United States Beethoven, Janáček: Cleveland Orchestra / Franz Welser-Möst (conductor). Mandel Concert Hall at Severance Music Center, Cleveland, 13.3.2025. (MSJ)
Beethoven – Symphony No.5 in C minor, Op.67; Leonore Overture No.3, Op.72b
Janáček – From the House of the Dead Suite (arr. František Jílek)
Composers’ reputations aren’t settled until a century or more after their deaths, sometimes longer. It is gratifying to see the slow, steady build of Czech composer Leoš Janáček’s reputation, just a few years shy of the one hundredth anniversary of his death. He was a slow starter, writing conventional music in his youth and gradually finding an original and distinctive voice. But once he found it, he wrote music that sounds like no one else’s. It was a deep joy to encounter in this concert music from his opera From the House of the Dead, inspired by the Dostoevsky novel of the same name.
The opera was the composer’s last major work, and he left it finished in shorthand but not fleshed-out. Various editions have made the work performable, and in 1979 Czech conductor František Jílek assembled sections of the music to make this vivid suite. The first movement is the more frequently heard prelude to the opera, the second movement is music that accompanies a play staged by gulag inmates in Act II of the opera, and the third movement samples the original ending of the opera. The music irresistibly mixes threat, wonder, despair and defiance for a group of stories set in a Siberian prison camp. This performance savored Janáček’s remarkable palette of colors, ranging from sizzling trills in the strings to darkly imposing brass chords, with the music’s restless shifts unified by a highly focused lyrical sweep shaped by music director Franz Welser-Möst. It is only the second time the orchestra has played this suite, but let us hope it isn’t the last: it proves how rewarding deep dives into Janáček’s lesser-known works are, and certainly provided the musical highlight of the evening.
The Janáček was the only surviving element of the originally planned program after the withdrawal of soprano Asmik Grigorian. The orchestra has announced that the original program, which included Richard Strauss’s Four Last Songs, will be rescheduled. Instead of substituting another singer, Welser-Möst reprogrammed the rest of the concert, stating, ‘This program change has given us a chance to say something important about our world today. As people fight for freedom everywhere, these pieces tell that same human story’. The performance of Beethoven’s third Leonore Overture stepped up to that statement, emphasizing the urgent drive of the music. The musicians leaned into the phrases, combining with Welser-Möst’s brisk tempo to encapsulate the entire story of Fidelio, the opera for which the overture was originally intended, from imprisonment, to loving care, to the promise of relief and the triumph of attaining freedom.
Characteristically, Welser-Möst was more reserved and less demonstrative in the same composer’s Symphony No.5. A seasoned opera conductor, Welser-Möst lets the known narratives inform his performances of operatic music, thus giving us the compelling second half of this concert. For the symphony, though, he was reluctant to allow any sort of extra-musical notions to intrude on the music. While that anti-romantic stance is certainly defensible from a musicological perspective, what is more debatable is the conductor’s insistence on minimal inflection, utterly refusing to introduce anything to the performance that isn’t explicitly on the page of Beethoven’s score.
This insistence on literalism was a hallmark piece of rhetoric from the Italian conductor Arturo Toscanini (though, in fact, careful study of his recordings proves that he did nothing of the sort). On the surface, former Cleveland music director George Szell appeared to endorse this literalism, though he actually did an enormous amount of score tweaking, microscopically shortening note values in order to let buried details pop out in thickly-scored passages. Welser-Möst, like Christoph von Dohnányi before him, is far more literal in Beethoven than either of those past masters. That literalism extends to precisely following the note values of Beethoven’s score whether it helps the work come to life or not. The approach seems logical, as it takes Beethoven at his word. But is it really the composer’s word? Beethoven was not Mahler, writing minute details in his scores. Beethoven’s scores are quite plainly written, though the testimony of his friends and colleagues tells us that the composer introduced much more shaping of detail and variation of tempo in rehearsal and performances, whether as a pianist, quartet member or conductor. This music needs shaping. The Leonore No.3 had more of this sort of inflection and came more to life because of it.
Twelve years ago, I reviewed Welser-Möst’s Beethoven’s Fifth, and I enjoyed it then for its high-energy sweep. On this occasion, the energy burned less brightly, and the tempos weren’t as irresistibly swift. Without the sheer momentum, we were left with an under-inflected rendition that didn’t feel like it had much to say about the stated mission of ‘saying something important about our world today’. Beethoven’s Symphony No.5 will always work, no matter how poker-faced the performance. But in a fight for freedom, full force is needed, not vague lyricism.
A perfect snapshot moment of what didn’t work in this performance was the first entrance of the horns in the Scherzo. Though not marked with an accent, the horns are fortissimo when they enter. Welser-Möst instead had the horns attenuate their attack, making it almost lyrical. Instead of a strong ba-ba-ba-baaaa, we were given wa-wa-wa-waaaa. Instead of a fight for freedom, it sounded diffident. Likewise, the acrobatic lower strings of the trio of the Scherzo were too mushy to make an impact, just as the strings’ notes had been too sustained to make the first movement compelling. And with a full complement of strings, wind details were buried throughout. The performance started to show more presence in the finale as the amount of brass scoring increased. Again, however, Welser-Möst restrained the orchestra when they wanted to roar and held them on a tight leash when they wanted to take off in the fast coda.
Those who don’t like rhetoric in their Beethoven might adore it. Myself, I prefer Beethoven off the leash.
Mark Sebastian Jordan
Featured Image: Franz Welser-Möst conducts the Cleveland Orchestra © Extraordinaire Photos/TCO
I actually enjoyed the performance of Beethoven’s 5th Symphony. I had similar reservations about the beginning of the Scherzo, but soon got over them. I didn’t find the lower strings too mushy, even though mushy strings seem to be a feature in many of this conductor’s performances. In the past, I’ve found his tempos too brisk in this work, but found them convincing this time. The woodwinds were nicely balanced per Cleveland tradition and heard to good effect.
The Janáček was the most impressive work on the program. The Leonora Overture #3 was well played, but I thought it was somewhat lacking in drama and inspiration.
Do you know who the guest concertmaster was?