Avery Fisher Hall, Lincoln Center, N.Y.; JULY 13, 2011
At the first concert of its Bruckner: (R)evolution series at the Lincoln Center Festival, The Cleveland Orchestra on Wednesday evening presented John Adams’ Guide to Strange Places and Anton Bruckner’s Symphony No. 5.
Guide to Strange Places is, at over 22 minutes, one of the John Adams’ longest single-movement orchestral works. Written in 2001, it eschews the quasi-melodic and neo-romantic qualities of his earlier work (most notably Harmonium and Harmonielehre), adopting instead a rhythm-as-motif principle. The piece opened with frenetic driving rhythms on the strings that became increasingly syncopated and complex and as other instrumental sections joined in — with trademark Adams’ sounds: tuba blasts, muted-trumpet squawks, bells, chimes, marimba, wood block and honky-tonk piano.
A slower middle section gave a brief respite, with spare textures and halting rhythms conjuring Stravinsky (through Bernstein). The return to the hustle and bustle brought echoes of Messiaen’s Turangalila in the rapidly descending string clusters, punchy brass, and insistent wood block. The music then completely discarded tonality in violent brass and percussion flourishes reminiscent of Webern and Varèse, only to reclaim it — if only in a fractured way as broken trombone chords heralded the work’s conclusion. The effect was startling — giving the impression of a tugboat trying to ward off a ship as it slowly, but inexorably veered towards a collision. (The last, harmonically unresolved tuba blast left it unclear as to the outcome.)
Franz Welser-Möst led a bracing account of Adams’ score, maintaining firm control as he guided the orchestra through the work’s multi-layered rhythmic complexities and continuous shifts in meter. The Cleveland Orchestra met the music’s considerable challenges with virtuoso skill. This, along with the music’s arresting close, generated excitement in the audience, which roared its approval at the end, with the composer appearing onstage to accept the applause.
The Bruckner Fifth Symphony, which followed after the intermission, proved to be an apt coupling. This work, too, is filled with unexpected harmonic juxtapositions and sudden dynamic extremes. Although Bruckner’s range of orchestral color was smaller, and less varied than the modern Adams, the piece nonetheless titillate’s the ear with instrumental effects, especially in the brass. There are many similarities with Haydn in this work, from the musical humor, right down to the use of Bach-like chorales. Welser-Möst was keenly attuned to these attributes, and played them up in his very classical-styled performance, which featured light textures, quick tempos, and rounded-off phrases in the Viennese manner. All of this gave the music a welcome vitality and forward momentum.
Welser-Möst also balanced the brass within the orchestral fabric, cultivating a beautiful, organ-like sound that reflected Bruckner’s mastery on that instrument. The Cleveland musicians once again showed off their stunning musical prowess: rich, silken strings in the Adagio, dancing, spiky woodwinds in the scherzo, and rich, regal brass in majestic finale’s closing bars, which here sounded glorious. The audience response was joyous and sustained.
Victor Carr Jr
