Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra – Paavo Jarvi, conductor; Martin Frost, Clarinet. August 5, 2016.

David Geffen Hall at Lincoln Center.  Orchestra Center (Seat Q103, $50).

Pre-concert Recital by Andrew Tyson, piano.

Ballade in A-flat major (1841) by Chopin.

Sonata No. 28 in E-flat major (“Les Adieux”) (1809-10) by Beethoven.

Program

La Sindone (2005/rev. 2015) by Part (b.1935).

Clarinet Concerto in A major, K. 622 (1791) by Mozart.

Symphony No. 4 in B-flat major (1806) by Beethoven.

The first piece probably found its way onto the program because Arvo Part is from Estonia, as is Jarvi.  The word Sindone (no idea what language it is, probably French) means shroud, and specifically refers to the Shroud of Turin.  Part was commissioned to compose a piece for the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, and wrote this as “a dark meditation on Christ’s death and burial.”  While I skimmed over the Program Notes before the concert, I forgot about this, and instead tried to listen to a description of the Shroud, including the burned corners.  Of course I didn’t get what I was expecting, and even now (a few hours after the concert) cannot make the connection between what I remember to what Part was trying to convey.  The piece was foreboding enough, and reflected in many instances the minimalist style of Part.  (Of course by the 2000s Part was more into music of a spiritual character.)  The piece called for several percussion instruments (triangle, church bell, bass drum, and others).  Anne’s remark was “not even close to being Mozart.”

Whatever one’s misgivings might be for the first piece, they were all dispersed with a simply delightful rendition of Mozart’s Clarinet Concerto.  A piece that is easy to like, it was captivating with Martin Frost performing it.  He seemed to enjoy playing it immensely, even though I am sure he has done it countless number of times.  Not a student of the clarinet, I don’t know how difficult this piece is technically, but certainly there were passages that called for adept fingering, long breaths, and large changes in pitches.  Mozart after all wrote it with the virtuoso Anton Stadler in mind.  It is so impressive that I have to withdraw my usual "I-can’t-tell-good-from-great-Mozart-performance" remark to: I can’t imagine seeing another performance of this composition that I would enjoy more.

Frost is Swedish, and his career seems to go beyond being a clarinetist to a conductor and a musicologist.  For encore he played a piece – with orchestra accompaniment - written by his brother Johann called “Don’t Worry” which contains bits of the popular birthday song, in commemoration of this being the 50^th anniversary of the Mostly Mozart Festival.  Evidently he had played something called “Be Happy” on some other occasion.

Curtain call after the Mozart Clarinet Concerto.

In looking for a review of this concert (didn't find any), I came across an article on Frost and the Mozart Clarinet Concerto.  One interesting fact is Frost plays this concerto on "a modern replica of a basset clarinet, a longer version that has an expanded bass register."

Beethoven’s Fourth Symphony is the little brother (or sister) sandwiched between the Eroica and the Fifth, and is not nearly as popular as those two.  This symphony would dispel the notion that Beethoven’s even-numbered symphonies are much calmer than the odd-numbered ones (musicologists used more sophisticated terms.)  There was a lot of contrast in rhythm, urgency, loudness, and other aspects.  Perhaps not as much as the odd group, but enough to make the piece distinctly Beethoven.

The flute got a lot of workout, especially in the first movement, and it came across dependably all the time, beautifully most of the time.  The concertmaster still dominated.  And there was some loss of control during the fast runs.  I do wonder how this would compare with an Orpheus performance.  Overall it was an enjoyable rendition of the symphony.

Paavo Jarvi is the son of Neeme Jarvi.  He leads the NHK Symphony Orchestra and other ensembles.  His motions were a lot more exaggerated than his father’s (I read up on my writeup on Neeme), and they elicited good responses from the orchestra.

Today we left our house at 4:30 pm and got to the Lincoln Center area at around 6 pm, giving us enough time to eat something simple at Europan before attending the pre-concert recital.

Tyson is a young pianist with quite a list of “wins” to his name, including the Avery Fisher Grant in 2013.  The Chopin ballade was light and cheerful (and difficult.)  I had not heard of Beethoven’s “Les Adieux” sonata before.  There is somewhat of a story behind this.  The first movement (Das Lebewohl, which translates into the French title, Adagio-Allegro) was written to memorialize the departure of Beethoven’s patron Archduke Rudolph from Vienna as Napoleon was about to lay siege to the city.  The second movement Abwesenheit (absence, Andante espressivo) is an expression of grief and loss.  But Das Wiedersehen (seeing someone again, Vivacissimamente) was composed after Rudolph returned to Vienna in 1810 and reflected Beethoven’s happiness.  All that in 17 minutes.