CONSIDERED OPINION OF THE CLEVELAND ORCHESTRA CONCERT OF 9/20/07

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Symphony No. 28, K. 200; Matthias Pintscher: Five Orchestra Pieces; Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 6 ("Pathétique"). (Franz Welser-Möst, cond.)

Time was, Franz Welser-Möst liked to kick off the Cleveland Orchestra season with something massive. Haydn's Creation, Britten's War Requiem, Mendelssohn's Elijah—such were the weighty pieces for vocalists, chorus, and orchestra that led off subscription series in 2002, 2003, and 2004. The 2007 opener, by contrast, seems based on the more modestly scaled template Welser-Möst used last year: a combination of a relatively innocuous work by Mozart, a sizable symphony, and something contemporary.

Moreover, in this year's case the Mozart has the feeling of a make-good. Concertgoers heard the same symphony—number 28—just five months ago. And while April's performance of the opening movement sounded like a first rehearsal, Thursday's version went much more smoothly.

This year's "something new" is of greater interest: Matthias Pintscher's Five Orchestral Pieces. Surprisingly, this is the American premiere of the work, which has been available since 1999 on a recording issued by Vienna's Kairos label. It's the sort of music that you might guess would be better encountered through recordings than in concert.

Never mind your instincts: in this case, the Cleveland Orchestra's live performance is far more compelling than the CD. The deployment of musicians in real space—as opposed to the virtual space of a stereo recording—does much to highlight Pintscher's remarkably skillful orchestration. And while the Pieces as led by the composer on the Kairos disc seem to have more theoretical than visceral interest, Franz Welser-Möst invests them with a real emotional punch.

But it's Tchaikovsky's "Pathétique" which will, for many, prove the program's main attraction. Franz Welser-Möst's interpretation of the Romantic warhorse is alternately frustrating and fascinating. At times his quick tempos turn shapeless—in the first Allegro section of the opening movement, for example, and in the fugal section at the beginning of the same movement's development. But I like the way the first theme's nervous energy carries over into the contrasting second theme. And the second movement's 5/4 waltz has a nicely surreal quality, as if it's a sort of feverish memory: "tranquility recollected in emotion," to reverse a phrase of Wordsworth's.

If you were searching for a desert-island recording of the symphony, you'd not look to Welser-Möst. But for all the moments that seem oddly unformed, this "Pathétique" has, to my ears, a refreshing psychological authenticity. Welser-Möst's reading of the concluding Adagio lamentoso is crisp, economical, and more genuinely moving than many more emotionally indulgent performances.

Gustav Mahler once derisively compared Tchaikovsky's Sixth to a swirling dot. Seen in motion, it seems a thing of dynamic vitality. But at heart there's little of genuine interest. Later, however, Mahler evidently changed his mind and decided to conduct the work himself. What did he come to see in it? This Cleveland Orchestra version, however problematic, just might offer concertgoers a clue.

Jerome Crossley for WCLV 104/9.

Considered Opinions is WCLV's program that reviews performances by Cleveland-area music ensembles. Commentator Jerome Crossley offers an informed and witty perspective on performances by groups that include the Cleveland Orchestra, Opera Cleveland, and Red {an orchestra}. Considered Opinions typically airs at 9.45 a.m., 12.20 p.m., and 5.20 p.m. the Friday following a Cleveland Orchestra concert, and it repeats at 9.45 a.m. on Saturday. Other air-times depend on the schedule of the ensembles reviewed.

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