SEEN AND HEARD INTERNATIONAL

Mozart and Rouse: Liang Wang, oboe, Mark Nuccio, clarinet, Philip Myers, horn, Judith LeClair, bassoon, New York Philharmonic, conductor Alan Gilbert, Avery Fisher Hall, New York City, 11.2.2010 (GG)

Mozart: Sinfonia concertante in E-flat major, for Oboe, Clarinet, Horn, Bassoon and Orchestra, K. Anh. C 14.01
Rouse: Odna Zhizn (A Life) - World Premiere
Mozart: Symphony No. 41 in C major ‘Jupiter,’ K. 551


The mix of old, new (or relatively so) and possibly unusual is becoming a welcome staple under Alan Gilbert, and this concert concisely illustrated that practice. Mozart took care of both the old and the unusual, and for the new there was a world premiere work from Christopher Rouse composed as a New York Philharmonic commission.

First, the unusual, in the form of a work attributed to Mozart, the Sinfonia concertante. The attribution itself is based on what is essentially musical hearsay; a fair copy of the work was made at the request of the composer’s biographer Otto Jahn, but the original manuscript on which the copy was supposedly based has never been discovered. Jahn felt the original was Mozart, but in performance the provenance is not clear. It has a lot of his general qualities, especially in the overall structure and the shape of the melodies and harmonic progressions, but it seems unfinished in a way that suggests that either the manuscript was a draft by Mozart himself or else it was a piece by a composer doing a worthwhile imitation. The outline is there, but the details are missing, the instrumental lines lack the last bit of attention that we are used to hearing in Mozart, especially in the sense of taking a straight, four-square melody and adding the occasional dotted-rhythm or a bit of a turn or suspension near the cadence. Those moments of character make each composer’s voice clear, and there are few of them in this work. Still, it’s a bright, graceful, enjoyable work, a more than pleasant way to open an evening of music. The soloists, all members of the orchestra, played with precision, verve and fine instrumental sound.

There’s no question of the provenance of the ‘Jupiter’ symphony, nor of its greatness. Gilbert, conducting from memory, led a sharp and energetic performance. He creates a nice balance of a fairly big, modern sound, one with phrasing on the legato side, and fairly brisk tempos that belie any danger of too much weight. His phrasing is carefully thought-through and precise in tempo and rhythm; the attacks and note lengths always clear. This works especially well with Classical and early Romantic era music, producing power and elegance, a great combination for Mozart. His tempo in the opening Allegro vivace was energetic and without haste, the middle movements had a beautiful blending of all orchestral sections and the finale built to a point of glorious excitement.

Despite the grumbling of patrons who felt put out at having to listen to the ‘modern’ piece in order to get to the meat and potatoes of Mozart, Rouse’s work was the highlight of the evening. The grumblings said something about the audience and not the music, which is firmly in a familiar tonal/dissonant idiom that itself is at least fifty years old. Rouse also uses an array of percussion and instrumental effects familiar in classical music since the turn of the 20^th century. He’s not trying to shock or cast off the shackles of bourgeois sensibility, he’s just writing fine music. Odna Zhizn is, as described by the composer, an abstract narrative of what seems to be a rather difficult life, but not without reflection and hope. The piece opens both dramatically and elegiacally, with slow, unadorned strings building harmonies under colorful woodwind writing, then moves episodically and clearly through abstract events, punctuated by interjections in the percussion and high brass, a loud and rhythmically lively section and a fascinating series of conflicts between the orchestra and low brass, which repeatedly growls at the rest of the ensemble in an attempt to get them to stop. The piece builds to an exciting level of volume and intensity, before dissolving into a sensation of some rapture, some rumination, interrupted with the emotional and sonic perspective of chromatic passages in the winds. It ends with a shimmer, and is a very attractive, with energy and an appealing sonic texture. Rouse interestingly captures some of the qualities of his both contemporary colleague Einojuhani Rautavaara and of Leonard Bernstein in that combination, which should win him some converts, but he’s ultimately his own man and this is his own piece, and a success. Even more impressive is the sense of confidence and familiarity that conductor and orchestra conveyed in a work that is brand new.

George Grella