[Trombone-l] Cleveland Orch Trombone Article in newspaper

[George Carr]

> >For me, this search is borderline ludicrous.  First, I've heard
> >Steve Witser play, and he is more than capable of handling that job,
> >and very well.

No question about that - in fact, Cleveland has gotten an odd bonus
from the hiring delay, which is the frequent appearance of Ed Zadrozny
in the section.  For those of you who haven't heard of Ed, he's the
only trombonist to have played in the sections of NY Phil,
Philadelphia Orch, and Cleveland Orch all in the same decade -
definitely a top notch talent.  But he's happy with his teaching job
and isn't interested in the principal position, from what I hear.

> >For that
> >matter, Rick Stout is a worthy candidate.  For that matter, most of
> >the people who have sat down to play in that orchestra would be
> >excellent choices.  No one will argue the abilities of Doug Wright,
> >yet he was not offered tenure either.  Other fantastic trombone
> >players simply turned down the opportunity to audition with the
> >orchestra due to his history with rewarding tenure.

Doug Wright was amazing during his year in Cleveland - he played the
**** out of the Mahler 3 solo, and absolutely floored me with some of
his nuanced dynamics.  I got the impression that his relationships
with the other brass players were somewhat strained, though.

> I heard somewhere that Jim de Sano, former assistant principal, had
> to sweat a bit before being offered principal. That was by von
> Dohnanyi. This does not sound (in terms of reports) like a happy
> orchestra.

DeSano did try out for the job twice, but local rumor (now almost
twenty years later) is that Dohnanyi was seriously considering an
outside candidate, and when he decided against that, DeSano got the
job without any further hassle.  His resume still looks pretty
impressive:
http://www.oberlin.edu/con/faculty/desano_james.html

Generally, the orchestra seems pretty happy to me, as a fan and from
the gossip I hear in local trombone circles.  There was recently a
pretty serious personnel scandal where the management wanted to hire
someone to play orchestral solos in the concertmaster's absence, which
was explicitly in the associate concertmaster's job description
already, and when she got the word she would not be considered for the
job, she resigned.  Witser is certainly not happy, and if he gets the
LA Phil job (which he also deserves) it will be a serious loss to
Cleveland.  But these personnel struggles might turn out to be a
turning point for Welser-Most, where he finally starts to realize that
he's got to pick someone at some point.

> >Welser-Most is just trying to stir up trouble in the orchestra scene.  He has put a
> >muzzle on Cleveland Orchestra.  They never sounded as good as when
> >guest conductors came in (the notables were Pierre Boulez, Michael
> >Stern, Neeme and Paavo Yarvi).  When Welser-Most conducts, they
> >usually sound lifeless and small, contained if you will.

The orchestra plays hot and cold for Welser-Most.  I'm a subscriber,
and I've heard him conduct both stirring, brilliant concerts, and
unsatisfying runthroughs.  I agree that other conductors get a more
thoughtful and vigorous performance out of the Orchestra - Boulez,
especially, but also P Jarvi, Tilson Thomas, and K Petrenko.  Dohnanyi
recently returned for a guest weekend and the Orchestra sounded
incredible for him.  But Welser-Most is pretty good on the podium, far
from awful enough to nonrenew his contract.  And he's apparently good
at the nonmusical duties - programming, fundraising, public relations,
etc. - and not as expensive as some other 'peers' who are arguably
better on the podium.  Given the financial troubles in Cleveland -
supporting a world class orchestra with a third-tier municipal economy
- that's not a trivial thing.

George