The Cleveland Orchestra March 2-5 Concerts

Pictures at an Exhibition

Completely engaged. That’s how Joe Coyle feels about his life at Judson Manor.

An award-winning journalist who has lived in Paris, Santa Fe, and New York City, he arrived in July 2020 via the suggestion of a fellow resident. He’s been delighted ever since.

“As a writer, I enjoy spending time alone, and these surroundings are perfect: my apartment is quiet, and the views overlooking the Cleveland Museum of Art are lovely. But by far the best part of Judson is the people. Everyone is so knowledgeable about art and culture. I wanted to have stimulating company to spend my time with, and I’ve found that here. These are wonderful, interesting people,” says Joe.

Read the full story at judsonsmartliving.org/blog

“Expanding my curiosity about life is what it’s all about.”

Joe Coyle

2022/2023 SEASON

Pictures at an Exhibition

Thursday, March 2, 2023, at 7:30 p.m.

Friday, March 3, 2023, at 7:30 p.m.

Saturday, March 4, 2023, at 8:00 p.m.

Sunday, March 5, 2023, at 3:00 p.m.

The Cleveland Orchestra’s Distinguished Service Award will be presented to Jane B. Nord during Thursday’s concert (see page 4).

Symphony No. 3 in G minor, Opus 36 30 minutes

I. Adagio — Allegro

II. Adagio cantabile

III. Scherzo: Vivace

IV. Finale: Allegro

Piano Concerto in G major 25 minutes

I. Allegramente

II. Adagio assai

III. Presto Víkingur Ólafsson, piano

PROGRAM CONTINUED ON NEXT PAGE ΩΩΩ

Thank you for silencing your electronic devices.

Friday’s concert is dedicated to Jon A. and Virginia M. Lindseth, PhD, for their extraordinary generosity in support of The Cleveland Orchestra.

JACK, JOSEPH AND MORTON MANDEL CONCERT HALL AT SEVERANCE MUSIC CENTER

Louise Farrenc (1804–1875)

Maurice Ravel (1875–1937)

Franz Welser-Möst, conductor

2022/2023 Season Sponsor

INTERMISSION

Modest Mussorgsky (1839–1881)

Orchestrated by Maurice Ravel

20 minutes

Pictures at an Exhibition 35 minutes

Promenade

Gnomus

The Old Castle Tuileries

Bydlo

Ballet of the Unhatched Chicks in Their Shells

Samuel Goldenberg and Schmuÿle

Limoges: The Market

Catacombs (Cum mortuis in lingua mortua)

The Hut on Fowl’s Legs (Baba Yaga)

The Great Gate of Kiev

Approximate running time: 1 hour 50 minutes

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Photo by Roger Mastroianni

The Cleveland Orchestra’s Distinguished Service Award

The Cleveland Orchestra is proud to honor Jane B. Nord as the 2022–23 recipient of the Distinguished Service Award, recognizing extraordinary service to the Orchestra.

Marguerite Humphrey, Chair

Richard J. Bogomolny

Robert Conrad

André Gremillet

Dennis W. LaBarre

Robert P. Madison

Amb. John D. Ong

Clara Taplin Rankin

Richard K. Smucker

Meredith Smith Weil

JANE NORD , like many thousands of Cleveland-area students, first experienced The Cleveland Orchestra by attending an Education Concert as a child. She credits that concert with instilling in her a lasting love for music, which has brought her immense joy over the intervening years. This transformative moment in Jane’s life has motivated her to provide students across the Greater Cleveland region with similarly inspiring musical experiences. With a gift of $2.25 million in 2013, she endowed The Eric & Jane Nord Family Fund in support of The Cleveland Orchestra’s education and community programs, which have been a core facet of the Orchestra’s offerings since its founding in 1918. In 2019, she established the Jane B. Nord Education Concert Access Fund with a $2.5 million gift, making it possible for students and teachers in Northeast Ohio to attend Cleveland Orchestra Education Concerts for free in perpetuity. In 2021, she created a matching gift of $1 million to help encourage general operating support for the Orchestra. In late 2022, she made an additional extraordinary commitment of $7 million to establish an endowed fund that will support all costs toward producing the Nord Education Concerts, including marketing these concerts to schools, developing and distributing materials in advance of concerts, providing curriculum

PHOTO BY MAKING THE MOMENT PHOTOGRAPHY

resources and teacher workshops, subsidizing bus transportation between the schools and Severance Music Center, producing and delivering digital content, and more. Jane’s contributions effectively eliminate all barriers to students attending Cleveland Orchestra Education Concerts, now and forever.

Jane Baker Nord was born in Cleveland in September of 1920 to Elbert Hall Baker and Hildegarde Louise (Krause) Baker. Jane majored in history at Vassar College, graduating in 1942, and received a certificate in art and design in 1945 from the Pratt Institute, where she taught classes for three years. In 1976, she earned a master’s degree in art education from Case Western Reserve University. She married industrialist Eric Thomas Nord on June 19, 1948, in Shaker Heights. The couple had five children — Virginia, Eric, Emily, Carly, and Richard — and enjoyed a 60-year marriage until Eric’s death in 2008.

Jane is a longtime supporter of the arts and education in Northeast Ohio and beyond, both as an individual and with her late husband. She has earned numerous awards and accolades for her service and philanthropic efforts, including the 1996 Oberlin College Distinguished Community Service Award, the Eric Nord Award for Excellence in Leadership from Leadership Lorain County in 2007, and the President’s Award for Visionary Achievement from Case Western Reserve University in 2013.

A true champion of the arts, Jane Nord has been devoted to helping others fall in

PREVIOUS RECIPIENTS

1996–97 Dorothy Humel Hovorka, trustee

1997–98 David Zauder, trumpet and Orchestra personnel manager

1998–99 Ward Smith, trustee

1999–2000 Christoph von Dohnányi, music director emeritus

2000–01 Gary Hanson, executive director

2001–02 John Mack, oboe

2002–03 Richard J. Bogomolny, trustee

2003–04 Thomas W. Morris, executive director

2004–05 Alex Machaskee, trustee

2005–06 Klaus G. Roy, program editor and annotator

2006–07 Amb. John D. Ong, trustee

2007–08 Gerald Hughes, chorus

2008–09 Louis Lane, assistant conductor

2009–10 Clara Taplin Rankin, trustee

2010–11 Robert Conrad, trustee and president of WCLV

2011–12 Richard Weiner, percussion

2012–13 Milton and Tamar Maltz, trustees

2013–14 Pierre Boulez, conductor

2014–15 James D. Ireland III, trustee

2015–16 Rosemary Klena, assistant to the executive director

2016–17 Robert Vernon, viola

2017–18 Dennis W. LaBarre, trustee

2018–19 Franz Welser-Möst, music director

2019–20 Cleveland Orchestra Chorus

2021–22 Joela Jones, keyboard

love with The Cleveland Orchestra, just as she did. Thanks to Jane’s extraordinary generosity, every child in Northeast Ohio now has the opportunity to experience, for free, the joy and power of classical music performed at the highest levels of excellence. In recognition of her transformational philanthropy, her generous service to The Cleveland Orchestra, and her dedication to the arts and the future of classical music, the Musical Arts Association is pleased to honor Jane B. Nord with our highest award for distinguished service.

Symphony No. 3 in G minor, Opus 36

By Louise Farrenc

BORN : May 31, 1804, in Paris

DIED : September 15, 1875, in Paris

Ω COMPOSED : 1847

Ω WORLD PREMIERE : 1849, by the Société des Concerts du Conservatoire

Ω CLEVELAND ORCHESTRA PREMIERE : This weekend’s concerts, led by Music Director Franz Welser-Möst, mark the first performances of Farrenc’s music by the Orchestra

Ω ORCHESTRATION : 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 2 horns, timpani, and strings

Ω DURATION : about 30 minutes

AS A PIANIST , pedagogue, and composer, Louise Farrenc was one of the most prominent musicians in mid-19th-century France. She was the only woman appointed professor at the Paris Conservatory in all of the 19th century, a position she held for 30 years. Her music received praise from Robert Schumann, Hector Berlioz, and many a Parisian critic. And she composed three exceptional symphonies decades before her compatriots César Franck and Camille Saint-Saëns made homegrown symphonies a point of pride in France.

So why do many of today’s music lovers have no idea who Farrenc is? And why did her magnificent symphonies — equal to those of Schumann and Felix Mendelssohn in terms of structural precision and melodic beauty — lie in the shadows of obscurity for more than 150 years?

Of course, the primary culprit is the systemic sexism and misogyny long upheld by the classical musical establishment — including her alma mater, the Paris Conservatory, which didn’t allow women to study composition until 1870. (Farrenc was only permitted to study piano when she entered the Conservatory at 15, though her parents arranged for private studies with Anton Reicha, the school’s head of composition.) Even after the Conservatory appointed Farrenc professor of piano in 1842, she could only accept female students into her studio, was barred from teaching composition, and received a salary less than that of the school’s male professors. Farrenc had to wage a seven-year

Louise Farrenc was among the most exceptional pianists and composers in mid-19th-century France, despite obstacles due to her gender.

campaign to receive income parity —  a battle she won after the triumphant premiere of her Nonet for winds and strings, Opus 38.

Nevertheless, she persisted. Farrenc became well known among Parisian musical circles for a wealth of solo piano and chamber works, and was twice awarded the Prix Chartier of the Académie des Beaux-Arts for her contributions to French chamber music. But when it came to her large-scale symphonic music — three symphonies and two concert overtures — gender wasn’t Farrenc’s only obstacle.

For starters, French audiences simply didn’t care for orchestral music. Only grand opera, vaudeville acts, and chamber music for candlelit salons were en vogue. The small sect of people in Paris who wanted to hear symphonies were interested in those of Beethoven, Mendelssohn, and Schumann.

There were also tremendous economic barriers at play. With few Parisian ensembles programming symphonies, composers had to self-produce performances of their work, assembling an orchestra of freelancers at great expense. And the one group in town regularly performing new symphonies, the Société des Concerts du Conservatoire, always paired those works with a Beethoven symphony, inviting direct comparisons with the German colossus.

Farrenc was wise to these obstacles —  and savvy enough to know how to use them to her advantage. To stand any chance of having her symphonies heard,

Farrenc knew she had to appeal to audience tastes and stick to the traditions of the Austro-German symphony. That approach paid off when, in 1849, the Société des Concerts du Conservatoire premiered her Third Symphony, programmed alongside — wait for it — Beethoven’s Fifth.

But Farrenc was far too talented a composer to merely imitate symphonies of the early 19th-century — which evolved from Mozart’s Classical charms into the stormy Romanticism of Beethoven and Schumann. Despite being forced to color within those traditional lines, Farrenc projected her singular voice through a gift for melodic invention, a knack for building musical momentum, and a wellhoned approach to orchestration that mirrored the profound intimacy of her chamber music.

The opening movement introduces many of Farrenc’s hallmarks. Instead of beginning with a grand chord from the full orchestra, or immediately stating the movement’s first theme, Farrenc sets the scene with the melancholy sigh of a solo oboe, a snippet of nebulous melody echoed briefly by hushed strings. Just as mysteriously as it began, Farrenc’s slow introduction vanishes — after just six measures of music — replaced by jumpy figurations in the violins that introduce a new tempo and beat pattern. The music seethes as the strings become increasingly restless, plunging us into the movement’s main theme, expressed in roaring octaves by the full string body.

With the movement’s groove firmly

established, new colors and characters emerge from every corner of the orchestra. Buoyant rhythms abound, with off-beat trills and sudden accents adding energetic kicks. The chamber-like transparency of Farrenc’s orchestration is paramount, with small groups of woodwinds often getting the spotlight, their elegant chorales supported by plucky pizzicato in the strings. And in the absence of bright trumpets and trombones — just two horns serve as the entire brass section — our ears get to know the symphony’s primary sonorities: warm strings, burnished woodwinds, and thundering timpani.

The Adagio cantabile, too, eschews any pomp and circumstance at its opening — instead, it gently blossoms like one of Mozart’s wistful wind serenades.

A solo clarinet takes the lead, singing enchanting melodies over a bed of bassoons and horns before handing them off to the violins. This is music of pastoral peace that grows from the solo shepherd’s opening phrase to a ravishing moment at the heart of the movement, when the lush sounds of the full orchestra invoke the mighty resonance of a pipe organ.

The symphony’s Scherzo begins with rapid-fire strings — like a menacing swarm of hornets, the first violins buzzing higher and higher with the offbeat trills and accents we came to love in the first movement. Shimmering scales in the violins propel the music skyward, taking us away from the dangerous hornet’s nest and upwards to experience the radiance of an expansive, cloudless

sky. The warm Alpine sounds of the French horns and woodwinds dominate the tuneful central section, with a series of playful scales ascending and descending in the plucked violins. The merriment doesn’t last long, however —  sighs from oboes and bassoons signal the return of storm clouds, bringing us back to the movement’s forbidding opening.

By the time we reach the Finale, we feel right at home with Farrenc’s inventions: The powerful octaves in the strings return for the opening statement, giving way to more melancholy laments from solo winds, exhilarating trills and accents, and waterfalls of cascading scales in the strings. Alternating between thick and gossamer textures, the movement rushes forward breathlessly, leading to a feverish central section that pits strings against woodwinds in a fight for domination, punctuated by the timpani’s dramatic heft. Snippets of the verdant scenes heard in the second and third movements return just as quickly as they recede, giving way to a restatement of the movement’s opening string octaves. Now with ever-growing intensity and momentum, the music rushes forward until we arrive at the dramatic, declamatory final chords that bring this underperformed gem of a symphony to a resounding close.

— Michael Cirigliano II

Michael Cirigliano II is a freelance arts journalist and copywriter. He has written for Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, the Oregon Symphony, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Whitney Museum of American Art.

Piano Concerto in G major

By Maurice Ravel

BORN : March 7, 1875, in Ciboure, Basses-Pyrénées, France

DIED : December 28, 1937, in Paris

Ω COMPOSED : 1929–31

Ω WORLD PREMIERE : January 14, 1932, at the Salle Pleyel in Paris, with the composer conducting the Lamoureux Orchestra and soloist Marguerite Long, to whom the concerto was dedicated

Ω CLEVELAND ORCHESTRA PREMIERE : March 17, 1955, with George Szell conducting and Grant Johannesen as soloist

Ω ORCHESTRATION : flute, piccolo, oboe, english horn, B-flat clarinet, E-flat clarinet, 2 bassoons, 2 horns, trumpet, trombone, timpani, percussion (bass drum, snare drum, cymbals, triangle, whip, tam-tam, woodblock), harp, and strings, plus solo piano

Ω DURATION : about 25 minutes

IN THE 1920S , French composer Maurice Ravel (left) set out to write a piano concerto for his own use. For many years, he had preferred to play relatively easy pieces in his public appearances as a concert pianist, including the Sonatine he’d written from 1903 to 1905. In part, Ravel was all too conscious that his playing technique was not up to some of the other more demanding works he’d created.

But, as he began creating the new work for piano and orchestra, rather than write a piece within his own capacity, he was inspired to write a concerto

of proper difficulty. And he convinced himself that he could simply acquire the required technique by practicing. Thus, his composition hours — already long and arduous compared with his earlier facility (by the end of the 1920s, he was aware of the failing brain activity that cruelly silenced his last years) — were interspersed with hours devoted to practicing scales and études by Czerny and Chopin in what ultimately was a fruitless attempt, at the age of 55, to perfect his piano skills.

It was only once the work was finished, late in 1931, with a premiere barely weeks away, that Ravel abandoned his soloist’s aspirations and turned to Marguerite Long, who had premiered the composer’s

Le Tombeau de Couperin in 1917, to give the first performance instead. This she did on January 14, 1932, in the Salle Pleyel, Paris, with Ravel conducting.

But from where did his musical ideas for the concerto come? Writer and composer Gustave Samazeuilh recounted that in 1911, he and Ravel spent a holiday in the Basque region of Spain (where both of them had been born) and that Ravel sketched a “Basque Concerto” for piano and orchestra. Without the right idea for a central linking movement, Ravel abandoned the work only to bring parts of it back to life 20 years later with the G-major Concerto. Meanwhile, livelier themes emerge from Ravel’s preoccupation with the brilliant percussive qualities of the piano itself and languorous melodies emerge from his gift for giving a peculiarly sophisticated edge to the new language of jazz.

The sound of this concerto bears striking differences from that of its sibling, Concerto for the Left Hand, composed at the same time, well beyond the doubling of fingers on the keyboard. Here, Ravel concentrated the activity in the upper reaches of the keyboard. He also utilized a smaller orchestra, more an ensemble of soloists than the grand tutti of a full orchestra, which may account for Ravel’s assertion that he composed the G-major Concerto in the spirit of Mozart and Camille Saint-Saëns, two composers of impeccably classical pedigree.

The three movements are accordingly laid out on the classical plan, with two quick movements embracing a slow

middle one. The first movement offers both quick and slow sections, the latter being the occasion for some virtuoso melodic flights for solo instruments, notably the bassoon in the first half, the harp and the horn in the second, while the piano is often required to be sweet in one hand and pungent in the other at the same time. (The flattened scale often associated with the music of George Gershwin, whom Ravel had met in 1924, is much in evidence.)

Ravel cryptically spoke of writing the slow middle movement “one bar at a time.” He also referred to Mozart’s Clarinet Quintet as a basis (which is scarcely less mysterious, aside from the idea of melody-with-accompaniment is prominent in both works). The music itself is pure, both in the simplicity of the piano style and the absence of chromatics. There is also a constant suggestion of wrong notes (not unlike the manner of Erik Satie), the wrongness in Ravel’s case being supremely calculated and proving to be exactly right. Simplicity gives way to complexity, and the melody returns on the english horn as the piano’s exquisite tracery continues to the end.

The last movement is an unstoppable cascade, with the orchestra again tested to the limit, not just the soloist. The movement is neatly framed, with its opening clustered discords returning as a signing-off at the end.

Macdonald

Hugh Macdonald is Avis H. Blewett Professor Emeritus of Music at Washington University in St. Louis. He has written books on Beethoven, Berlioz, Bizet, and Scriabin.

Pictures at an Exhibition

By Modest Mussorgsky

BORN : March 21, 1839, in Karevo, Pskov, Russia

DIED : March 28, 1881, in St. Petersburg

Ω COMPOSED : for piano in 1874; orchestrated by Ravel, 1922

Ω WORLD PREMIERE : No public performance of the solo piano suite was recorded during Mussorgsky’s life. The world premiere of Ravel’s orchestration of the suite happened on October 19, 1922, in Paris, conducted by Serge Koussevitzky.

Ω CLEVELAND ORCHESTRA PREMIERE : October 29, 1931, under the direction of Nikolai Sokoloff

Ω ORCHESTRATION : 3 flutes (one doubling piccolo), 3 oboes (one doubling english horn), 2 clarinets, bass clarinet, alto saxophone, 2 bassoons, contrabassoon, 4 horns, 3 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, timpani, percussion (bass drum, cymbals, side drum, triangle, tam-tam, whip, xylophone, glockenspiel, rattle, tubular bells), celeste, 2 harps, and strings

Ω DURATION : about 35 minutes

“WHAT A TERRIBLE BLOW!” exclaimed Modest Mussorgsky in a letter to the critic Vladimir Stasov in 1874. He then proceeded to paraphrase a famous passage from Shakespeare’s King Lear: “Why should a dog, a horse, a rat, live on, when creatures like Hartmann must die?”

Viktor Hartmann, a gifted architect and painter and a close friend of Mussorgsky’s, had recently died at age 39. A commemorative exhibit of his paintings inspired Mussorgsky to pay musical tribute to his friend — a piano suite based on the composer’s impressions of the paintings. The suite was not performed or published during the composer’s

lifetime, and it did not become universally known until Maurice Ravel orchestrated it in 1922. What’s more, originally written for piano, Pictures at an Exhibition did not become a regular part of the piano repertoire until the middle of the 20th century, after it had already been popularized by symphony orchestras.

From its conception, the original piece cried out for orchestration, partly because its piano writing was not idiomatic — Mussorgsky did not have the gift that composers such as Schumann, Chopin, or Liszt had for creating music that fits the instrument so perfectly. But mostly because its sharply profiled and

contrasting musical characteristics could be underscored to great effect when divided out among the sections of a full orchestra. Other composers had already orchestrated it, but Ravel’s 1922 version enchanted the world.

It is understandable why Ravel, who had often translated visual images into his own music, was enthusiastic about Mussorgsky’s piece. He had known Pictures at an Exhibition as a work for solo piano since at least 1900, having played it through with his friends at informal musical evenings. He and fellow French composer Claude Debussy agreed that Mussorgsky was one of the most important composers from recent generations.

In his piano cycle, Mussorgsky composed musical illustrations of 10 of Hartmann’s pictures. The pictures are connected — in the first half of the work at any rate — by a melody called

“Promenade,” which depicts a visitor strolling through the gallery, from picture to picture. With each passing image, this melody changes as if the impression left by the last picture lingers musically as the visitor proceeds to the next painting. The first picture, “Gnomus,” represents a toy nutcracker in the shape of a dwarf. The strange and unpredictable movements of this creature are depicted vividly. Then we hear the “Promenade” and are ushered into “Il vecchio castello” (The Old Castle), where a troubadour voices a wistful song in a medieval court. In Ravel’s orchestration, this haunting melody is played by the alto saxophone.

The next picture — preceded again by the “Promenade” — is evocatively titled in French: “Tuileries (Dispute d’enfants après jeux)” (Tuileries: Dispute between Children at Play) and shows rowdy children fooling around in Paris’s famous gardens. It is followed immediately —  with no interlude — by “Bydlo,” a Polish oxcart, slowly approaching and then driving away as its ponderous melody crescendos before fading out.

A more lyrical but shorter “Promenade” leads into the first Russian-titled movement, “Balet nevylupivshikhsya ptentsov” (Ballet of the Unhatched Chicks in Their Shells). This scene is based on Hartmann’s designs for the ballet Trilbi at the Mariinsky Theater in St. Petersburg. In the ballet, a group of children appeared dressed as canaries; others were said to have been “enclosed in eggs as in suits of armor,” with their legs sticking out of the eggshells.

Portrait of Modest Mussorgsky by Ilya Repin (1881).

The next picture is titled “Samuel Goldenberg and Schmuÿle.” Hartmann had painted a number of characters from the Jewish ghetto in Sandomierz, Poland, including a rich man in a fur hat and a poor one sitting with his head bent. This movement is traditionally believed to represent an argument between the two men. The rich man, Goldenberg, is represented by a slow-moving unison melody stressing the interval of the augmented second (a frequent interval used in certain forms of Jewish chant and folk music, with which Mussorgsky was familiar). The poor man, Schmuÿle, is characterized by a plaintive theme whose repeated notes seem to choke up with emotion. When the two themes are played simultaneously in Ravel’s orche-

stration, Goldenberg’s commands the entire string section, while Schmuÿle’s is intoned by a single muted trumpet.

“Limoges le marché (La grande nouvelle)” (“Limoges, the Market: The Big News”) portrays the hustle and bustle of an openair market in France where people are busy gossiping and quarrelling. Mussorgsky’s original manuscript contained a more detailed program which, although crossed out by the composer, provides amusing context: “The big news: Monsieur de Puissangeot has just recovered his cow ‘Fugitive.’ But the good wives of Limoges are not interested in this incident because Madame de Remboursac has acquired very fine porcelain dentures, while Monsieur de Panta-Pantaléon is still troubled by his obtrusive nose that remains as red as a peony.”

What a contrast to immediately go from this bustling market to the “Catacombs.” Hartmann’s watercolor shows the artist, a friend, and their guide, holding a lantern, as together they

An exhibition of Viktor Hartmann’s paintings and drawings, including those above, inspired Mussorgsky. (l-r) Ballet of the Unhatched Chicks, The Poor Jew, The Paris Catacombs, Hut of Baba Yaga, and Plan for a City Gate in Kiev

examine the underground burial chambers in Paris. On the right, one can see a large pile of skulls which, in Mussorgsky’s imagination, suddenly begins to glow. When the “Promenade” theme appears next, it is completely transfigured, and an inscription in the score reads: “Cum mortuis in lingua mortua” (“With the dead in a dead language,” though Mussorgsky mistook the Latin ‘com’ with the Italian ‘cum’).

The next section, “Izbushka na kuryikh nozhkakh (Baba-Yaga)” (“The Hut on Fowl’s Legs: Baba Yaga”), evokes the witch of Russian folktales. According to legend, Baba Yaga lures children into her hut before eating them. According to one retelling of the story, she “crushes their bones in the giant mortar in which she rides through the woods, propelling herself with the pestle and covering her tracks with a broomstick.” Hartmann designed a clock in the form of the famous hut; it survives only as a sketch.

Mussorgsky’s movement — whose

rhythm has something of the ticking of a giant clock — has a mysterioussounding middle section, after which the wilder and louder first material returns.

The “witch music” continues directly into the grand finale, “Bogatyrskie vorotá (vo stolnom gorode vo Kieve)” (“The Knight’s Gate in the Ancient Capital, Kiev,” but most often known as “The Great Gate of Kiev”), inspired by an ambitious design that was submitted for a competition but never realized. For this immense architectural structure, Mussorgsky provided a grandiose melody resembling a church hymn and presented in rich harmonies. This theme alternates with a more subdued second melody, harmonized like a chorale. Near the end, the “Promenade” theme is heard, leading directly into the magnificent final climax that symbolizes, in many ways, the grandeur of old Russia.

— Peter Laki

Peter Laki is a musicologist and frequent lecturer on classical music. He is a visiting associate professor at Bard College.

Franz Welser-Möst, Music Director

kelvin smith family chair

In addition to his commitment to Cleveland, Mr. Welser-Möst enjoys a particularly close and productive relationship with the Vienna Philharmonic as a guest conductor. He has conducted its celebrated New Year’s Concert three times, and regularly leads the orchestra at home in Vienna, as well as on tours.

FRANZ WELSER-MÖST is among today’s most distinguished conductors. The 2022–23 season marks his 21st year as Music Director of The Cleveland Orchestra. With the future of their acclaimed partnership extended to 2027, he will be the longest-serving musical leader in the ensemble’s history. The New York Times has declared Cleveland under Mr. Welser-Möst’s direction to be “America’s most brilliant orchestra,” praising its virtuosity, elegance of sound, variety of color, and chamber-like musical cohesion.

With Mr. Welser-Möst, The Cleveland Orchestra has been praised for its inventive programming, ongoing support of new music, and innovative work in presenting operas. To date, the Orchestra and Mr. Welser-Möst have been showcased around the world in 20 international tours together. In 2020, the ensemble launched its own recording label and new streaming broadcast platform to share its artistry globally.

Mr. Welser-Möst is also a regular guest at the Salzburg Festival where he has led a series of acclaimed opera productions, including Rusalka, Der Rosenkavalier, Fidelio, Die Liebe der Danae, Aribert Reimann’s opera Lear, and Richard Strauss’s Salome. In 2020, he conducted Strauss’s Elektra on the 100th anniversary of its premiere. He has since returned to Salzburg to conduct additional performances of Elektra in 2021 and Giacomo Puccini’s Il Trittico in 2022.

In 2019, Mr. Welser-Möst was awarded the Gold Medal in the Arts by the Kennedy Center International Committee on the Arts. Other honors include The Cleveland Orchestra’s Distinguished Service Award, two Cleveland Arts Prize citations, the Vienna Philharmonic’s “Ring of Honor,” recognition from the Western Law Center for Disability Rights, honorary membership in the Vienna Singverein, appointment as an Academician of the European Academy of Yuste, and the Kilenyi Medal from the Bruckner Society of America.

PHOTO BY ROGER MASTROIANNI

ICELANDIC PIANIST Víkingur Ólafsson has made a profound impact with his remarkable combination of highest-level musicianship and visionary programs. His recordings for Deutsche Grammophon — Philip Glass Piano Works (2017), Johann Sebastian Bach (2018), Debussy Rameau (2020), and Mozart & Contemporaries (2021) — captured the public and critical imagination and have led to career streams of more than 400 million. His latest album, From Afar, was released in October 2022.

One of the most sought-after artists of today, Mr. Ólafsson has received multiple awards including the Rolf Schock Prize for music (2022), Gramophone magazine Artist of the Year, Opus Klassik Solo Recording Instrumental (twice), and Album of the Year at the BBC Music Magazine Awards.

Mr. Ólafsson continues to perform as artist-in-residence with many of the world’s top orchestras, concert halls, and festivals, and work with today’s greatest composers. In the 2022–23 season, he performs with orchestras including Philharmonia Orchestra, Concertgebouworkest, Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, Berliner Philharmoniker, The Cleveland Orchestra, London and Bergen Philharmonic Orchestras, Toronto Symphony Orchestra, and Orchestre symphonique de Montréal.

A captivating communicator both onand offstage, Mr. Ólafsson has brought his significant talents to broadcast, having presented several of his own series for television and radio. He was artist-inresidence for three months on BBC Radio 4’s flagship arts program, Front Row. Broadcasting live during lockdown from an empty Harpa concert hall in Reykjavík, he reached millions of listeners around the world.

Víkingur Ólafsson, piano

MARIA SCHNEIDER ORCHESTRA

SUNDAY, MARCH 12 • 4 PM

Playing from her Grammy-winning jazz album Data Lords

JEAN-YVES THIBAUDET

THURSDAY, MARCH 30 • 7:30 PM

Playing Debussy Préludes, Book I and II

CHENERY AUDITORIUM, KALAMAZOO TICKETS START AT $35

MARIA JOÃO PIRES & PARTITURA PIANISTS

SUNDAY, MAY 21 • 4 PM

RENÉE FLEMING EVGENY KISSIN

SATURDAY, MAY 27 • 8 PM

NOW IN ITS SECOND CENTURY , The Cleveland Orchestra, under the leadership of music director Franz WelserMöst since 2002, is one of the most sought-after performing ensembles in the world. Year after year, the ensemble exemplifies extraordinary artistic excellence, creative programming, and community engagement. The New York Times has called Cleveland “the best in America” for its virtuosity, elegance of sound, variety of color, and chamberlike musical cohesion.

Founded by Adella Prentiss Hughes, the Orchestra performed its inaugural concert in December 1918. By the middle of the century, decades of growth and sustained support had turned it into one of the most admired globally.

The past decade has seen an increasing number of young people attending concerts, bringing fresh attention to The Cleveland Orchestra’s legendary sound and committed programming. More recently, the Orchestra launched several bold digital projects, including the streaming broadcast series In Focus, the podcast On a Personal Note, and its own recording label, a new chapter in the Orchestra’s long and distinguished recording and broadcast history. Together, they have captured the Orchestra’s unique artistry and the musical achievements of the Welser-Möst and Cleveland Orchestra partnership.

The 2022/23 season marks Franz

Welser-Möst’s 21st year as music director, a period in which The Cleveland Orchestra earned unprecedented acclaim around the world, including a series of residencies at the Musikverein in Vienna, the first of its kind by an American orchestra, and a number of acclaimed opera presentations.

Since 1918, seven music directors —

Nikolai Sokoloff, Artur Rodziński, Erich Leinsdorf, George Szell, Lorin Maazel, Christoph von Dohnányi, and Franz Welser-Möst — have guided and shaped the ensemble’s growth and sound. Through concerts at home and on tour, broadcasts, and a catalog of acclaimed recordings, The Cleveland Orchestra is heard today by a growing group of fans around the world.

PHOTO BY ROGER MASTROIANNI

THE CLEVELAND ORCHESTRA

Franz Welser-Möst, MUSIC DIRECTOR

Kelvin Smith Family Chair

FIRST VIOLINS

David Radzynski

CONCERTMASTER

Blossom-Lee Chair

Peter Otto

FIRST ASSOCIATE CONCERTMASTER

Virginia M. Lindseth, PhD, Chair

Jung-Min Amy Lee

ASSOCIATE CONCERTMASTER

Gretchen D. and Ward Smith Chair

Jessica Lee

ASSISTANT CONCERTMASTER

Clara G. and George P.

Bickford Chair

Stephen Tavani

ASSISTANT CONCERTMASTER

Wei-Fang Gu

Drs. Paul M. and Renate H.

Duchesneau Chair

Kim Gomez

Elizabeth and Leslie

Kondorossy Chair

Chul-In Park

Harriet T. and David L.

Simon Chair

Miho Hashizume

Theodore Rautenberg

Chair

Jeanne Preucil Rose

Larry J.B. and Barbara S.

Robinson Chair

Alicia Koelz

Oswald and Phyllis Lerner

Gilroy Chair

Yu Yuan

Patty and John Collinson

Chair

Isabel Trautwein

Trevor and Jennie Jones

Chair

Katherine Bormann

Analisé Denise Kukelhan

Gladys B. Goetz Chair

Zhan Shu

SECOND VIOLINS

Stephen Rose*

Alfred M. and Clara T.

Rankin Chair

Eli Matthews1

Patricia M. Kozerefski and Richard J. Bogomolny

Chair

Sonja Braaten Molloy

Carolyn Gadiel Warner

Elayna Duitman

Ioana Missits

Jeffrey Zehngut

Sae Shiragami

Kathleen Collins

Beth Woodside

Emma Shook

Dr. Jeanette Grasselli

Brown and Dr. Glenn R. Brown Chair

Yun-Ting Lee

Jiah Chung Chapdelaine

VIOLAS

Wesley Collins*

Chaillé H. and Richard B.

Tullis Chair

Lynne Ramsey1

Charles M. and Janet G.

Kimball Chair

Stanley Konopka2

Mark Jackobs

Jean Wall Bennett Chair

Lisa Boyko

Richard and Nancy

Sneed Chair

Richard Waugh

Lembi Veskimets

The Morgan Sisters Chair

Eliesha Nelson

Joanna Patterson Zakany

William Bender

Gareth Zehngut

CELLOS

Mark Kosower*

Louis D. Beaumont Chair

Richard Weiss1

The GAR Foundation Chair

Charles Bernard2

Helen Weil Ross Chair

Bryan Dumm

Muriel and Noah Butkin

Chair

Tanya Ell

Thomas J. and Judith Fay

Gruber Chair

Ralph Curry

Brian Thornton

William P. Blair III Chair

David Alan Harrell

Martha Baldwin

Dane Johansen

Paul Kushious

BASSES

Maximilian Dimoff*

Clarence T. Reinberger Chair

Derek Zadinsky2

Mark Atherton

Thomas Sperl

Henry Peyrebrune

Charles Barr Memorial Chair

Charles Carleton

Scott Dixon

Charles Paul

HARP

Trina Struble*

Alice Chalifoux Chair

FLUTES

Joshua Smith*

Elizabeth M. and William C. Treuhaft Chair

Saeran St. Christopher

Jessica Sindell2

Austin B. and Ellen W.

Chinn Chair

Mary Kay Fink

PICCOLO

Mary Kay Fink

Anne M. and M. Roger Clapp Chair

OBOES

Frank Rosenwein*

Edith S. Taplin Chair

Corbin Stair

Sharon and Yoash Wiener Chair

Jeffrey Rathbun2

Everett D. and Eugenia S. McCurdy Chair

Robert Walters

ENGLISH HORN

Robert Walters

Samuel C. and Bernette K. Jaffe Chair

CLARINETS

Afendi Yusuf*

Robert Marcellus Chair

Robert Woolfrey

Victoire G. and Alfred M. Rankin, Jr. Chair

Daniel McKelway2

Robert R. and Vilma L. Kohn Chair

Amy Zoloto

E-FLAT CLARINET

Daniel McKelway

Stanley L. and Eloise M. Morgan Chair

BASS CLARINET

Amy Zoloto

Myrna and James Spira Chair

BASSOONS

John Clouser*

Louise Harkness Ingalls Chair

Gareth Thomas

Barrick Stees2

Sandra L. Haslinger Chair

Jonathan Sherwin

CONTRABASSOON

Jonathan Sherwin

HORNS

Nathaniel Silberschlag*

George Szell Memorial Chair

Michael Mayhew§ Knight Foundation Chair

Jesse McCormick

Robert B. Benyo Chair

Hans Clebsch

Richard King

TRUMPETS

Michael Sachs* Robert and Eunice Podis

Weiskopf Chair

Jack Sutte

Lyle Steelman2

James P. and Dolores D. Storer Chair

Michael Miller

CORNETS

Michael Sachs*

Mary Elizabeth and G. Robert Klein Chair

Michael Miller

TROMBONES

Brian Wendel*

Gilbert W. and Louise I. Humphrey Chair

Richard Stout Alexander and Marianna C. McAfee Chair

Shachar Israel2

EUPHONIUM & BASS TRUMPET

Richard Stout

TUBA

Yasuhito Sugiyama*

Nathalie C. Spence and Nathalie S. Boswell Chair

TIMPANI

Paul Yancich*

Otto G. and Corinne T. Voss Chair

PERCUSSION

Marc Damoulakis*

Margaret Allen Ireland Chair

Donald Miller

Thomas Sherwood

KEYBOARD INSTRUMENTS

Carolyn Gadiel Warner

Marjory and Marc L. Swartzbaugh Chair

LIBRARIANS

Michael Ferraguto

Joe and Marlene Toot Chair

Donald Miller

ENDOWED CHAIRS CURRENTLY UNOCCUPIED

Elizabeth Ring and William

Gwinn Mather Chair

Paul and Lucille Jones Chair

James and Donna Reid

Chair

Mary E. and F. Joseph Callahan Chair

Sunshine Chair

Mr. and Mrs. Richard K. Smucker Chair

Rudolf Serkin Chair

CONDUCTORS

Christoph von Dohnányi MUSIC DIRECTOR

LAUREATE

Daniel Reith

ASSISTANT CONDUCTOR

Sidney and Doris Dworkin Chair

Lisa Wong

DIRECTOR OF CHORUSES

Frances P. and Chester C. Bolton Chair

* Principal

§ Associate Principal

1 First Assistant Principal

2 Assistant Principal

This roster lists full-time members of The Cleveland Orchestra. The number and seating of musicians onstage varies depending on the piece being performed. Seating within the string sections rotates on a periodic basis.

clevelandorchestra.com

APR 6, 7, 8

APR 27, 28, 29

MAR 2, 3, 4, 5

PICTURES AT AN EXHIBITION

Franz Welser-Möst, conductor

Víkingur Ólafsson, piano

FARRENC Symphony No. 3

RAVEL Piano Concerto in G major

MUSSORGSKY/RAVEL Pictures at an Exhibition

MAR 9, 10, 11, 12

MOZART’S REQUIEM

Franz Welser-Möst, conductor

Siobhan Stagg, soprano

Avery Amereau, contralto

Ben Bliss, tenor

Anthony Schneider, bass

Cleveland Orchestra Chorus

STRAUSS Metamorphosen

MOZART Requiem

WINTER SPRING

MAR 30, 31, & APR 1

INSPIRATION: THE TEMPEST

Thomas Adès, conductor

Pekka Kuusisto, violin

ADÈS The Tempest Symphony

ADÈS Märchentänze

SIBELIUS Six Humoresques*

SIBELIUS Prelude and Suite No. 1 from The Tempest*

* Certain selections will not be part of the Friday Matinee concert

SHOSTAKOVICH’S FIFTH SYMPHONY

Rafael Payare, conductor

Jean-Yves Thibaudet, piano

BERNSTEIN Symphony No. 2 (“The Age of Anxiety”)

SHOSTAKOVICH Symphony No. 5

APR 13, 15, 16

MAHLER’S TITAN

Michael Tilson Thomas, conductor

Leif Ove Andsnes, piano

DEBUSSY Jeux, poème dansé

DEBUSSY Fantaisie for Piano and Orchestra

MAHLER Symphony No. 1 (“Titan”)

APR 20, 21, 22, 23 ALL

MOZART

Bernard Labadie, conductor

Lucy Crowe, soprano

MOZART Overture to La clemenza di Tito

MOZART “Giunse al fin il momento... Al desio di chi t’adora”

MOZART Ruhe Zanft from Zaide

MOZART Masonic Funeral Music

MOZART “Venga la morte... Non temer, amato bene”

MOZART Symphony No. 41 (“Jupiter”)

MARSALIS AND NEW WORLD

Franz Welser-Möst, conductor

Michael Sachs, trumpet

EASTMAN Symphony No. 2

DVOŘÁK Symphony No. 9

(“From the New World”)

MAY 4, 6

WEILERSTEIN PLAYS BARBER

Franz Welser-Möst, conductor

Alisa Weilerstein, cello

LOGGINS-HULL Can You See?

BARBER Cello Concerto

PROKOFIEV Symphony No. 4

MAY 14, 17, 20

THE GIRL OF THE GOLDEN WEST

Franz Welser-Möst, conductor

Tamara Wilson, soprano (Minnie)

Roman Burdenko, bass (Jack Rance)

Limmie Pulliam, tenor (Dick Johnson)

Cleveland Orchestra Chorus

PUCCINI La Fanciulla del West (The Girl of the Golden West)

* Opera presentation, sung in Italian with projected supertitles

YOUR VISIT

HEALTH & SAFETY

The Cleveland Orchestra is committed to creating a comfortable, enjoyable, and safe environment for all guests at Severance Music Center. While mask and COVID-19 vaccination are recommended they are not required. Protocols are reviewed regularly with the assistance of our Cleveland Clinic partners; for up-to-date information, visit: clevelandorchestra. com/attend/health-safety

LATE SEATING

As a courtesy to the audience members and musicians in the hall, late-arriving patrons are asked to wait quietly until the first convenient break in the program. These seating breaks are at the discretion of the House Manager in consultation with the performing artists.

PAGERS, CELL PHONES & WRISTWATCH ALARMS

As a courtesy to others, please silence all devices prior to the start of the concert.

PHOTOGRAPHY, VIDEOGRAPHY & RECORDING

Audio recording, photography, and videography are prohibited during performances at Severance. Photographs can only be taken when the performance is not in progress.

HEARING AIDS & OTHER HEALTH-ASSISTIVE DEVICES

For the comfort of those around you, please reduce the volume on hearing aids and other devices that may produce a noise that would detract from the program. For Infrared Assistive-Listening Devices, please see the House Manager or Head Usher for more details.

FREE MOBILE APP TICKET WALLET

IN THE EVENT OF AN EMERGENCY

Contact an usher or a member of house staff if you require medical assistance. Emergency exits are clearly marked throughout the building. Ushers and house staff will provide instructions in the event of an emergency.

AGE RESTRICTIONS

Regardless of age, each person must have a ticket and be able to sit quietly in a seat throughout the performance. Classical season subscription concerts are not recommended for children under the age of 8. However, there are several age-appropriate series designed specifically for children and youth, including Music Explorers (for 3 to 6 years old) and Family Concerts (for ages 7 and older).

The Cleveland Orchestra is grateful to the following organizations for their ongoing generous support of The Cleveland Orchestra: the State of Ohio and Ohio Arts Council and to the residents of Cuyahoga County through Cuyahoga Arts and Culture.

For more information and direct links to download, visit clevelandorchestra.com/ticketwallet or scan the code with your smartphone camera to download the app for iPhone or Android.

Available for iOS and Android on Google Play and at the Apple App Store.

The Cleveland Orchestra is proud of its long-term partnership with Kent State University, made possible in part through generous funding from the State of Ohio. The Cleveland Orchestra is proud to have its home, Severance Music Center, located on the campus of Case Western Reserve University, with whom it has a long history of collaboration and partnership.

© 2023 The Cleveland Orchestra and the Musical Arts Association

Program books for Cleveland Orchestra concerts are produced by The Cleveland Orchestra and are distributed free to attending audience members.

EDITOR

Amanda Angel

Managing Editor of Content

aangel@clevelandorchestra.com

DESIGN Elizabeth Eddins, eddinsdesign.com

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A SYMPHONY OFSuccess

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