CLEVELAND — If you miss the sights and sounds of the world-renowned Cleveland Orchestra, you can get your fix of the sounds with the second release of concert audio recordings on the classics, featuring performances recorded live at Severance Hall. As for the sights, you can stare at the image on this story.
The performances were recorded during the Prometheus Project, a festival dedicated to the exploration of Ludwig van Beethoven’s music that closed out the Centennial Season in 2018.
“With The Prometheus Project, we explored Beethoven’s thinking behind writing these works, at his belief in humanity’s betterment, at what he wrote inside of his music, and between the notes,” said Cleveland Orchestra Music Director Franz Welser-Möst in a news release. “I used the story of Prometheus as a metaphor and lens for what Beethoven was writing, not just in his symphonies, but across his lifetime, and throughout all of his music. With Prometheus as a focus, with this earnest and thoughtful approach, we engage in a new way with audiences. When studying an exceptional figure like Beethoven, it is essential that we constantly look at new approaches to his work, to enliven and deepen our understanding of his genius.”
The series is meant to provide a new way to experience the orchestra since visitors can’t experience it in person due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“This new series of live sound recordings gives audiences the opportunity to hear the extraordinary artistry of The Cleveland Orchestra across a range of years and repertoire, in some cases with recordings that have never before been heard outside of the concert hall,” said Williams. “Music lovers will have a special opportunity to look back in a new way at the remarkable history of this Orchestra by listening to a selection of carefully chosen concerts each month.”
The program includes a video overview from Cleveland Orchestra Chief Artistic Officer Mark Williams, a video collaboration featuring Orchestra members and students from Cleveland School of the Arts and pieces celebrating the life of modern-day Promethean hero Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
The series is available for listening at ClevelandOrchestra.com.
