Although titled “Beethoven and Mozart,” three composers from the Classical Era, who knew each other in a sense, headlined an exciting Philadelphia Orchestra concert April 10, 2015, under the masterful direction of Paul Goodwin.
The Third Man in this trilogy of music masters is Carl Stamitz (1745 to 1801), whose lilting Viola Concerto in D received a rare performance by the Philadelphians, with Choong-Jin Chang, principal violist, playing spectacularly and sfrom the heart.
While in his late 30s, Stamitz, a virtuoso violist celebrated throughout Europe, shared billing with a scruffy 12-year-old piano prodigy during a concert in the Hague at the end of 1783. To further the sting of performing on the same bill as a Wunderkind, the boy was paid four times Stamitz’s fee.
Yet, possibly inspired by Stamitz, the child went on to become a professional violist in two Bonn orchestras before leaving for Vienna at age 21. There, he composed a number of symphonies, including the Fourth featured in Friday’s program. Yes, the child prodigy turned violist turned master composer was none other than Beethoven.
Mozart, on the other hand, may not have met the elder violist, though he shared a few choice words in a letter to his father in 1778 about the Stamitz brothers Carl and Anton: “…(they) are indeed two wretched scribblers, gamblers, swillers and adulterers—not the kind of people for me.” Historians think Mozart was simply having a bad day in Paris when he wrote those words, but it was assuredly a great day in Salzburg when he composed the tuneful Symphony in D major (the “Posthorn”) K. 320.
The Symphony is, in fact, essentially the same work (with fewer movements) as the beloved Serenade Number 9, the “Posthorn,” dating from 1779. Goodwin is the man to conduct this refined but spirited work, hitting exactly the right tone in terms of speed, lightness, control, melodic emphasis, and dynamics. Director of the Carmel Bach Festival and associate conductor with the Academy of Ancient Music, Goodwin brought poise and energy to the podium, an attractive music conjurer, and not surprisingly, his experience with earlier music gives him a profound but appealing insight into classical forms.
The orchestra shed its brass and percussion for the intimate Stamitz Viola Concerto, a work some dismiss as pedantic, but in the hands of Goodwin, the Orchestra, and Chang, a delightful work. How seldom we hear the viola cast as a solo instrument. I’ve often thought the only problem with a viola is that listeners want it to sound like a violin. That was not the case in this concert, where Chang played warmly, from the heart, with deep feeling. A brilliant cadenza, and some noteworthy solo work in the second movement, made this a memorable performance. Very moving, and a cautionary tale for those who expect music from the late 1700s to sound cool and detached.
Intermission separated these two masterworks of classical refinement from Big Bad Beethoven, an overture and a symphony from the man who took music to a new level of power, energy, and insight. Goodwin chose the seldom-performed Overture to the Consecration of the House (the house being a rebuilt theater in Vienna). Beethoven had a knack for weaving military band effects into some of his most noteworthy creations, and this work is no exception, with a choir of four French horns, three trombones, two trumpets, timpani, and strings and woodwinds. Animated, alternating between crouches and leaps, his three-quarter frock coat flapping, Goodwin drew out a bombastic sound just right for a work of public celebration. There is a fugue toward the end which is truly soul-satisfying to hear, Beethoven having mastered fugal writing around this time (1822) as witness the spectacular fugue of the Missa Solemnis, also from this period.
The concert concluded with the Fourth Symphony in B-flat, another of those complex, evolving works that Beethoven was able to spin from the bones of a few rhythmic patterns. The Fourth tends to get lost between the two giants: the Eroica which revolutionized the symphony and the Fifth which every grade school child can identify. Too bad, for it’s a treasure trove of musical ideas, driven by a pulsing energy and sense of urgency that’s rare even for Beethoven. Again, Goodwin is spot-on throughout, capturing every twitch and tingle in a relentless torrent of sound.
This concert was exhilarating and enlightening throughout. Let’s see and hear more of Paul Goodwin in Philadelphia, and come to think of it, more violas, please!
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