U.S. orchestra to give concert

Press, Volume CXIII, Issue 33315, 28 August 1973, Page 15

U.S. orchestra to give concert

A highlight of the N.Z.B.C. orchestral season will be the visit of the Cleveland Orchestra, which will give five concerts in New Zealand on the way to Australia for the opening of the Sydney Opera House. In Christchurch one concert will be conducted by Erich Leinsdorf in the Town Hall on Thursday, September 20. Erich Leinsdorf became a universal name during his tenure as music director of the Boston Symphony, a post he held from 1962 to 1969. During this time he was also in great demand as guest conductor of major orchestras in Europe, and he presented many world premieres. He was musical director and conductor of the Cleveland Orchestra during the war years, and in recent seasons he has returned to fulfil] engagements as guest conductor. He is making this tour of Australia and New Zealand with the present music director of the orchestra, Lorin Maazel, and another guest conductor, Stainislaw Skorwaczewski. Now one of the “Big Five” orchestras in America, and regarded as one of the great orchestras in the world, the Cleveland maintains a busy 52-week season of more than

200 concerts. This includes twice-yearly tours of the

United States and Canada, subscription concerts, youth,and pop concerts. During a typical season it also gives more than 40 educational concerts. The orchestra has two homes. During the winter season it performs at Severance Hall, a §3m building' of such exemplary acoustics that much of the orchestra’s recording work is done there. In summer the orchestra moves to the Blossom Music Centre, where ■it plays a major part in the summer festival held on this huge estate. Although, since its beginnings in 1918, the Cleveland Orchestra has made only four overseas tours, extensive American and European radio syndication of concerts, and a collection of fine recordings, have brought the orchestra wide international acclaim. During Pierre Boulez’s term with the orchestra two recordings, Debussy’s “Images” and Stravinsky’s “Sacre du Printemps,” won Grammy awards for “best classical performance of the year.” I “The Times,” of London, has hailed the Cleveland Orchestra as “the most efficient symphonic body of them all,” and certainly no orchestra has been named as its superior.

' The New Zealand programmes have been chosen ■to “show off” the orchestra’s talents. Christchurch will hear the overture and Venusberg Music from Wagner’s “Tannhauser,” Copland’s Appalachian Spring, and Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony.