NJPAC, Newark, NJ. Tier 1 (Seat F111, $52).
Martinez after performing Mozart's Clarinet Concerto.
Program
Divertimento in D Major, K. 136 (1772) by Mozart (1756-1791).
Clarinet Concerto in A Major, K. 622 (1791) by Mozart.
Symphony No. 6 in F Major, Op. 68, "Pastoral" (1808) by Beethoven (1770-1827).
This is a "safe" program with pieces that are easy to appreciate and to enjoy. And enjoy it I did.
We had not been to Prudential Hall for about a year, and our first reaction was at how weak the acoustics sounded. And I complained about the acoustics then.
If you ask me what makes a piece of music a "divertimento," I won't be able to answer you. Gemini AI tells me it "is a lighthearted entertaining musical genre from the 18th century ... has no fixed form but typically consists of several short movements ... common movements include minuets, marches, and variations." So I am a bit puzzled by the claim in the Program Notes that "K. 136 is really misnamed as a divertimento," given the broad definition of the genre. The "fault" lies in not having a minuet.
Actually, in my college days I was taught Mozart was the composer who contributed a lot to this genre, so who is to object to what he chose to call K.136?
Enough of the musicology debate. The piece itself was a delight, crisp, and has enough structure to keep the intellect going if one wishes to so engage. This was written when Mozart was 16, so perhaps he was still experimenting with different composition techniques. That would support the Program Notes statement "where Mozart flirts with imitative writing in this otherwise homophonic work." In case I forget in the future: fugue is imitative, harmony is homophonic (close enough?).
Only strings were used in Mozart's Divertimento.
The last time I heard Mozart's Clarinet Concerto was August, 2016, with Martin Frost as the soloist. My jaw kind of dropped at how nice the piece was, and how Frost adeptly handled the instrument. Martinez performed equally well, albeit without quite the showmanship of Frost. And the acoustics of the venue worked a bit against him.
A few months ago I was remarking how limited the Cello repertoire was, it seems it's equally sparse in the clarinet world, and I have heard most of it.
Martinez in his bio lists Anthony McGill (of NY Phil) as one of his teachers. He is a native of Colombia, moved to the Dominican Republic at a young age, and is a graduate of Yale and Peabody. He is the orchestra's principal clarinet, and he played in the second half of the program. Per his Facebook posting, this is his first performance of this concerto.
After over two hundred years, Beethoven's Pastoral Symphony has morphed from being a revolutionary piece to being today's standard classical/romantic work. Some of the revolutionary elements: a descriptive program (albeit single sentences/phrases), no pauses between last three movements, and use of instruments to mimic sounds of nature (rain, thunder, bird songs). These are all techniques and features deployed routinely without a second thought nowadays.
The orchestra did a good job. For example, I felt the flow was so smooth that I didn't object to the repetition of some passages, and the bird songs were done very well. The timpani, trombones, and piccolo were used sparing (mostly for the thunderstorm) and they added realistic sound effects (to the extent possible on stage). But I didn't feel I was sitting by the brook, nor drenched by the rainstorm; I was sitting in Tier 1 observing.
A much larger ensemble performed Beethoven's Pastoral Symphony.
Just so I won't forget. This symphony premiered on December 8, 1808. On the program were Beethoven's Fifth Symphony, Fourth Piano Concerto, Choral Fantasy, and part of the Mass in C Major. I imagine I will be "Beethovened" out if I attend this 4-hour concert.
Again, this was not a well-attended concert. We moved up 2 rows after the intermission.
No comments:
Post a Comment