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Ja, ja, English would be the best

Saturday, September 25, 2004
Donald Rosenberg
Plain Dealer Music Critic

Orchestras don't really get down to business at the start of a season until they've dispensed with fancy opening-night festivities and entered the realm of serious music-making minus martinis and salmon en croute.

The main, and only, course on the Cleveland Or chestra's first subscription program this week at Severance Hall is Mendelssohn's meaty oratorio, "Elijah," which can be a genuine event when the artistic stars are in alignment. Thursday's performance was an event with a capital "E" when German bass-baritone Thomas Quasthoff filled the title role with his special brand of eloquence and power, and when the Cleveland Orchestra Chorus lavished corporate splendor on some of Mendelssohn's richest choral writing.

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The performance was led by Franz Welser-MÖst, starting his third year as music director, whose tradition of opening and closing Severance Hall seasons with choral works is a welcome means of exploring music of mass (and massed) appeal.

First, let's get an oratorio-size caveat out of the way. Nowhere in advance materials or ads did the orchestra note that Welser-MÖst would be conducting Mendelssohn's "Elias" (in German) instead of Mendelssohn's "Elijah" (in English). This is no irrelevant matter. Mendelssohn composed the oratorio to an English text translated from German verses drawn from the Old Testament. And he conducted the work's 1846 premiere in Birmingham, England, in English, the language of the audience.

There is little justification, then, for this week's performances (the final one is at 8:30 tonight) to be sung in German. If Welser-MÖst were leading the piece in Vienna, Berlin or Zurich, it would be natural to employ the language most listeners know best. At Severance, forgoing the original English version is a missed opportunity, especially with three soloists whose mother tongue is you-know-what.

The use of German this week was a nod to the German-speaking Quasthoff, a magnificent artist whether the texts have umlauts or not. But why? He sings beautifully in English. Ah, well. He certainly sounded ravishing Thursday in German, bringing the words to vivid life and instilling every phrase with expressive meaning.

Is there any limit to what Quasthoff can achieve with that sonorous, chameleonlike voice? As Elijah, he stormed boldly when the prophet faces immoral spiritual forces and caressed the world-weary lines. A bit more tenderness might have enhanced the lyrical glow of "Herr Gott Abrahams" ("Lord God of Abraham"), but Quasthoff mostly was a towering artistic presence.

None of the other soloists in "Elijah" sorry, "Elias" has nearly as much to do. But British tenor John Mark Ainsley, so wonderful last season in Britten's "A War Requiem," was magnificent in his duties as Obadiah and Ahab. He shaped lines with fervent sensitivity, finding specific colors for each verbal gesture.

The women were less effective. American soprano Janice Chandler-Eteme sang with customary brightness and flexibility as the Widow and an Angel, if sometimes in a style too slender to flesh out the music. In the roles of an Angel and the Queen, Canadian mezzo-soprano Susan Platts illuminated soft phrases but tended to come up short when focused drama was necessary.

Much of the performance's glory emanated from Robert Porco's Cleveland Orchestra Chorus, which fared vibrantly whether Mendelssohn asked for vehemence or poetic grace. The choristers enunciated the German with fierce conviction and made sure that details were clear. Only in the smaller ensembles did pitch need greater purity.

Welser-MÖst's affection for choral repertoire was evident in the smooth assurance he brought to the oratorio. Were some tempos too fleet to let the weight of Mendelssohn's ideas settle? Maybe, but the score was conducted with care. It also was played with ample finesse by the orchestra, which will be highlighted more extensively as the new season proceeds.

Mostly in music for which neither German nor English is required.

To reach this Plain Dealer reporter:

drosenberg@plaind.com,

216-999-4269


© 2004 The Plain Dealer. Used with permission.
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© 2004 The Plain Dealer. Used with permission.
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