Classical Concert Reviews Cinci

@ccm’s Philharmonia continued its 2024-25 season with a unique program of new and rarely-heard orchestral works under the title Power Dressing. Opening with a sensuous reading of the Prelude from Giuseppe Verdi’s Aida, among the most performed operas in today’s repertoire, graduate student conductor Sandra Cepero Alvarez led the U.S. premiere of Power Dressing, a new work for string orchestra by Ayo Yoshida, winner of the 2019 Alexander Zemlinsky Prize for Composition. The music sounded extremely atonal, drawing influences from the early works of Krzysztof Penderecki, Gyorgy Ligeti and Pierre Boulez, giving it a horror-like edge throughout.
Samuel Barber’s Medea’s Meditation and Dance of Vengeance is a work which is not one of Samuel Barber’s most well-known, yet is also very evocative,. The Philharmonia’s performance tonight brought that to the fore (standout moments included wonderful solos from flute, clarinet, oboe and English horn) even if the back half of the work felt slightly rushed.
The same could also be said of the Symphonic Fantasy on themes from Richard Strauss’s opera Die Frau Ohne Schatten. Written nearly 30 years after the opera’s premiere, the fantasy felt compact and tightly woven without being overbearing. Particular praise goes to the strings, brass and percussion of the Philharmonia for bringing a sense of excitement to this rarely heard gem.
The second half of tonight’s concert turned the spotlight back on student conductors with a performance (possibly the Cincinnati premiere) of the Symphony No. 2 by Louise Farrenc, the first woman to serve as professor of piano at the Paris Conservatoire. While Farrenc’s orchestral writing was heavily influenced by Beethoven and Mozart, conductors Alfonso Keller-Cassieles and Yuval Barak definitely seemed to draw inspiration from Mozart in their leadership of this piece. Throughout, their style felt warm and inviting while maintaining grace and buoyant energy, particular Barak’s conducting in the final two movements.
Even if tonight’s audience was sparse, it felt wonderful to know Cincinnati has a student orchestra of such amazing caliber that programs such exciting music. Bravo to all!