Count Basie
Theatre, Red Bank. Balcony (Seat E101,
$37.60.)
Program:
All-Mozart
Overture and
Ballet Music from Idomeneo, K. 366 and 367 (1780-1781) by Mozart (1756-1791).
Piano Concerto
No. 23 in A Major, K. 488 (1784-1786).
Symphony No. 41
in C Major, “Jupiter,” K. 551 (1788).
I vaguely recall
the last all-Mozart program as one by the New York Philharmonic where the last three
of Mozart’s symphonies were performed. My
recollection was too much Mozart isn’t necessarily a good thing. A review of my blog entry reminded me that it
was in 2006, with Maazel conducting.
Turns out there were other all-Mozart programs I have been to; interestingly
none was at a Mostly Mozart Festival concert.
The interesting
aspect for this concert is the conductor is a Hong Kong-born person, and the
pianist is a Chinese-American born in Massachusetts. I had heard the name Perry So before in
conjunction with Hong Kong Philharmonic, although I never saw him conduct any
of the HK Phil concerts I attended; today would be our first encounter with
Eric Lu.
Idomeneo isn’t
one of Mozart’s popular operas, I recall seeing that performed once at the Met,
and haven’t seen that advertised anywhere else.
While pleasant to hear, I am not sure what story is being told by the
music. I don’t remember from the opera
any ballet scenes, but I can assume they were put in routinely in operas from
that period. The Program Notes contain a
brief synopsis of the opera, and a rather detailed analysis of the music,
describe the ballet music as “a marvelous discover” for Mozart lovers. By that measure, I am no Mozart lover. The movements are Overture; Chaconne;
Larghetto; La Chaconne, qui reprend, and “Pas seul.”
The piano
concerto didn’t quite live up to its promise.
My usual standard for a good Mozart performance is “light and crisp.” Lu met the “crisp” criterion, but his playing
was quite heavy handed, and rather disjoint.
I did enjoy the third movement, though.
The three movements are Allegro, Adagio, and Allegro assai. He played a encore (most likely one of Chopin’s
etudes) that was quite enjoyable.
At intermission
I read up on Eric Lu a bit. He has done
well in many Chopin competitions, including winning the 2015 National Chopin
Competition and placing fourth at the 2015 Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw. Since he is now only 18, it puts things in
perspective.
The Program
Notes again had an interest-piquing write-up on the symphony. Particular mention was made of the finale,
which has a double fugue-like construction, a theme played backwards, and a
coda where all five themes were woven together.
I had some luck with catching the fugue aspects, and could hear a few
melodies going at the same time (but not five of them,) and missed the “backwards”
portion completely. Nonetheless, it was
a delightful symphony, at over 30 minutes a long one for Mozart. The movements are Allegro vivace, Andante
cantabile, Menuetto: Allegretto, and Molto allegro.
Perry So is in
his early thirties. His conducting was
on the precise side, but the result didn’t hang together as much as I would
like. Given there are some few Hong
Kong-born conductors on the international stage, I wish him success.
The concert was
reasonably well attended. There were
quite a few empty seats in the balcony, though.
It was straightforward to get to Red Bank.
No comments:
Post a Comment