One of the world’s greatest orchestras comes to Megaron, bringing with it a piece of its own history. The Cleveland Orchestra, “the most European of American orchestras,” appears under the direction of Franz Welser-Möst in the twenty-fifth and final season of their historic collaboration. The programme features Bohuslav Martinů’s Symphony No. 2, written in 1943 for Cleveland’s Czech community and first performed by the Cleveland Orchestra. Liszt’s symphonic poem Orpheus opens the evening, while Brahms’s Symphony No. 2 — inspired by the idyllic landscape of the Austrian countryside — exudes the tranquillity and natural beauty of summer on the shores of Lake Wörthersee.
The Orchestra is internationally renowned for the famous “Cleveland Sound,” a sound of exceptional clarity and precision that lends great symphonic works the transparency and immediacy of chamber music. This sound was shaped during the long tenure of the legendary conductor George Szell at the helm of the Orchestra, and further enhanced by the pioneering acoustics of Severance Hall, thanks to which the musicians can hear one another on stage with remarkable clarity.
