A MONTH OF MOZART
VSO's streaming offerings explore the man and his musical brilliance
It's all about Mozart for the first Vancouver Symphony Orchestra streams of the new year, with a pair of concerts this Sunday and Jan. 22.
And what a good way to launch the year. Mozart has always mattered to the classical cognoscenti, but his ever-increasing popular acclaim, in part fuelled by the Amadeus phenomenon, continues unabated.
Building on all that, the VSO has an interesting selection of (mostly) Mozart in store for us, with only a single regularly programmed work on the roster. Indeed, the central work on the Jan. 17 program is one that has rarely graced the programs of the VSO, but which Mozart fans can't get enough of, the so-called “Gran Partita” K. 361/370a for a dozen winds and bass.
What's in a name? There's nothing wrong with calling the generous seven movements a “partita,” though scholars note that the title on the manuscript isn't in Mozart's hand. But by “partita,” “serenade,” or any other name, the music is exceptional.
Extended pieces with lots of contrasting movements were a staple of casual music-making in late 18th-century Vienna; that Mozart chose to write for a dozen winds was a bit unorthodox, and a significant compositional challenge given all those difficult-to-blend instruments. Mozart makes it all seem easy. What isn't nearly as easy is finding a way to include the work in a standard subscription season: Managers are reluctant to have all those salaried string players sitting it out for half a concert. But these days, it's just perfect.
In recent decades the work has been given extra lustre by Peter Shaffer's 1979 play Amadeus, in which the character Salieri grudgingly enthuses about one of the movements: “This was a music I'd never heard. Filled with such longing, such unfulfillable longing. It seemed to me that I was hearing the voice of God.” Well, pretty much.
The pairing of the Gran Partita with Jocelyn Morlock's Zart is a lovely idea. Like countless others young musicians, composer Morlock was inspired by the 1984 filmed version of Shaffer's play. Her 2006 Zart for chamber orchestra was commissioned by Festival Vancouver; as VSO Composer in Residence, Morlock programmed the work in 2016 for a VSO at the Annex program exploring the links between “old” and “new” music. This designed-for-streaming rendition will be a welcome revival.
The followup program on Jan. 22 concentrates on Mozart's symphonies. The later ones are standard orchestral fare for sure. Otto Tausk's performance of the final three in a single concert was one of the outstanding successes of his early tenure with the orchestra. How fine it is to have another chance to hear his take on the magisterial Symphony No. 41.
A Tale of Two Mozarts is an alpha and omega proposition, starting with Mozart's first essay in the symphonic genre, written in London in 1765. For those disinclined to do the math, that means its precocious composer was eight years of age.
Did his ambitious stage father — and sometime composer — Leopold have a hand in it? Of course he did. Did he write it for his wunderkind? Nope. Even at an age when most of us are grappling with such life skills as silent reading or riding a two-wheeler, Mozart knew what he wanted from an orchestra. The adage “start as you mean to go on” has never been more true.
Also in January we see the start of a major initiative from Turning Point Ensemble, 1+1+1+ ... an interdisciplinary film project. At a launch party on Saturday, Jan. 23, 5 p.m., three short films — the first of a projected series of 15 — showcase the works by Bob Pritchard, Réjean Marois and TPE artistic director Owen Underhill.
For details and $10 tickets, check out turningpointensemble.ca