Another Orchestra Concert

Last night I returned to Blossom Music Center for another concert of the Cleveland Orchestra.  It was sunny when we took our seats in the pavilion, but by the first intermission storm clouds were gathering.  It turned out to be a rainy, thundery evening, and nature provided its own percussion section.  At one point there was a flash of lightning that certainly struck nearby and a deafening clap of thunder that brought the concert to a momentary pause. 

The concert was nearly three hours long.  It began at 7:00 with a couple of pieces performed by the Kent/Blossom Music Festival Chamber Orchestra.  Each summer a five week institute is held for professional music training.  A group of talented students is mentored by members of the Cleveland Orchestra and the music faculty of Kent State University.  Last night the young musicians performed Richard Wagner's "Siegfried Idyll" and Maurice Ravel's "Le Tombeau de Couperin".   They did an outstanding job, and were better than some professional orchestras that I have heard.

After an intermission, at 8:00 our renowned Cleveland Orchestra took the stage.  They began with Beethoven's "Fidelio Overture", and continued with Franz Liszt's brilliant "Piano Concerto No. 1".  The soloist, a British pianist by the name of Stephen Hough, was excellent.

After a second intermission, the Kent/Blossom Chamber Orchestra returned to sit side by side with the Cleveland Orchestra to perform the "Symphony No. 2" by the Finnish composer Jean Sibelius.  Everything up to this point was superb, but the "Symphony No. 2" was what I was waiting for.  It is one of my very favorite pieces of music, and the combined orchestras did not disappoint!

(image from the web)
Jean Sibelius (1865-1957)

The symphony is very long (45 minutes), but you don't want it to end.  It grabs you from the very beginning.  The work alternates between passages of peaceful melodies, then rising tension and volume, and then majestic "mini-climaxes" often featuring the brass section.  The final movement builds and builds and builds to an incredibly powerful climax.  Every time that I hear a live performance of this work, I am literally trembling and emotionally drained by the conclusion.  My friend Frank, who went with me, had never heard this symphony before. He was blown away, and said that he had never heard anything like it. 

 

 

If you like classical music, and have never heard this Sibelius symphony before, I found on You Tube a complete performance by the Vienna Philharmonic conducted by Leonard Bernstein.  He takes the tempos a bit slower than normal, but it is a tremendous performance.  You can see on Bernstein's face how emotionally involved he is with this magnificent piece of music.

 

 

Symphony No. 2 by Sibelius

 

 

Now, if I may rant for a moment, one of my pet peeves is people who do not know how to conduct themselves at a symphony concert.  While the "Fidelio Overture" was playing, the woman behind me was talking with her husband... not just a whisper, but loud enough for me to hear her conversation.  I turned around and went "shhhhh".  She continued talking, and I went "shhhhh" more insistently.  She said, "Oh, shush yourself."  But she stopped talking.  She was obviously miffed with me, and when the piece was over, she and her group moved to some empty seats further down the row.  Good!!  I just hope she didn't disturb a different group of people.  Rant over...