OT: Cleveland travel info

[Roland Flessner]

I have tickets to the Cleveland Orchestra next weekend, and the person in the area I was going to visit had to bail. Has anyone been to Severance Hall? Can you offer suggestions for an out-of-towner, such as lodging in good areas of town? How's parking, and would it be better to take a cab if, like me, you're unfamiliar with the area?

The program features the Dvorak Cello Concerto and Tchaikovsky S6, with Herbert Blomstedt conducting. I like pretty much all the recordings by him that I've heard.

Any suggestions are appreciated. Thanks.

[barry guerrero]

I've never been to Cleveland, but Severance Hall is right across Euclid Ave. from Case Western Reserve University. I'm sure if you were to look up Case Western online, you'd find tons of suggestions for accommodations, etc.  Also, there must be lots of buses that run right along Euclid Ave. Thus, you might not have to rely on driving or taking cabs. Have fun. I've always wanted to go to Cleveland.

Barry

[barry guerrero]

I don't mean to be 'nosy' but I'm wanting to know how the Cleveland trip went (?). I want to visit Severance Hall someday myself.

[Roland Flessner]

The concert was excellent, and I was impressed with Severance Hall. I would put it a notch or two below my favorites (Dallas, Minneapolis, St. Louis, the Krannert Center at U of I Champaign/Urbana), but ANYTHING sounds better than Orchestra Hall here in Chicago. The sound had a tendency to blare, but only in the loudest passages in the Tchaikovsky. Generally it was transparent and well balanced.

Soloist for the Dvorak was principal cellist Mark Kasower. He seemed to have few frogs in his cello on Saturday, but I don't think that's characteristic of his playing, especially judging by the Naxos CD I bought with him playing both concerti by Ginastera (with the Bamberg Symphony).

Blomstedt was impressive in both pieces. In the Tchaikovsky, first movement, bar 160, the score has the clarinet playing four descending notes, with four more played by the bassoon (the clarinet being out of range). I'm not sure I've ever heard a recording where a bass clarinet was not substituted for the bassoon, but Blomstedt used the bassoon. In a way, the bass clarinet is logical, but I also like to hear it the way Tchaikovsky wrote it. A small point, but worth mentioning.

Blomstedt turns 87 in July. He does not appear to have conducted the CSO here in Chicago in decades.

I stayed in a motel in the western part of the metro area. At least one hotel is within walking distance of Severance, and I would consider that next time around. Some sections of the city are run down, but the Case Western Reserve U campus looks OK.

[barry guerrero]

It's funny, but I think something that I had halfheartedly predicted has come true: a greater appreciation of Herbert Blomstedt here in S.F. I'm not trying to knock Tilson-Thomas, but I think the orchestra did itself no favors by spreading rumors that Blomstedt wasn't all that great. In truth, they didn't like playing under him because he actually made them work, and wouldn't let them out of rehearsals early, etc. In other words, he's a bit demanding with them. Sometimes orchestras don't like that. Regardless, they ended up hurting only themselves because audiences love the work he does here in standard Austro-German and Scandinavian music. And even the hack critic for the local rag - who happens to be a huge modern music and MTT fan - can't deny how well he's been doing here lately. Often times things do come full circle.

And by the way, since MTT was made chief conductor here in S.F., no other conductor or orchestra has been permitted to do Mahler here. Seriously. All non MTT/SFSO Mahler has to be done across the bay in Berkeley. If any any one thinks I'm exaggerating, they can check the programs of all SFSO concerts - as well as the programs for ALL guest orchestra appearances - since MTT was made music director here years ago. Das ist in Baghdad von der Bucht verboten.

[Roland Flessner]

MTT made a big splash when he arrived on the scene, but I'm not generally a big fan of his recordings after the early years. Although, his LSO/RCA remake of "The Rite of Spring" improves on the (impressive) BSO/DG in every way. I have never been a fan of his Mahler, and the only recording I own in the SF series is M6. I've never liked it, but it has yet to land on the out stack.

Conductors like Blomstedt do excellent work, but don't aspire to superstar status even if their performances/recordings deserve it. His Beethoven set from Dresden (Brilliant Classics) is very solid, and an incredible bargain. His Bruckner 4 from SF is the only recording I've heard that equals, perhaps surpasses, Bohm/VPO for horns that really peal forth in the Scherzo.

Also, it seems to me that orchestras often have their preferred roster of guest conductors and don't like to think outside the box. I've heard Stanislav Skrowaczewski three times in Minneapolis, all superb concerts, but I don't think he's been here in Chicago for many years.

OOT, I decided to hear the CSO tonight in a program of American music with Leonard Slatkin (Barber School for Scandal overture, William Schuman S6, a new violin concerto by Mason Bates, and An American in Paris). I like the Barber, the Bates is sort of fun but I think overextends its thin material, and the Schuman was by far the most interesting piece on the program. The Gershwin I don't need to hear more than once a decade or so.

My enthusiasm for Slatkin has grown in recent years. He stepped in a few years ago on short notice to do an M6 here. I had low expectations, but it was excellent in every way. I buy the RCA/St. Louis recordings as I stumble across them, and it's an impressive body of work. Most surprisingly of all, tonight he made Orchestra Hall sound good, something few conductors can manage. He presents a lot of neglected repertoire, especially American music.

[barry guerrero]

" I buy the RCA/St. Louis recordings as I stumble across them, and it's an impressive body of work"

Indeed. He did a great job in St. Louis. It must have been fun to hear so much interesting repertoire that seldom gets played anywhere else.  I really don't understand the constant bashing of him. He seems to be doing really well in Detroit these days. I think the new Rachmaninoff recordings from there are sensational.

I think a big part of the problem in evaluating Slatikin's RCA recordings is that they were recorded at lower levels than normal. Most people don't turn up the volume further to compensate. Low level recordings will sound dull if you don't turn them up. I keep hammering that point home with various people. I've noticed that people who listen to lots of older, 'historical' recordings have problems in adjusting to them.