CONSIDERED OPINION OF THE CLEVELAND ORCHESTRA CONCERT OF 1/10/08

Charles Ives: Psalm 135. Antonín Dvorák: Symphony No. 9 ("From the New World") in E minor, Op. 95. F. Joseph Haydn: Mass in D Minor ("Lord Nelson"). (Twyla Robinson, sop.; Kelley O'Connor, m-s.; Thomas Cooley, ten.; Andrew Foster-Williams, bass-bar.; Cleveland Orchestra Chorus; Franz Welser-Möst, cond.)

The only keepsake I have of my grandmother is her childhood copy of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's Evangeline. It's almost a century old, flimsy and yellowed with age. And it's a reminder of a time when students recited "Paul Revere's Ride" before auditoriums filled with proud parents and Longfellow loomed nearly as large in American classrooms as Washington and Lincoln. A now anonymous poem, sent to Longfellow by an admirer and unearthed by scholar Angela Sorby, reads in part: "Every schoolroom today is a temple / Every child is a worshipper small / And they bow, as unto a fetish / To your picture which hangs on the wall."

Longfellow's "shores of Gitche Gumee" no longer have the prominent place they once did in the cultural lexicon. But Dvorák's Ninth Symphony, inspired in part by Longfellow's The Song of Hiawatha, remains a classical favorite. And if you hear it in this weekend's concerts by Franz Welser-Möst and the Cleveland Orchestra, you'll probably not be disappointed.

Unlike Welser-Möst's versions of, say, the Tchaikovsky and Dvorák Fifths, this Ninth doesn't seem to ask that you reconsider what the work's all about. But it's a solid and engrossing version of this Romantic staple. Welser-Möst is at his best in the Largo. It's music that offers plenty of opportunities for a conductor to wallow in sentiment, treating it as if it were the score to a Bette Midler movie. But Welser-Möst leads the movement with the confidence of a good film director: trusting his material, trusting the audience, never trying to manipulate you with hearts and flowers. The result is economical, elegant, and all the more moving for its sense of proportion and authenticity.

Thursday's performance of Haydn's "Lord Nelson" Mass was also a first-class affair. Soprano Twyla Robinson seemed uncharacteristically mannered at a few moments. But she managed the challenging task of navigating the "Kyrie" without ever sounding overbearing or shrill. The voice of bass-baritone Andrew Foster-Williams didn't always have the power at its bottom end that one might have wished in this music&mdas;when he had to linger on a low G singing the phrase "dexteram patris," for example. But the vocal quartet, rounded out by Kelley O'Connor and Thomas Cooley, was generally reliable, the Orchestra Chorus in its usual excellent form, and Welser-Möst's conducting crisp and engaging.

The only disappointment of the evening was the performance of Charles Ives' early setting of Psalm 135—a reading which sounded a bit perfunctory, with the Chorus repeatedly overwhelming the small contingent of instrumental accompanists. Still, it's hard to complain when the weakest piece on the program is a mere five minutes long. And, even in a less than ideal realization, this infrequently-played work offers a chance to sample a young composer on his way toward crafting a style as distinctively American as "the wigwam of Nokomis" and "the shining Big-Sea-Water"

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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