CONSIDERED OPINION OF THE CLEVELAND ORCHESTRA CONCERT OF 2/7/08

Johann Sebastian Bach: Fugue (Ricercata) from Musical Offering, arr. Anton Webern. Alban Berg: Violin Concerto. Schoenberg: Pelleas and Melisande, Op. 5. (Leonidas Kavakos, v.; Pierre Boulez, cond.)

The date was August 9, 1965; the place, Shaker Heights. And what might have been an ordinary groundbreaking ceremony was enlivened by an impressive bit of showmanship, as a helicopter swooped in, delivering an elderly, tuxedoed gentleman to the site. The special guest was one of the world's most renowned architects: Walter Gropius. And the project he was working on was Tower East, the office building that stands at the intersection of Northfield, Warrensville Center, and Chagrin Boulevard.

Gropius was nearing the end of a fascinating life: founder of the Bauhaus School, husband of Alma Mahler, key contributor to buildings ranging from the Faguswerk to New York City's Pan-Am Building. He had experienced tragedy as well: notably the loss of his eighteen-year-old daughter Manon to polio. Manon's friend Alban Berg responded to her death with his Violin Concerto, dedicated "To the memory of an angel" and performed at this weekend's Cleveland Orchestra concerts by a skilled young soloist—Leonidas Kavakos—and one of Berg's best conductors, Pierre Boulez.

An embarrassment of riches, to be sure. And yet Thursday evening's performance was vaguely unsatisfying, in part because of the imperfect chemistry between Kavakos and Boulez. Perhaps thanks to its underlying intellectual rigor, the Berg Violin Concerto can bear—and even benefit from—expressive extremes that might sound faintly ludicrous in performances of lesser music. An actor can similarly push the emotional envelope in the last couple acts of King Lear in ways that would seem grotesque in a soap opera. Moreover, a fairly demonstrative approach to the concerto's solo part can contrast nicely with Boulez' carefully calibrated accompaniment, as the conductor's recording with Pinchas Zukerman proves. But Kavakos' music-making was neither sufficiently pellucid to blend with Boulez nor intense enough to stand out against him. From the work's opening bars, Kavakos seemed too eager to settle into producing a generically attractive tone. Near the beginning of the Allegretto, in a passage Berg marks "Rustico," Kavakos sounded about as countrified as John Lithgow. Even when he started to loosen up in the movement's second trio section, there was something over calculated about his playing. This was a perfectly listenable, attractive version of Berg's concerto. But the best performances of this work leave you emotionally exhausted—and I didn't feel even slightly fatigued.

Schoenberg's Pelleas and Melisande and Anton Webern's arrangement of the six-part Ricercar from Bach's Musical Offering were far better served at Thursday evening's concert. Boulez brought a particularly striking clarity of texture to Schoenberg's massive and dense tone poem. When you go to hear Boulez, you're sure to be surprised at some of the details you'll hear in music you thought you knew well. And you might feel a bit like you do when you realize you've driven down Chagrin Boulevard a thousand times without ever noticing you were passing the handiwork of Walter Gropius.

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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