Langrée, CSO Bring Sea to Music Hall
Cincinnati is 14 hours from the ocean, but music
director Louis Langrée and the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra brought it a
little closer Friday morning at Music Hall.
On the program were Debussy’s “La Mer,” Ravel’s “Une barque sur l’océan” (“A Boat on the Ocean”) and Mendelssohn’s “Hebrides” Overture (“Fingal’s Cave”).
It was a “wet” program, quipped Langrée.
To carry the analogy further (forgive the writer), the concert dripped with the virtuosity of pianist Emanuel Ax, soloist in the Piano Concerto No. 2 in F Minor by Chopin. It was an occasion to sit back and let the music wash over you
Ax is a regular guest of the CSO (he was last here in January, 2012 in Mozart’s Piano Concerto in E-flat Major, K.482). And for that the Cincinnati audience is fortunate, for he delivered a performance of the Chopin that was masterly to the nth degree.
Langrée and the CSO set the scene with a well stated exposition of the opening Maestoso. Ax made the piano the star, speaking eloquently to his listeners in a movement of crystal clarity and awesome fluidity. The Larghetto second movement opened dreamily by contrast, though it built dramatically to the restatement of the principal theme, accompanied by tremolo strings. There was lovely interaction between the piano and the bassoon (principal bassoonist William Winstead), which continued into the Allegro vivace finale.
Ax was all over the keys in the finale, which was colored by touches of clarinet and French horn. His energy and finesse brought the audience to their feet, and he obliged them a sweet, simple encore, "Des Abends," from Robert Schumann’s “Fantasiestücke.”
The concert’s three seascapes began with Ravel’s seven-minute “Une barque sur l’océan.” The composer’s own arrangement from his “Miroirs” (“Mirrors”) for solo piano, it made a picturesque opener for the concert. The music shimmered with undulating figures, carving some real waves in the process, and there were glints and sparkles of harp and celeste.
First up after intermission was Mendelssohn’s “Hebrides” Overture. There was lots of drama here – “Fingal’s Cave” (the work’s subtitle) is apparently a formidable cavern – plus a sublime clarinet duet by Jonathan Gunn and Ixi Chen.
Debussy’s “La Mer” was the final work on the program. Langrée’ filled it with color and gesture. You could almost feel the sunlight on the ocean in “From Dawn to Noon on the Sea,” from the super-soft beginning to the sudden outpouring by the cellos – 12 of them divided into three parts for a voluminous sound. The second movement, “Games of the Waves,” was downright frisky, with Technicolor winds, bright metal percussion and swirls of harp, ending with a last, soft rub of cymbal by percussionist Richard Jensen.
The final movement, “Dialogue of the Wind and the Sea,” rumbled menacingly in the lower strings before blowing up a storm. The magical moment here was the flute/oboe melody against fingered harmonics in the violins, which conjured a truly “windy” sound. After an echoing roar by the full orchestra and a chorale-like statement by the brass, Langrée’ brought the work to a thrilling, all-stops-pulled conclusion.
The concert repeats at 8 p.m. Saturday at Music Hall. Tickets begin at $12, available by calling (513) 381-3300, or order online at www.cincinnatisymphony.org