by Kevin T McEneaney
Music enthusiasts have been waiting for SummerScape to address Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart for a long time. The 36th SummerScape Festival has finally embraced him! The two-week festival opened with the theme The Many Faces of Mozart last Friday evening at Bard’s Sosnoff Theater to a sold-out audience.
The concert opened with pianist Piers Lane and Danny Driver performing Sonata in D Major, for piano four-hand, K381 (1772). This parlor-room favorite brims and bursts with rollicking excitement, by turns impish, melodic, competitive, and wittily comic in three movements, the middle movement being boisterously comic, as well as mutedly sophisticated. What an opening!
Tenor Joshua Blue, a local favorite of mine, sang Eine Kleine deutsche Kantate with ardent passion, clarity, and impressive projection. This song emphasized the brotherhood of intimate Christianity with Freemason roots.
Quintet in E-flat Major for Piano and Winds, K452 (1784)in three movements with Danny Driver exuberantly leading the winds and offering a group conversation with the winds as a whole, and an address to each instrument, as well as small groups of instruments in three movements highlighting Mozart’s wit and contagious delight. This work was discovered in a Czechoslovak castle a little over fifty years ago. The finale is missing, and there are various versions available. I especially enjoyed the clarinet line played by Shari Hoffman; the clarinet is the closest instrument to the human voice, and it seemed to ooze common sense and sensible compromise. Gina Cuffari on bassoon was impressive as was Alexandra Knoll on oboe. Karl Kramer-Johansen on horn was excellent with a smaller role. The clarinet and oboe had a more intimate aspect than the bassoon and horn.
After Intermission, Dr. Leon Botstein delivered some amusing remarks about the 18th century as a pleasantly sophisticated musical era. The Orchestra Now appeared on stage to play the Allegro from “Mozart’s” Symphonie No. 37 in G Major, K444 (1783-84), which was not written by Mozart but by Michael Haydn, the younger brother of Franz Joseph. Mozart is thought to have written the brief opening and passed it on to Michael. Most of Michael’s work has been lost, and we mostly have his religious music. This was a robust and lively work that was enchanting, especially the debating dialogue of strings.
Soprano Katrina Galka, accompanied by Anna Polonsy on piano, sang Ch’io mi scordi di te?, K505 (1786). Many regard this song as the greatest concert aria ever written. Mozart wrote the piece for the English Soprano Ann Selina Storace when she was about to leave Vienna. Galka sang with scalding passion and received two standing ovations.
Sinfonia concertante in E-Flat Major, K364 (1779-1800) was performed by The Orchestra Now. Mozart may have composed this work in Vienna, shortly after his visit to Paris, where this style of composition was popular, and Mozart wanted to introduce the style to Vienna. Two people meet, converse, and inquire with each other through duets. On viola, Barry Shiffman was excellent, while Grace Park on violin was incandescent and heavenly. The duo question each other, and the orchestra as they often meet somewhere, and as they gradually get to know each other, they fall in love. The orchestra celebrates the marriage in the exciting finale. The audience demanded two bows.
Symphony No. 31 in D Major, K297 (1788) was performed by The Orchestra Now. Mozart wrote this work in Paris, shortly after the death of his mother. Experts continue to debate the order of the symphony. The first performance of this work received exuberant accolades from reviewers who acclaimed the new talent, and a second performance followed, yet Mozart’s father demanded that he return home. The full-orchestra performance was virtually intoxicating, while the audience soberly demanded multiple bows with fierce exultation.
This was a night to cherish the development of young Mozart and become aware of the fantastic music yet to come in this Mozart SummerScape! Mozart is charming, witty, and amusing with a generosity that has made him the most popular musician in the world!
This concert was the first of eleven programs over two weeks.