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6 is a spirited four-movement work, endorsed by Dvo Е™ ГЎk and Brahms. Composer in 1892, Josef SukвЂ™s Serenade for Strings, Op. The second half, in its turn, is a far more earthy affair. В© Roger Mastroianni / Courtesy of the Cleveland Orchestra The Cleveland Orchestra and Vinay Parameswaran in session at Severance Hall. The exchange of musical material between the upper and lower strings is ever seamless, resulting in top-class ensemble performance.ДЄ wonderful pairing, the two Kernis pieces constitute a terrific first half for the Celestial Serenades programme. Aptly balanced throughout, the orchestra achieves an ideal balance between clarity and hue. Clad in ravishing colour, the music is unveiled with a wealth of sonority, manifested in glimmering phrases and translucent counterpoint. Following a general pause, a delicate coda ensues, as if an echo resounding throughout distant spheres.Д«eautifully shaped by Parameswaran, the performance by the Cleveland Orchestra strings perfectly captures the otherworldliness of KernisвЂ™s score.

As the sequence proceeds, the textures gain density and speed, to some extent, before building up to an elated burst of sound.

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Out of the opening hue, musical phrases are gradually summoned into being and subsequently reworked into intriguing series of variations. While a lot of the music unravels gradually in soft dynamics, Musica celestis bears tremendous intensity throughout, manifesting itself in climaxes and sublime tensions alike. Opening and closing in slowly moving, cloud-like formations, the ten-minute work is cast as a passacaglia, with the musical material luminously transformed from one variation to another.

While KernisвЂ™s music does not seek to imitate the sound-world of the era, the Biblical image of Music of the Heavens provided the composer a starting point. The roots of Musica celestis go back to the 1980s rediscovery of the music of Hildegard von Bingen, and the newly-found interest in Medieval music in general. Although there are obvious parallels between Musica celestis and Samuel BarberвЂ™s Adagio for Strings (1936/1938), the two pieces inhabit somewhat different musical realms. The version for string orchestra is adapted by the composer from the second movement of his String Quartet No. In the course of three decades, Musica celestis has become the most often performed work in the Kernis oeuvre. On the closing pages, the music harks back to the mood of the opening, with the trumpet landing on a long-held note, accompanied by slowly pulsing chords from the harp. As Elegy proceeds, the two instruments become more entangled to each other, giving rise to a gripping dialogue. The soaring trumpet melodies, juxtaposed with the deep, bell-like harp textures, constitute the musical imagery for the spacious opening section. Performed with aching beauty by Sach and Kondonassis, the astounding colours of the two instruments are mixed with sensitivity and utmost eloquence of phrasing, giving rise to a touching sonic sanctuary. The music lends itself perfectly to the terrific sonic combination of soulful trumpet lines and ethereal harp textures, yielding to a befitting memorial for those lost to the pandemic. A six-minute miniature, Elegy is conceived as a contemplative memorial with sublime, yet far-reaching emotional scope. Originally composed for piano in May 2020, Elegy has been subesquently reworked into various instumental guises by the composer, including the deeply moving version for trumpet and harp heard on the Severance Hall recording. Titled Celestial Serenades, the programme brings together two pieces by Kernis, written thirty years apart his string orchestra classic Musica celestis (1990), conducted by Vinay Parameswaran, and Elegy (to those we lost) (2020) for trumpet and harp, performed by Michael Sachs and Yolanda Kondonassis. The music of Aaron Jay Kernis bears unusual evocativeness, as the latest episode in the Cleveland OrchestraвЂ™s In Focus online series resoundingly demonstrates. Associate Conductor Vinay Parameswaran and the Cleveland Orchestra strings recording Aaron JayВ KernisвЂ™s Musica celestis at Severance Hall in April 2021.

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