Sunday, December 05, 1999
CSO delivers interesting program of potpourri
BY JANELLE GELFAND
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Bach/Webern, Beethoven, Kurt Weill and Scriabin made strange bedfellows in the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra's final concert of the millennium.
If one was hard-pressed to find a theme to Friday's potluck program in Music Hall, each piece had provocative elements that added up to an interesting — and long — evening.
Take Weill's Suite from Threepenny Opera, a satire by Bertolt Brecht based on the 18th-century play The Beggar's Opera. Music director Jesus Lopez-Cobos and the CSO — a “cabaret band” of wind and brass players, saxophones, banjo, accordion and drums — wonderfully recaptured the seedy atmosphere of this tale of beggars, thieves and prostitutes.
WGUC-FM announcer Gary Barton added winning expressiveness to Brecht's narration, which he read between numbers such as the “Ballad of Mack the Knife.” The brass players echoed the 1920s Berlin style with jazzy muted trumpet and trombone solos (kudos to principal trumpet Philip Collins and principal trombonist Cristian Ganicenco). It made one appreciate the craft and wit of this eclectic composer.
The evening opened with Webern's transcription of J.S. Bach's “Fuga Ricercar” from The Musical Offering. Mr. Lopez-Cobos kept the orchestral texture light, allowing the subtleties of instrumental colors to project from the counterpoint.
Bach segued into Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 5, Emperor, where Swedish pianist Per Tengstrand, 31, was a last-minute substitute for an ill Till Fellner. Mr. Tengstrand is an elegant pianist with a superb technique — and a dramatic penchant for throwing his head back. His touch was luminous and his tempos were spacious, although he and the orchestra were at odds sometimes.
The slow movement was extremely slow, but Mr. Tengstrand's chords were beautifully voiced. I wished, though, that he had used less rubato. The crowd of 1,643 stood in appreciation.
To conclude, Mr. Lopez-Cobos led an expressive reading of Scriabin's Le Poeme de l'extase (Poem of Ecstasy). The opulent score, which calls for Mahlerian forces, grew to deafening climaxes.
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