Review: "As passionate and energized as I've heard in a long time from The Cleveland Orchestra"

ClevelandClassical has published a review of Brett Mitchell's performance with The Cleveland Orchestra on Saturday, August 1, making particular note of the side-by-side performance of Bartók's Concerto for Orchestra with the Kent/Blossom Chamber Orchestra, which concluded the program:

This exuberant and expansive masterpiece from very near the end of the composer’s life is a test for any orchestra. Not only are the notes themselves fiercely difficult, but giving a sense of continuity and ensemble to this eclectic composition is an enormous challenge. To the credit of these excellent young musicians from the festival—and their side-by-side mentors in The Cleveland Orchestra—the performance was admirable. High-energy playing and pizzazz all around gave vitality to the quirky rhythms and often disjointed structures of Bartók’s brilliant score.

Brett Mitchell’s clear and highly controlled conducting was an essential part of keeping the vast forces of these combined groups on the same page. The enhanced string sections played with an extraordinary sound—the violin sections as passionate and energized as I’ve heard in a long time from The Cleveland Orchestra, and the violas as rich and mournful as Bartók would no doubt have wanted them.

To read the complete review, please click here.