovitch: Violin Concerto No. 1 in A minor, Op. 77 (Frank Peter Zimmerman, violin)
Dvorak: Symphony No. 6 in D major, Op. 60
Franz Welser-Most, conductor.

Today is my last day in Cleveland before departing on the "Two (if) by land" legs of my travel schedule. Since I won't be in Cleveland on Saturday I wanted to sneak in a concert before I left.

The first piece on the program was the world premiere of Sean Shepherd's Tuolume influenced by Ansel Adams photographs of the eponymous location in Central California not far from where I was born. While I'm not a fan of most new music and this was no exception, I did enjoy it significantly more than his last endeavor presented by the Orchestra, and particularly in the first movement I had the sensation of slowly panning across a particularly vivid landscape photograph.

Coming to the Orchestra straight from a violin lesson wedged into my schedule (yes, despite reprehensible lack of practice time, I am still attempting to learn the instrument) my appreciation for the talents of the Orchestra and Mr. Zimmerman particularly were heightened in Shostakovitch's Violin Concerto -- it is nowhere near as effortless as they or he make it look. The first movement is dark and somber, as if the soloist is wandering alone on the dark and scary streets of a large and unfamiliar city. The second movement -- my favorite from the piece -- released the tension had had a fun, nervous energy in the solo violin that was responded to by the Orchestra. The third movement wasn't as dark as the first, but was a bit more mournful with an extraordinarily impassioned solo.

While Shostakovitch is one of my favorite composers, Dvorak slightly edges him out and so I was delighted that the concert ended with his Symphony No. 6. While the first two movements were delightful, to my ear they didn't sound particularly Dvorak-esque, clearly coming earlier in his career than the "From the New World" (Symphony No. 9) for which he is best known. The third movement, though featured the dance rhythms that are part of the composer's signature and one of the aspects I find most compelling in his music.

It's also worth noting that last week's Carmina Burana was still the talk of the hall with not a bad opinion to be heard.

Lincoln