SEEN AND HEARD INTERNATIONAL

Berg: Lulu Suite (1929-1934)

Beethoven: Symphony No. 3 in E-flat Major, Op. 55, “Eroica” (1803)

 

The venerable Cleveland Orchestra has renewed conductor Franz Welser-Möst’s contract through 2018, which makes me very happy. His chemistry with the players seems tight, and they’ve given some memorable concerts together in the last few seasons, often exploring some unusual repertoire. Still, this outing at Carnegie Hall, satisfying as it was, yielded some of the puzzlement that seems to occasionally frame his work with this estimable ensemble.

 

The Beethoven bookends, the Coriolan Overture and the Third Symphony, had plenty of drive, but sounded as if their rough edges had been sanded away, leaving delicious sounds but not enough sinew. The subject of the overture is Coriolanus, the Roman leader whose intent to destroy his city was only stopped when his mother intervened. The music is tough, forceful and (arguably) angry—but not quite here, where a more genial tone prevailed. Nevertheless, the orchestral execution was beyond praise, with impressively clean cut-offs that made the most of the hall’s resonance.

 

For better or worse, the Eroica had no surprises. Nevertheless, the stormy first movement brought out the best in the orchestra’s strings, which Welser-Möst sometimes led with the slightest motion of an index finger. The second movement funeral march was one of the high points of the entire evening—elegant and sad, yet (as a friend remarked) stoked with defiance. The double basses had the lion’s share of glory here, anchoring the movement with gravitas. Tricky syncopations in the third movement only reaffirmed these musicians’ aplomb, and the finale, exuberantly dispatched, drew bravos at the end, with many in the audience standing.

 

In between, soprano Erin Morley joined the group for Berg’s tense distillation of scenes from Lulu, given a sensuous gloss by Welser-Möst. In the second movement ostinato, the huge chunks of sound made me imagine giant boulders being tossed around like ping pong balls. Ms. Morley, a member of the Metropolitan Opera Lindemann Young Artist Development Program, sang the middle “Lulu’s Song,” and navigated Berg’s fearsome leaps without blinking an eye.

 

Bruce Hodges