Vienna with a Twist

The Cleveland Orchestra and Chorus’s recent Carnegie Hall program, with Music Director Franz Welser-Möst, sought to bridge the music making of two Viennas. One of Schubert, represented by the late Classical/proto-Romantic “Unfinished” Symphony No. 8 and Mass No. 6, and of the 20th-century Second Viennese School’s Alban Berg, with three movements of his quartet Lyric Suite arranged for orchestral strings. But with a twist! Instead of playing straight through the pieces, a movement of Schubert’s double-hander was placed between each movement of the Berg.

To be clear, Welser-Möst’s daring approach is appreciated. I want orchestral music directors to shake things up and reach beyond the overture-concerto-symphony program that has haunted audiences since, well, at least my entire life of concert going. A wind band conductor mentor builds his concerts after the bridal custom “something old, something new, something borrowed [arranged], something blue [jazz]” and, though a bit to prescriptive, it works. Unfortunately Welser-Möst’s palindromic order for the first half does not fit in the ear; issues of performance after intermission belied a profound experience.

One problem with the ordering of movements and selection as whole: there’s only one finale. Squished between the Berg arrangements, which all end quietly, The brassy, minor close of the Unfinished’s first movement juts out between the Berg and, though the second movement is less dramatic, it’s devotion tonality gives a finality that Berg, who famously eschewed such emphasis of key, cannot. There were certainly moments of awe and tranquility—Cleveland’s strings tore through difficult passages and sections of reduced forces (all principals minus bass in a quartet, for example, or only first desks, for example) blended in a beautiful whisper. However, a quiet seven-pitch chord doesn’t provide a confident or powerful send-off.

Compound this with the issue of orchestration: a string section nailing tricky passagework or playing the most gorgeous melody at their highest intensity will never match the visceral impact of Schubert’s fuller orchestra in the Unfinished. There’s palpable loss each time we move back to the Berg after hearing Schubert’s larger forces.

Why make this choice at all? “When you play them back-to-back,” Welser-Möst claims, “you can hear that they’re related.” I am not convinced. If the intent is to deliver a musical history of Vienna, throwing in a composer like Brahms to bridge Schubert with Berg is a stronger historical progression. But for the program as rehearsed, performing Berg’s three movements first, then closing with the “finished half-symphony” (aptly phrase coined by Brian Newbould) is the sounder choice.

An adjusted program order would also provide a visual impact on the evening, gradually growing the ensemble from from strings to full orchestra, then adding choir on the program’s backend. Without knowing the Cleveland Chorus’s usual makeup, I was immediately struck by the unbalanced tableaux of high voices outnumbering low roughly 2:1, which feels generally ill-advised and contrary to most professional chorus performances I’ve seen.

This notion proved true in performance, as the choral sound was strong but lacked foundation—the basses might as well have been home in Ohio for all that could be heard in the balcony. Each of the five soloists sang well but soprano Joélle Harvey was the musical standout, twice making the remarkable choice to back off a rising phrase in the Agnus Dei; an interpretation that at first seems counterintuitive but masterfully kept her higher notes from popping out of the texture.

That is not to say Schubert’s Mass was totally underserved. Cleveland’s trombone sections, by combination of technique and playing into stands, never covered the chorus or their orchestral brethren (a feat rarely matched by our hometown band); especially noticeable as they played under a high, pliant bassoon during the Benedictus. The choral balance improved when augmented by celli and basses, giving body to the chorus’s inaudible low voices, and I especially enjoyed the strings crisp arpeggios during the Gloria.

More distracting choral missteps (“gratias” pronounced like “gracias”; “peccata” sounding more like a chicken dish than spiritual transgression; a three bar crescendo which did not build but instead forced a shocking sforzando on the ears) prevented a holistically satisfying performance. The score of Schubert’s Mass ends with a soft prayer, impressively solemn when played as written, but a meager mezzoforte sent everyone home.