As would be expected, Zachary Lewis's first review of the Cleveland Orchestra as classical music critic of the the Cleveland Plain Dealer -- Thursday night's season opener at Severance Hall -- is thoughtful and scrupulously fair.
In George Benjamin's sounds-very-enticing new "Duet" for piano and orchestra, the music director "led with cool, unobtrusive authority."
And Bruckner 7? "[I]t was not always clear why this should be a performance to immortalize. [Last night's and tonight's performances are being recorded for future DVD release. -- aP]
"Overall, the reading can best be described as deliberate. Many times it seemed as if Welser-Most [sic], a skilled interpreter of Bruckner, were savoring every detail, even at the expense of the larger narrative."
Zach Lewis goes on to examine each movement in turn -- thumbs down, thumbs up, thumbs up, thumbs up (remember, the CO used to tabulate Don Rosenberg's reviews adjective by adjective, evaluation by evaluation, and prepare "studies" that they then submitted to management at the Plain Dealer).
"But as the thrills subsided, the symphony as a whole emerged lopsided."
Phew! It's a good thing that Cleveland won't have to read Don Rosenberg's reviews anymore! Just those of another critic who calls things as he sees and hears them.
* * *
The National Symphony Orchestra in Washington, D.C., has named Christoph Eschenbach (right) to be its next music director, starting with the 2010-1011 season. Yes, you read that correctly. Not only that, but Kennedy Center impresario Michael M. Kaiser will share some duties with the German-born deeply problematic conductor and mostly former pianist, 68, who will also have the new title of "music director of the Kennedy Center."
With all the hullabaloo in recent years regarding the "need" for "young" conductors and "American" conductors -- noise that, in part, led to the appointment of the untested Alan Gilbert, 41, to be music director of the New York Philharmonic beginning in 2009-2010 -- Washington, an important second-tier orchestra would have been a perfect spot for such a candidate. Instead, the NSO went with the tried and found-wanting (at Ravinia and Philadelphia, inter alia) Eschenbach.
At least their leadership is putting its money where its contract pen is -- board vice-chair Roger Sant, co-founder of power and energy giant AES Corp., and his wife Vicki have tossed in an additional $5 million on top of the $15 million with which they had previously endowed the NSO music director's chair. The Washington Post's Anne Midgette speculates that this was done in part to cover Eschenbach's high salary demands and his additional position with the Kennedy Center as a whole.
But who's going to be paying soloist's fees for "Tzimon Barto"?
* * *
Washington D.C. Classical station WETA-FM's critic, busy online columnist, and CD connoisseur Jens F. Laurson offers a positive take on the Eschenbach appointment and makes some interesting arguments here. He also offers links to a wide array of other writers' reports and opinions on the move.
Comments