Mostly Mozart Festival 2006 (IV): Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra, Louis Langrée, Conductor, Lisa Batiashvili, Violin, Lars Vogt, Piano, Avery Fisher Hall, New York City, 22.08.2006 (BH)

 

 

 

Mozart: Overture to Le nozze di Figaro, K. 492 (1786)

Magnus Lindberg: Violin Concerto (world premiere) (2006)

Mozart: Overture to Don Giovanni, K. 527 (1787)

Mozart: Piano Concerto No. 23 in A major, K. 488 (1786)

 

 

 

In perhaps the most dramatic demonstration yet of the overhauling of this venerable festival, its first-ever commission by a living composer was easily the highlight of another sparkling concert by Louis Langrée and his tireless orchestra.  For this Violin Concerto, his first, Magnus Lindberg used an ensemble of Mozartean proportions with no brass or percussion: other than strings, only oboes, bassoons and horns appear.  About 25 minutes long, the work is roughly in three sections, each displaying Lindberg’s typical emphasis on rhythm, texture and melody, although the latter usually does not appear in the traditional sense.  After opening with some high harmonics, the thematic material, obscured in the first section, slowly comes into view thanks to the winds in the beginning of the second movement, who play “an archaic sounding chorale.”  The violin has a cadenza near the end, before the fast final section erupts and then magically disappears, but not before the chorale theme’s return near the end, sounding astonishingly like Sibelius in its phoenix-like reappearance.

The magnetic young Lisa Batiashvili gave the violin role a supernatural quality, a ghostly instrument controlled with verve and seemingly endless confidence, now weaving into Lindberg’s textures, and then leaping into the stratosphere above the ensemble.  Her introspection suited the material, and often the sheer beauty of her tone carried the day, although Lindberg’s work seems to be far more than that, and when he asked her to punch out passages, she summoned a steeliness that vanished as quickly as it appeared.  If there is any justice, the performance was recorded and may reappear for further study.  Lindberg has written just three other instrumental concertos – for piano, cello and clarinet, each with orchestra – but this one will surely rank with his more memorable pieces.

The evening opened with a crisp and bubbling Overture to Le nozze di Figaro, which maestro Langrée kept tightly controlled with emphasis on high dynamic contrast.  If now and then the ensemble sounded slightly fatigued, they can be forgiven since the overall level of playing was finer than I can recall in many previous seasons.  The Don Giovanni overture that began the second half was dispatched with a throatier sound – subtly marking how far the composer went in a single year since Figaro – and Langrée took full advantage of the composer’s stormier, more mercurial side.

When the dashing Lars Vogt took the stage for Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 23, at first pianist and conductor seemed to be having a mild disagreement about the tempi, but all was shortly forgotten in waves of lyricism and energy, some fantastic woodwind work in the slow movement, and the ensemble loping off like a sleek greyhound in the final Allegro assai.  Vogt was touching in the middle Adagio, yet matched Langrée’s fastidiousness with a precision that lasted all the way through to the final giddy moments.

 

 

Bruce Hodges