Bruckner and Schoenburg
Saturday’s performance at Severance Hall was surprisingly…tonal. Schoenburg, the inventor and master of the twelve-tone system, did not always compose atonal music as evident in “Kol Nidre”. The piece is based off of the Jewish prayer said at the holiest of High Holidays, Yom Kippur. Schoenburg, who was then living in California at the time, worked with a local Rabbi in creating an extended and slightly modified English translation of the Aramaic text. This text is spoken in a dramatic tone by a narrating soloists who is accompanied by a reduced orchestra. As the narrator speaks the text, the orchestra provides apt coloring and phrasing that intensifies the meaning of the words.
I had never heard this piece and I really enjoyed it. It had some very innovative sounds and the simplistic way in which Schoenburg resolved the G minor piece to a G major chord at the end was beautiful. Of course, the traditional “Kol Nidrei” melody typically performed by a cello soloists during the Yom Kippur, will always be my favorite. In fact, it is my favorite Jewish melody - it is incredibly passionate and moving.
The evening concluded with Bruckner’s epic Fifth Symphony. We’re talking 70 minutes of hardcore symphony. The perfect marriage of sonata and fugue form in the finale. The Cleveland Orchestra is performing the piece on tour this summer and will produce a DVD video recording of it. Needless to say - they have been practicing it extensively and Saturday’s performance was flawless. The Cleveland Orchestra’s recording under Dohnányi is considered by many to be the definitive Bruckner Fifth Symphony recording. It will be interesting to see how Franz Welser-Most’s recording will compare.