Orchestra of St. Luke’s
Brad Lubman, Conductor
Erin Wagner, Mezzo-Soprano (Walter W. Naumburg Int’l Competition Winner, 2021)
ALL-MOZART!
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756–1791), Divertimento in D major, K 136, (1772)
I. Allegro, II. Andante, III. Presto
W. A. Mozart, Adagio and Fugue in C minor, K. 546, (1788)
I. Adagio, II. Fuga
W. A. Mozart, Selection of Arias:
Alma grande e nobil core, K.578, (1789)
Vado, ma dove?, K. 583, (1789)
Voi che sapete from Le nozze di Figaro, K. 492, (1786)
Porgi amor, from Le nozze di Figaro, K. 492, (1786)
Tutte nel cor vi sento, from Idomeneo, K. 366, (1781)
Erin Wagner, mezzo-soprano
W. A. Mozart, Symphony No. 21 in A major, K. 134, (1772)
I. Allegro, II. Andante, III. Menuetto & Trio, IV. Allegro
W. A. Mozart, Eine Kleine Nachtmusik, K. 525, (1787)
I. Allegro, II. Romance: Andante, III. Menuetto: Allegretto, IV. Finale: Rondo Allegro
In a first for me, this concert took place indoors at the church of St. Mary the Virgin. The Orchestra of St. Luke's played an All Mozart program. First off, I am not a huge Mozart fan. That said, the variety of this program worked in its favor.
The opening Allegro of the Divertimento was cheerful and somewhat familiar to me and had a nice airy ending. The Andante was calming while also having some heft and solidity. It also had a calm ending. The Presto was sprightly and energetic in a controlled way. Not bad for a 16-year-old (his age when he wrote it)!
After retuning, the second work opened in a solid and grave manner without being somber. Moving into the fugue, it was dramatic but not overtly, with most of the drama being driven by the lower strings that, oddly, added a bit of charm to the drama. But the drama won out.
The five arias (two, I think, were concert arias, two were from Le nozze di Figaro, while one was from Idomeneo) suffered a little from the reverb in the large church. Quick passages from the mezzo and the strings were a bit garbled and less clear than they could have been. The flutes and horns featured more prominently than in the earlier two works, and I enjoyed that. Voi che sapete was very familiar to me, though not any of the others. The Idomeneo aria was the most dramatic and heavy of the five. Ms. Wagner sang very well throughout. An encore (though I don't know what it was) ended the set and the first half of the concert.
The first movement of the symphony that opened the second half of the concert was bright and showed a youthful exuberance. The symphony was also written when Mozart was 16. It was playful at times, with a sort of false ending for each section. The second movement was slow but with a solid rhythmic energy, as well (both movements were surprisingly lengthy). The third movement was also bright in a slightly subdued fashion. It wasn't energy just for energy's sake. The fourth was rather thin at the beginning but soon bulked up. There were distinct sections throughout.
I'm pretty sure you all know some of the tunes in Eine Kleine Nachtmusik. This was my first time hearing it live, and I was quite taken with its weight and heft (and length). I'm usually used to hearing a movement excerpted from time to time. The first movement was off to the races. The second was gentle and pleasant though rhythmic at times. The different sections seemed as if they're not going to go together, but they do. The third was bright and cheery—definitely dance-like. (Um, 'Meister, it's a menuetto!) The finale closed out the work in a very brisk and pleasant way.
Did the concert make me a Mozart convert? It did not, but as mentioned above, the variety of the works swayed me a little bit more in that direction.
ConcertMeister
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