United States López Ballido, Elgar, Walton: Sol Gabetta (cello), Thomas Hampson (baritone), Cleveland Orchestra Refrain (refrain director: Lisa Wong), Cleveland Orchestra / Klaus Mäkelä (conductor). Mandel Live performance Corridor at Severance Music Heart, Cleveland, 13.4.2024. (MSJ)

Jimmy López Ballido – Perú negro
Elgar – Cello Concerto in E minor, Op.85
Walton – Belshazzar’s Feast

Generally, surprising applications have a buried theme that ties them collectively – and a few don’t. Apart from pure distinction, I can not consider a motive to sandwich Elgar’s poignant Cello Concerto between the scorching Perú negro by López Ballido and Walton’s flashy Belshazzar’s Feast, however that doesn’t diminish these high-voltage performances.

The thrilling discovery of the night time was the comparatively latest work by Jimmy López Ballido, a composer from Peru. This piece was no throwaway opener: it was a difficult and thrilling danse macabre, solely the darkness was not hokey scares however slightly the implied weight of tragedy and historical past. It feels one thing like a cross between Ravel’s spiraling La valse with African and indigenous South American folks music. Visitor conductor Klaus Mäkelä should have began it with a visible cue to the horns, as a result of he made no motion earlier than the opening fanfares began in the back of the orchestra.

Because the work cycles by means of more and more quick and complicated dances, there are arresting rhythms and memorable melodic figurations, however the composer averted giving us a stereotypical travelogue piece by jaggedly digging into textures that challenged the gamers to maintain on their toes. In that sense, it’s a formidable orchestral showpiece, and the Clevelanders relished it. Mäkelä directed along with his typical buoyant physicality, and I do need to take exception with those that bemoan his leaping about on the rostrum. Is all of it completely vital? Most likely not, however I’ve watched lots of demonstrative conductors through the years, and I’ve seen many who make grand, elaborate gestures that appear to have nothing by any means to do with the sound of the efficiency happening. That doesn’t occur with Mäkelä. His gestures could also be massive, however they straight correspond to the ensuing sound that the orchestra makes.

In the course of the preliminary discovery of this younger conductor, he acquired raves, and the hype machines cranked up. Now we’re within the predictable backlash the place folks nitpick, in search of any excuse to knock the lately elevated idol down. Along with his upgrades as director-designate of each the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra of Amsterdam and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Mäkelä is susceptible to assault. I’ve definitely heard performances of his that I didn’t take care of, however I’ve additionally heard good ones. He won’t ever measure as much as the hype (nobody ever does), however make no mistake, he’s an actual conductor and one who could make the sparks fly, as they most definitely did in Perú negro. The work is a potent brew, and Mäkelä gave it his all.

The rhythmic complexities of the López Bellido work – and its expanded percussion part – match effectively sufficient with the Walton oratorio within the second half of the live performance. However the change from the opener to Elgar’s Cello Concerto was a splash of icy water to the face. The distinction made the concerto’s stark opening flourish riveting, and Sol Gabetta rivals anybody else taking part in it as of late. I’ve heard excellent performances of the work in Cleveland by Yo-Yo Ma and Sheku Kanneh-Mason, and Gabetta stands beside them. The work first took off virtually fifty years after its premiere, when Jacqueline du Pre recorded it within the mid-Sixties. Her well-known strategy is one in every of relentless depth. Gabetta’s strategy countered ferocious depth within the piece’s tragic moments with a withdrawn reserve in its extra susceptible moments. Her assault was such that she needed to rapidly tear some damaged bow hairs off earlier than embarking on the feverish scherzo, however the transition between the primary two actions was one of many highpoints, Gabetta’s pizzicato model of the motto theme gaining a piercing desperation.

The temporary gradual motion was meltingly performed, organising the resolute opening to the finale that nonetheless bears the seeds of its personal destruction, its predominant theme being primarily a sped-up model of the tragic motto that opens the work. Gabetta made the lengthy finale stream coherently because it steadily falters and drifts into nostalgia, solely to fall prey to the brooding motto theme on the finish. Gabetta’s extensive emotional vary was backed strongly by Mäkelä, who was no mere accompanist. He acknowledged the extreme dedication the work requires and delivered. Gabetta gifted the enthusiastic viewers with an encore, the breathtaking second motion (Pianissimo) from Gramata cellam by Pēteris Vasks.

I returned to recordings of Walton’s Belshazzar’s Feast in preparation for this live performance and realized that it had been a few years since I final listened to it. The Cleveland Orchestra didn’t carry out the 1931 piece till thirty years later, beneath Robert Shaw, then the director of the Cleveland Orchestra Refrain. I can’t recall if it has appeared typically since then, and definitely not in recent times. So, it was a enjoyable discursion to listen to it dwell in a efficiency dedicated to its splashy verve. The piece makes me consider these garish Cecil B. DeMille Biblical epics: dramatic, campy, over-the-top, a forged of 1000’s. Okay, I exaggerate. There weren’t 1000’s on the stage right here, however there have been no less than a pair hundred, with standing room just for offstage brass who had been positioned each backstage and within the not often used proscenium bins.

Thomas Hampson was a regal presence as each narrator and Belshazzar, and it’s outstanding that he’s in his fifth decade as knowledgeable singer however nonetheless in resplendent voice. His gravitas helped promote the dramatic moments of the work, bolstered by the excessive polish of the Cleveland Orchestra Refrain, which Lisa Wong had in prime form. The work’s harmonic thorns and jazzy rhythms had been clearly savored by Mäkelä, who was having a grand previous time. It was enjoyable to listen to, although it felt distinctly light-weight within the wake of the Elgar concerto.

Ultimately, it was a advantageous live performance, and Mäkelä performed to his emotive strengths. His latest appointment to the Chicago put up removes him from consideration for the directorship in Cleveland, which can open after Franz Welser-Möst departs in 2027. I believe that’s in all probability the appropriate improvement. Cleveland has little doubt been Mäkelä, as closely as he has featured as visitor in latest seasons, however he finally could also be a bit flashier than what Cleveland needs. It is going to be attention-grabbing to see the opposite candidates who emerge.

Mark Sebastian Jordan