Cleveland Orchestra’s Fridays@7: A Hit

I have to admit (in the most gudging way) that the Cleveland Orchestra’s Fridays@7 concerts appear to be a success, at least by observable standards.  I attended the second of this season’s series on November 20.  Virtually every seat was full and there was a sense of excitement that is normally missing with the usual gray-hair crowd that populates the regular Friday night concerts.  The average age of the audience member was considerably younger, and they were well behaved and attentive.

The scheme of the Fridays@7 concerts is that there is an early start time (7:00 PM),  a straight-through, without intermission concert by the Cleveland Orchestra for about 75 minutes, followed by a party in the main lobby with cash bar and informal “world” music and lots of schmoozing.

British conductor Jonathan Nott was the guest conductor this weekend. The opening set included Dvorak’s Cello Concerto with former Clevelander Alisa Weilerstein as the soloist. She gave a lovely performance.  The second work on the program was Richard Strauss’s tone poem Also sprach Zarathustra, known most notoriously as the main theme from Stanley Kubrick’s film 2001: A Space Odyssey, a fact which did not escape one of my fellow concert goers sitting near me; during the opening bars, in full voice he said, “That’s 2001!”  There is, of course, another thirty minutes.  I was reminded how many of the amazing orchestral techniques that Strauss used in Zarathustra that he later recycled in other works.  (I think especially of the long passages for low strings that later play such a role in Salome.)  The work has thrilling climaxes but ends inconclusively.

After the main part of the concert, those who wished (which seemed to be a large portion of the audience) adjourned to the lobby for another session of music “curated” by percussionist Jamey Haddad.  It was very crowded at first, but the crowd thinned out after while to make a more comfortable setting.  Ms. Weilerstein joined the ensemble for works by Astor Piazzolla, Bill Evans and others.

The evening had the feel of great novelty.  It remains to be seen if the format can be sustained over time.  I have doubts without someone creating very imaginative secondary programming that will continue the novelty.  For now, however, the Cleveland Orchestra appears to have a hit.

L’Albatros Brasserie/Bar in Cleveland

When a new restaurant replaces a thirty year beloved landmark, it often has a challenge.  Such is the case with l’Albatros in University Circle, Cleveland.  It has taken over space in an old carriage house on Bellflower Road formerly occupied by That Place on Bellflower, a fixture for over 30 years.  When restauranteur Isabella Basile decided (at advanced age) to retire from the business last year, there was great trepidation among the University Circle locals (who depended upon That Place on Bellflower for important business and “special occasion” lunches and dinners).

Then it became  known that Zachary Bruell, known in Cleveland for his Table 45 restaurant at the Cleveland Clinic Intercontinental Hotel on Carnegie Avenue.  Table 45 had been well received, so things looked good for his new restaurant, l’Albatros, in University Circle, which opened several months ago.

I’ve now had lunch there twice (no dinners yet, although I look forward to it) and I am happy to recommend it.  l’Albatros is a brasserie in the classic French tradition, with such traditional dishes as cassoulet (that baked bean on steriods dish), French onion soup, steak/frites, even a croque monsieur sandwich.  (Yes, you can get a burger, if you want it.)  There are vegetarian selections as well as several pizzas and tarts. There is an inviting assortment of starters and salads, and desserts are interesting/classic as well. There is a soup that is different each day.  The service is attentive, but not intrusive.  The young people who are the servers are friendly and attractive.

On my first visit I started with a beautifully seasoned leek and potato soup, then chose a classic salade frisée aux lardons (that curly frisée lettuce with sauteed thick “sticks” of bacon and a garlicky dijon vinaigrette dressing) with a piece of roasted pork belly and a poached egg topping the salad.  (Get out your copies of Julia Child’s Mastering the Art of French Cooking or The French Chef Cookbook for more information about the classic versions of the dishes.)  My dining companion on this visit had a goat cheese tart with olives and dried tomatoes.  It was small, but looked delicious.  (As Americans we get used to large portions, but sometimes a small amount of something delicious is better than a plateful of something….. well, not delicious.)

For my second lunch a week or so later I started with a cauliflower bisque, which was well-seasoned and delicious, but was a bit thinner than I might have expected for a preparation described as a “bisque.”  (I could recommend even it to those who don’t like cauliflower–it was not obviously a cruciferous vegetable inhabiting this soup.)  Then as the main I had a sausage platter with potatoes mousseline: what the Brits would more indelicately call bangers and mash.  There was a nice selection of three moist, fat sausages, two sweet and one smoked. The pureed potoates were served with a garnish of pickled red onions and arugula, with a bit of sweet and sour sauce as a base in the dish.

I am a sucker for chocolate brownies, so I confess to having the same dessert twice: a warm chocolate brownie crammed with walnuts, with a scoop of vanilla on top, served over a dab of crème anglaise.  Someday I’ll try something new.

I have eaten at Table 45, and I can say without hesitation that I prefer l’Albatros, not because of any fault with Table 45, but I just prefer the French menu.

Those who know me well are aware that I am a life member of Weight Watchers, who has managed to keep his weight in check for over three years.  I hasten to point out that most of the dishes on l’Albatros’s menu are sky high with WW points.  So make this a special once-in-a-while special destination, and choose carefully.  (On my second visit I was having food therapy, so I make no apologies.  I’m back on the wagon.)

Get the Rosenberg lawsuit text

Thanks to The New Yorker, you can download the complete text (PDF) of Don Rosenberg’s lawsuit against the Plain Dealer, the Musical Arts Association and various and sundry individuals.  I’ve not made my way through it yet, but his alleged hurts are grievous.

The Rosenberg saga continues: lawsuit

I’ve been away on business for most of the last week, so haven’t been posting, or even keeping up much with the news, so I’m late to the game with the latest of the Donald Rosenberg/Cleveland Orchestra saga.  You will remember that Rosenberg was the Cleveland Plain Dealer music critic who covered the Cleveland Orchestra for years.  This Fall he was  reassigned by the PD editor Susan Goldberg to general arts reporting, and the plum orchestra assignment was awarded to Zachary Lewis, a former intern.  There has been general speculation that Rosenberg was reassigned because of his relentlessly negative writing about the performances of the orchestra’s music director, Franz Welser-Möst.

On December 11, both the Plain Dealer and Daniel Wakin in the  New York Times reported that Rosenberg has now filed a lawsuit against the management of the Cleveland Orchestra, the Musical Arts Association (the orchestra’s parent organization), and the Plain Dealer for defamation, as well as age discrimination.  He is asking at least $50,000 in punitive damages.  He claims that the orchestra has a vendetta against him because of his reviews.  It should be noted that Rosenberg is the author of the definitive history of the Cleveland Orchestra.

As one might expect, a lawyer for the orchestra made some comments in defense:

“It’s a funny grievance coming from a lifetime reporter, that the people that he writes about have an obligation to stay silent,” said Robert Duvin, a lawyer for the orchestra. “We don’t have the same platform, so what we have to do is write letters or have meetings. You guys get to publish every day, and bring the hammer down as often as you want to on anybody you want to.”

Mr. Duvin said he could not address the specifics of Mr. Rosenberg’s lawsuit. But assuming it were true that orchestra officials had urged his dismissal, he said, “So what?”

“I consider what he wrote to be the equivalent of urging the removal of the music director of the Cleveland Orchestra,” Mr. Duvin said. “There are many people who considered his relentless negative assessment, when contrasted with worldwide praise, to be personal, petty and vindictive.”

This seems, frankly, like quite a clever money grab on Rosenberg’s part: the $50K damages sought is a small enough amount that it will be cheaper for the PD and Orchestra to settle and shut him up, no matter how trivial the complaint, despite the fact that he would be unlikely to prevail in court.  It is an employer’s prerogative to reassign an employee to new tasks for any reason, or no reason at all.  In fact, in the current economic climate, one might speculate that a second music and arts critic at the Plain Dealer is lucky to still have any job.  Rosenberg claims that his right of free speech has been curtailed.  Not really–again, as an employee–especially as a critic–for the Plain Dealer, he is subject to whatever the editorial policies that the newspaper deems appropriate.   He may think that he will embarrass the Orchestra, but, in fact, he only diminishes his own stature by this trivial and petty action.

There is also a feature story in the December 2008  Gramophone magazine, the U.K. music journal about the Rosernberg matter.  (Sorry, it doesn’t seem to be available online.) The article has quite a balanced review of the events to date, and notes that the fact that the reviews by Zachary Lewis this season have also contained negative remarks, which leads one to believe that the PD editor did have other reasons for reassigning Rosenberg.  It is ironic that it is the same issue that includes an article listing the Cleveland Orchestra among the top 20 orchestras in the world.

My cultural weekend continues: Jonathan Moyer plays Messiaen’s “Livre du Saint Sacrement”

My weekend musical bonanza continued this afternoon with an outstanding performance of Olivier Messiaen’s “Livre du Saint Sacrement” performed at the Church of the Covenant in Cleveland by Jonathan William Moyer, the church’s new organist and music director.  The performance was give in honor of the hundredth anniversary of Messiaen’s birth.  Moyer is a doctoral candidate at the Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore and will be performing the work there next week, so this was the out-of-town try-out on the Covenant’s large Aeolian-Skinner organ.  The organ sounded better than usual today; I noticed a large pile of red upholstered pew cushions in the corner–if they were banished permanently, that’s a good thing for the usually dry acoustics in the church.  Messiaen’s organ music sounds best in a reverberant room.

“Livre du Saint Sacrement” is a daunting work in eighteen movements lasting a bit over two hours.  The composer indicates an optional intermission following the eleventh movement, which Moyer observed.  His performance was clear, cleanly played (if perhaps a bit conservative in tempos at times.)  The organ worked surprising well with Messiaen’s registrational instructions.  The notated birdsongs sang out not just from the chancel organ in the front, but sometimes from the antiphonal organ in the back of the church.

There was an unfortunately small audience—I’m guessing mostly Church of the Covenant members.  Several whom I spoke to indicated that the organist had “coached” them in what to expect, with a lecture and film about Messiaen, and very complete program notes.  (I had the benefit of my own copy of the score to follow, but the notes were also very helpful.)

The Church of the Covenant has made a good choice in their new organist, who must have had a bit of trepidation in following the very popular and brilliantly talented Todd Wilson who was in the position for most of the past twenty years.  But Jonathan Moyer acquitted himself admirably today.

Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir and Tallinn Chamber Orchestra in Cleveland

I turned in my tickets for the Cleveland Orchestra concert on Friday night (Herbert Blomstedt conducting the Beethoven “Eroica” Symphony) in order to hear the Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir and the Tallinn Chamber Orchestra, conducted by Tonu Kaljuste, at the Cathedral of St. John in downtown Cleveland.  I made the right choice.

I have several recordings of the Estonian choir, notably music by fellow Estonian Veljo Tormis, but also a landmark recording of the Rachmaninov “All Night Vespers,” so I knew that they were good, but their performance was nothing short of phenomenal, with laser-like precision in sound and intonation.  The Estonians make John Rutter’s Cambridge Singers and other famous choruses sound as if they are singing quarter-tone music.  What was downright eerie was that the Estonians did not seem to be working very hard to do what they were doing.  The discipline required cannot be underestimated.

The Estonian group has recorded  much of the choral music by Arvo Pärt (probably the Estonian composer best known in the West), and the first half of this program was devoted to Pärt’s music.  Only one of the works, “Da pacem Domine,” has been recorded.  The find of this program was Pärt’s 2004-2005 work “L’Abbe Agathon,” a musical parable about an abbot who encounters a leper and demonstrates Christian charity.  Sung in French, it was very moving. A soprano soloist sang the role of the leper, and a baritone soloist was the abbot.  The choir were corporate narrators (in much the same way that the chorus is the narrator in Pärt’s “St. John Passion.”)

The second half opened with an instrumental work by Erkki-Sven Tüür, “Action, Passion, Illusion,” which was also striking, especially the central “Passion” movement, which moved from low string polyphony upward through the string orchestra, ending in an unsettling high string cluster.

The remainder of the program was devoted to Antonio Vivaldi’s setting of Psalm 112, “Beatus vir” for strings, continuo, soloists and choir.  The virtuoso soloists were all drawn from the choir.

As I’ve written before here, I think that there are in general too many standing ovations in Cleveland, but this is one concert that I can honestly and vigorously say deserved the ovation the performers received.  The audience was rewarded with an encore, a meltingly beautiful arrangement of an Estonian Christmas carol, mostly for women’s voices with strings, but in the end with the men humming along on the tune.

This concert has to be considered one of the top concerts of this season.  Cathedral music director Greg Heislman is to be congratulated and thanked for bringing the Estonians.  (The concert was also co-sponsored by the Cleveland Chapter of the American Guild of Organists.)

Twenty-five years at Euclid Avenue Congregational Church

On Sunday, November 2, 2008, I celebrated twenty-five years as Director of Music at Euclid Avenue Congregational Church of the United Church of Christ, in Cleveland, Ohio.  I began there (as Interim Director) on November 1, 1983.  During that time I have survived three permanent ministers, at least that many interim ministers, associate pastors, directors of Christian Education, secretaries, and custodians.  What better way to celebrate than to give a recital?  You can download the program. (PDF).  (Audio samples forthcoming)

The church publicity committee did a good job of getting the word out, and there were between 75 and 100 people present, including  a fair number that I didn’t recognize, and some friends whom I would not have expected to see.

I am never fully satisfied with my own playing, but it went reasonably well.  There are always things to improve.  George turned pages for me and pulled stops in several of the pieces, especially the Messiaen “Apparition”. It is (I think) more nerve-wracking to turn pages and pull stops than it is to perform.  But he was very confident and things came off without a hitch.

After the concert there was a lovely reception in the church parlor, with spoken tributes by several people.  I am pleased to say that the church is taking up an “anniversary collection” on my behalf that will be used for scholarships for persons wishing to study organ.  It is a wonderful idea–much better than a gift to me; I have more than enough of my own.  The church also commissioned a quite amusing iron sculpture that is a caricature of me playing the organ and conducting at the same time.  Everyone should have a statue!  I may not have an Oscar, but I still have a statue.

Voting Complete! You should vote early, too!

I took the afternoon off work today to go to my doctor’s office to get my flu shot (about five minutes, in and out), and then to go downtown Cleveland to the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections to vote in the general election. I have had visions of huge lines at my regular polling place on E. 79th Street, where they are, shall we say, not fantastically competent. (I always have trouble getting them to understand my name, even when I spell it: it’s ROBSON, not Roberson, not Robison, not Robinson. Why is it so hard?)

Anyway, the Board of Elections was a model of competence. (A characterization that it has not always been possible to make.) There was a large number of people waiting to vote, but the line moved very quickly and everything was well-organized. The employees were all unfailingly pleasant and friendly, and they gave good instructions to each voter. They give each person a clipboard with the ballot envelope attached, which each person fills out with name, address, and vital statistics. When you get to the front of the line, you hand that clipboard to the clerk, who looks up your information in their database. You’re given another piece of paper to sign, and then the clerk goes to the back to get the ballot (two back-to-back legal size sheets of heavy paper, with fill-in-the-dots). The ballot is massive, which justified my reason to go to early voting. It took me a good ten minutes to complete filling in the dots on the ballot, and I ready quickly and I was familiar with the issues. I predict disasters at the polls on November 4, and I encourage all who can to vote early.

AGO Organ Spectacular in Cleveland

Today was the self-proclaimed American Guild of Organists “Organ Spectacular,” the “world’s largest organ recital” with events going on all over the world to promote the organ as the King of Instruments.    Cleveland’s all-afternoon event was at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Cleveland Heights, where Karel Paukert has been the organist/director of music for almost thirty years, and where they have three pipe organs: a classic Walter Holtkamp, Sr., instrument from 1952 (with some later mechanical updates to add couplers and a modern combination action); in the balcony a 1986 Hradetzky mechanical action in the Italian style; and a Baroque style positive organ by Vladimír Slajch.

There were demonstrations on the three organs, followed by “mini-recitals” by three locals (Linda Gardner, playing Stephen Paulus’s “Blithely breezing along”, commissioned by the AGO for the event; Horst Buchholz, new director of music for Trinity Episcopal Cathedral in Cleveland, improvising first on Marian themes, and then on “Hyfrydol”, a tune submitted by an audience member; and Jonathan Moyer, new director of music at the Church of Covenant, in music by Bach and selections from Messiaen’s “Messe de la Pentecôte”) and the Mr. Paukert played a concert of music using the organ in an ensemble context, with works by Froberger and Zipoli (on the Hradetzky organ); Donald Erb (with handbells and wine glasses); an improvisation on a tune by Sigur Ros; Peter Eben (his beautiful “Song of Ruth” with mezzo Irene Roberts; and Karg Elert’s striking Third Symphonic Canzona, op. 85, no. 3 for organ, violin solo and female voices.

The afternoon ended with Evensong performed by the Senior Choir of St. Paul’s, conducted by Steven Plank and played by Mr. Paukert. As the closing voluntary, Mr. Paukert played Messiaen’s “Apparition of the Eternal Church.” After the climax of the piece and as it was coming to it’s quiet conclusion, the priest in the chapel adjoining the church’s nave began the Great Thanksgiving for the Eucharist that followed Evensong, and the the church’s carillon began to play.  It was an arresting moment that Messiaen himself might have appreciated.

Some of the highlights: Buchholz’s improvisation on “Hyfrydol” in the style of (you choose) Max Reger or Karg-Elert (I confess that German Romantic was not precisely the style that would have immediately come to mind; Moyer’s Messiaen; the Eben “Song of Ruth”; Paukert’s hymn improvisations.

There were also exhibits about the organ, an excellent program booklet, propaganda from the AGO, refreshments.  There was also a good crowd through the long afternoon.

Remembrance of Things Past: Turning Pages for Messiaen

Yvonne Loriod and Olivier Messiaen sign autographs at the Cleveland Museum of Art

There are some events that you remember for the rest of your life. One of those occurred for me almost exactly 30 years ago, October 13, 1978, when Olivier Messiaen and his wife Yvonne Loriod played a concert at the Cleveland Museum of Art.  I was living on Long Island at the time, but my friend Bruce Shewitz, who was working in the Musical Arts Department of the museum at the time, asked me if I wanted to come back for the concert.  Not only that, would I be interested in turning pages for the major work on the second half of the program, Messiaen’s “Visions de l’Amen” for two pianos, which Messiaen and Loriod would perform together.  Loriod played Debussy and solo Messiaen (excerpts from “Vingt regards”) on the first half.

Bruce turned for Loriod; I turned for Messiaen.  We met briefly prior to the beginning of the concert, Messiaen showed me his tattered score of “Visions.”  He did not speak English, and my French was rudimentary at best.  But he was cordial.

The performance went off without a hitch, despite my terror of making a mistake.  I confess that during the last movement I became lost in the very repetitive music, but the composer carried on. (It was a work that I had heard before, but I had never seen the score before.)  About midway through the performance of the 45-minute work, I looked down at the piano keyboard and saw smudges on the keys which I almost immediately determined to be blood.  Messiaen had cut himself on the keyboard while he was playing.  But he didn’t miss a note.

After the concert, we were in the green room behind the stage, and the composer disappeared.  Karel Paukert, Curator of Music and host of the event, went looking for Messiaen and found him, with a damp paper towel, back out on the stage cleaning the blood off the piano keys.  Messiaen’s comment was, “It’s a good thing my wife didn’t see it, because she would have stopped the performance.”  Lucky for all of us.

After the backstage congratulations and greetings (and clean-up), Messiaen and Loriod spent time in the museum lobby signing autographs.  He signed my program, “with thanks to the page turner.”  There were pictures taken, which you see above.  The Messiaens are seated with their backs to the camera.  I am at the far right, with the light-colored suit (and considerably more hair than I have today).  Bruce is to my left.  Karel Paukert is kneeling in front of Loriod and in the center is Paukert’s (now former) wife Noriko.  The only other person I recognize in the picture is (I think) the organ builder Charles Ruggles (with the bald head and beard.)

It seems hard to believe that this was thirty years ago, for Messiaen’s 70th birthday tribute.  This year we celebrate his 100th anniversary.  On November 2nd, I’ll be playing a recital at my church (Euclid Avenue Congregational Church in Cleveland) including three of Messiaen’s more austere organ works in his memory and honor: Apparition de l’Église Éternelle, Monodie, and Chants d’oiseaux (from Livre d’Orgue).