No rehearsal today. The orchestra was already acquainted with the Guimera Theater's acoustics after last night's concert, and this is familiar repertoire for them, so they had the morning free for relaxation. Many toured Santa Cruz, enjoying the sunshine and such landmarks as the 15th century Church of the Conception and the Almeida Fort. Others visited the beach or went shopping. After such an excursion, one orchestra member characterized Santa Cruz as "more upscale" than Las Palmas.

The Canary Islands are a study in contrasts.  Birds sing tens of feet away from heavily traveled highways and the fly buzz of motor scooters, seemingly almost as popular here as in Italy. It's a fully developed and mechanized nation, but maintenance crews sweep the sidewalks with palm fronds - which seem at least as effective as any factory-made broom.

Contrasts or not, it's easy to see why the Canaries are so popular. If Americans look forward to retiring to Florida or Arizona, Europeans surely hope to live here when they end their working days. Certainly many of them winter here.

Maybe it's not the nature of residents on the Canary Islands to give standing ovations. Tonight's concert was very well received, with generous applause. That included the rhythmic clapping European audiences give, the sort that might be heard at rock concerts in the states.  But, as with previous night, the listeners remained in their seats until the house lights indicated there would be no second encore.

Tonight's program opened with Alfred Schnittke's (K)ein Sommernachtstraum. The title might be rendered as "(Not) A Midsummer Night's Dream." But it seems as if Schnittke is having fun more at Mozart's expense than at Mendelssohn's. The piece begins with a bit of music that could be an early Mozart sonata for piano and violin. Comes flute and harpsichord, and then Schnittke begins to take the piece apart. The other instruments join in, crashing the melody into itself until the little tune has become a dissonant monster.

This "disassembly" plays out rather like a set of variations. This is (tongue in cheek) an innocent tune gone bad under the "evil influence" of this modern composer. Finally, flute and harpsichord have the last word -- perhaps a bit ruefully. It's a good-humored little piece, and the audience seemed to get the joke.

The Bartok Miraculous Mandarin Ballet, on the other hand, is nothing to laugh at. The ballet is based on a play by Melchior Lengyel, with a rather disturbing, even gruesome, plot. Three ruffians force a young woman to lure men into their lair so as to rob the men. She brings in two who prove to have no money, but then she spots the Mandarin. In truth, she finds him revolting, but steels herself and begins to play to him. Soon he is overcome with passion, chases her, and catches her. The ruffians fall upon him and run him through with a sword, but his wounds refuse to bleed. They hang him, but he does not die. When he is cut down, he embraces the young woman. His passion sated, he finally bleeds and dies.

For some listeners, The Miraculous Mandarin's intensity can be off-putting rather than absorbing. However, under Dohnanyi's direction, the orchestra drew the audience into the score, capturing the menace and violence in Bartok's music. This piece has drawn generous applause from the audiences at both tour concerts in which it's figured so far.

The final work on this program was Schubert's Ninth Symphony, the "Great." This is a long-standing Cleveland Orchestra specialty (it's been recorded by Telarc). Tonight's performance found Dohanyi and the orchestra both thoroughly comfortable with their roles. The Clevelanders know this piece so well that Dohnanyi could just give the wheel a push and let it spin, making only a few midcourse corrections. Yet he was fully in charge. The orchestra's rhythmic precision was much in evidence, and afterwards Dohnanyi acknowledged principal oboe John Mack for his supple melodic contributions.

The orchestra will repeat this program Tuesday night in Madrid; they'll perform the Schubert again in Paris, along with Ives's Central Park in the Dark and the European premiere of Ives's Emerson Concerto.

David Roden
WKSU Assistant Program Director