Review: A piccolo steals the Cleveland show

Zsolt Bognar reviews a world premiere at the Cleveland Orchestra:

The Cleveland Orchestra’s blend of precision, balance, and warmth came together in a dynamic and varied program at Severance Music Center, featuring Brahms’ Fourth Symphony, Carl Maria von Weber’s Oberon Overture, and the centrally-placed full orchestral premiere of “Aurora” (2019) by Israeli composer Oded Zehavi, whose Cleveland Orchestra commission was performed after a long series of mostly Covid delays. Under the baton of guest conductor Fabio Luisi, the evening left a lasting impact on an enthusiastic audience. The new work stood out even against brilliant performances of the flanking masterpieces.

Cleveland’s orchestra has a long association with new music and commissions. Since 1999 it has designated composer fellows, including Matthias Pintscher and Jörg Widmann; the skill with which the ensemble navigated Zehavi’s complex score was matched by Luisi’s alert musical reactivity. “Aurora”, essentially a fourteen-minute piccolo concerto in one movement for small orchestral ensemble, was brought to its full potential in a transcendent and haunting performance by Mary Kay Fink, Cleveland’s Principal Piccolo.

Luminous and evocative throughout, “Aurora” is hard to categorize. Oded Zehavi’s listed teachers include George Crumb, Andre Hajdu, and Shiela Silver, yet his own compositional voice is distinctive. Program notes by Luna Shyr pointed out influences from Jewish, Arabic, and European traditions. Most notable was the composer’s description of his time as a tank commander in the Lebanon War of 1982, where the sound of chimes was ubiquitous in his memory, as was his upbringing near Jerusalem’s Old City, surrounded by the sounds and energy of synagogues, mosques, and churches.

‘Aurora”s constant shifts of color and extended harmonies were reminiscent of Scriabin’s kaleidoscopic Poème de l’ecstase—but with a decidedly enigmatic narrative and introverted human character. Prominent use of chimes and woodblocks evoked a sense of ambient space and distance, even immersion in nature. The brief solo cadenza passages in the piccolo seemed to pose existential questions rather than showcase the range of the instrument or performer. Indeed, the ending seemed to find an unsettled conclusion without emotional resolution. Given the biographical context and the emotional impact of the recent world situations as shared by the composer, it was difficult not to draw direct connections within the music.

Framing the Zehavi score were performances of Weber and Brahms that were thrilling. Luisi’s readings were buoyant and propulsive. The Brahms highlighted simple elegance, energy, and proportion, a refreshing contrast to the heavy and even pompous readings that have become typical in the work’s recordings.

In amongst these overwhelming sounds one took away the ambiguous and nuanced character of “Aurora”, radiant and mysterious.

The Cleveland Orchestra
Fabio Luisi, conductor
MARY KAY FINK, piccolo
CARL MARIA VON WEBER Overture to Oberon
ODED ZEHAVI Aurora: Concerto for Piccolo and Small Orchestra [World Premiere, TCO Commission]
BRAHMS Symphony No. 4 in E minor, Opus 98
Photo by Roger Mastroianni