Classical Concert Reviews Cinci

What a momentous evening it was for @cincysymphony as they officially welcomed @cristian.macelaru as their 14th Music Director with a program of 20th century masterpieces.
The orchestra opened with a scintillating and engaging performance of Abstractions, a modern orchestral suite by the British composer Anna Clyne (a composer whose music Mǎcelaru has long been championed) inspired by five contemporary paintings in the Baltimore Museum of Art. Musically, it seemed to harken to the styles of John Williams, Hans Zimmer and Phillip Glass through vivacious and luminous string writing and use of a huge percussion section.
Pianist Hélène Grimaud (@helene.grimaud) made a welcome return to Cincinnati to perform George Gershwin’s much-loved Concerto in F, giving a performance full of jazzy, pulsating vitality and blazing virtuosity, particularly in the first and third movements and a warm, gentle effervescence in the second movement expanded upon by the bluesy work of principal trumpet Anthony Limoncelli. Grimaud encored with a luminous and passionate reading of one of the Opus 33 Études-tableaux of Sergei Rachmaninoff.
The orchestra continued with a remarkably exciting performance of the orchestral suite from Richard Strauss’s opera Der Rosenkavalier. Maestro Mǎcelaru brought an engaging and thoroughly enjoyable presence to the podium, showing with absolute precision every detail he desired from all the assembled musicians, especially the wonderful oboe solos which permeated throughout the second and fourth sections of the suite and the full blast of manic energy that is the final waltz.
As an additional treat (and a rarity for the start of a new season), the CSO encored with a thrilling reading of Romanian composer George Enescu’s Romanian Rhapsody No. 1 as a tribute to Romanian-born principal trombonist Cristian Ganicenco, who sadly succumbed to a long, private battle with cancer only this past Thursday October 2nd
All in all, this was truly a concert for the ages, and certainly one to be remembered for years to come. Looking forward to many more fruitful and enjoyable years of music making with this outstanding maestro.