Classical Concert Reviews Cinci

@uc_ccm’s Philharmonia concluded its fall 2024 semester of concerts with a program featuring some of the great German orchestral masterworks of the 19th century, headlined by an appearance by guest conductor Guido Rumstadt, professor of Orchestral Conducting at the Musikhochschule in Nuremberg, Germany.
Student conductor Moyue Zhou opened the program in a gracefully vibrant reading of the overture to Carl Maria von Weber’s final opera Oberon, one of a handful of his purely orchestral works to remain a part of the standard repertoire. Maestro Rumstadt then took to the stage of Corbett Auditorium joined by faculty pianist Dror Biran for a wonderful performance of Robert Schumann’s Piano Concerto. Biran’s playing was fluid and poetic, even if the virtuosic sections felt slightly overpowering, especially in the first and third movements. Orchestra and soloist were, however, nicely balanced, which I find a bit of a rarity considering the auditorium’s acoustic quirks.
Austrian composer Detlev Glanert’s Nine Caricatures were indirectly inspired by a series of engravings by the 18th-century English artist William Hogarth. This turned out to be one of the more fascinating of his works I have encountered thus far, as it provided ample opportunities for solos throughout the orchestra, including for brass, violin, cello and double bass; the whole set called to mind what might have emerged from Alban Berg or Anton Webern if they had lived another 20-30 years.
Johannes Brahms’ Variations on a Theme by Haydn Is among the composer’s more sunny compositions, originally written for two pianos in 1873 and orchestrated later that year. The CCM Philharmonia’s performance was insightful and warm, yet felt somewhat compact through Rumstadt’s direction. His conducting style was more of a mixed bag than I anticipated, with a sense of drama that felt lacking in many places and an overuse of more relaxed phrasing. These called to mind figures such as Jukka-Pekka Saraste and Plácido Domingo.
On the whole, this concert was a great way for CCM’s flagship orchestra to close out 2024, and I look forward to more performances from them in the new year.