Few American music ensembles can boast a history as distinguished as the Cleveland Orchestra’s. Throughout the seventy-two years of its existence it has maintained a standard of excellence that is the envy of much larger cities. Perhaps the best indication of the veneration in which this ensemble is held is the audience it attracted, as always, to Carnegie Hall for two performances in late February. In its concentration and appreciation, the audience seemed the very heart of music-loving New York.
But there was more to draw a serious audience than simply the reputation of the orchestra. A further enticement was the program, which offered not only familiar classics—the Adagio from Mahler’s Symphony no. 10, Mozart’s Symphony no. 41 (the Jupiter), and Brahms’s Symphony no. 2—but also such rarities as the Andante in B minor from Schubert’s unfinished Symphony no. 10, Arnold Schoenberg’s Piano Concerto (1942), and Erich Korngold’s Violin Concerto (1945).
Perhaps the Cleveland’s greatest asset is its leadership.
Perhaps the Cleveland’s greatest asset is its leadership. Strong musical direction is something of an anomaly in this age of the traveling conductor, and the Cleveland has seemed twice blessed in recent years by the work of two outstanding musicians, Christoph von Dohnányi and Vladimir Ashkenazy. Dohnányi, whose career was established in Europe (principally at the Hamburg State Opera), is now in his sixth season as the orchestra’s music director, and he shows no signs of leaving. Ashkenazy, music director of both the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and
