Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra – Louis Langree, conductor; Richard Goode, piano. August 9, 2016.

David Geffen Hall at Linoln Center.  Orchestra Left (Seat Z13, $39.50).

Program: All-Mozart

Symphony No. 1 in E-flat major, K. 16 (1764-65).

Piano Concerto No. 12 in A major, K. 414 (1782).

Symphony No. 41 in C major, K. 551 (“Jupiter”) (1788).

This is an unusual program in at least a couple of ways.  First, it’s all-Mozart, which is relatively rare even in a festival headlined as “Mostly Mozart.”  The other is both the first and the last symphonies Mozart wrote would be performed.

There is little doubt that 41 is the last symphony Mozart wrote, even though there is still considerable speculation on why he wrote it, and if any of the group of three he wrote during the summer of 1788 was ever performed during his lifetime.  K. 16 was written when he was eight, on tour in London; the Program Notes paints this beautiful picture of how Mozart’s sister Nannerl helped copy down the music as Mozart was composing it.

The other interesting thing is how Mozart reused one of the motifs in K. 16 (do-re-fa-me) in many of his subsequent works.  One could wax nostalgic how a theme in his first symphony got such a prominent role in his last (of course Mozart didn’t know No. 41 would be his last.)

I read up on the Playbill before the concert, so I was all eager to get the main and subtle points in the Program Notes.  Of course Mozart became a very different composer over the 20-some years between the symphonies.  Indeed No. 1 could be mistaken for a simple Haydn, and No. 41 for Beethoven.  And indeed the do-re-fa-me theme got reused multiple times in the last movement of the Jupiter Symphony.  The short (13 minutes) K. 16 has three movements: Molto allegro, Andante, and Presto; while the 31-minute K. 551 has four: Allegro vivace, Andante cantabile, Menuetto: Allegretto, and Molto allegro.

What I found more interesting was how in Jupiter Mozart built up the contrapuntal complexity by introducing additional themes (four altogether?) into the music one at a time.  Even though I couldn’t follow the exact notes of the different melodies, it was an interesting exercise nonetheless.  It would have been a more fruitful exercise if the annotator wrote down the four lines for us (Paul Schiavo calls them principal melody, counter-theme, and two counter-subjects.)  Indeed the Wikipedia entry on this symphony has markings of the themes which helped me greatly in understanding this.  And it has five of them.

The two symphonies were both delightfully performed.  Perhaps my attempt at analysis helped me overlook some of the sloppiness in the execution.  With the many quick passages (a lot of 8^th notes in 2/2 time, 16^th notes in some places) it may be too much to ask the strings to play as one voice, nonetheless I can imagine a more precise performance.

Sandwiched between the symphonies was Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 12, performed by Richard Goode.  The last (and only) time I saw him perform was about three years ago, with the New York Philharmonic.  He looked quite a bit older than he did then, if memory serves.  Again he needed the music, although there was no page turner this time, and he did refer to the score very often.  That didn’t detract him from putting in a nice rendition of the piece, with some beautifully executed light-touch passages.  I need to slip back to my “can’t tell great from good” mode, though.  The concerto’s three movements are Allegro, Andante, and Rondeau – Allegretto (oh, the simple markings Mozart used.)  The cadenza was by Mozart.

Richard Goode at conclusion of performance.

The performance was broadcast live on WQXR, and videotaped for a later TV showing.  I wonder if they will edit out Langree’s heavy breathing before a dramatic phrase – I could hear it sitting in row Z!

Overall, the program was captivating enough that I found myself listening intently throughout the evening, which for me is a challenge when it comes to an all-Mozart concert.  Later this week we will hear in one concert three Mozart piano concertos, I wonder how well I will do then.

I have always wondered about the New York audience’s level of sophistication.  There were a few vignettes that were interesting.  Someone was trying to impress his date by explaining K (as in K. 16) stands for catalog, and that the harpsichord was a spinet piano.  Naturally this knowledgeable gentleman gave a standing ovation at the conclusion of the concerto.  Also, after the orchestra was seated for the piano concerto, many applauded as three people came on stage.  Turns out they were the (highly-paid) stage hands who had to move things around a bit to create enough room for the pianist.  Interestingly enough, few applauded after the conclusion of particular movements.

We had two tickets (from Goldstar), Anne had a dinner commitment and thus couldn’t go.  I took the train up and walked to Lincoln Center from Penn Station, grabbing some pizza along the way.  The concert ended early enough that I made the 9:38 pm train by a couple of minutes by taking the subway.  However, the train was held up for 20 minutes as only one tunnel was in use, and it had to wait for the eastbound trains to come through first.