Who Knew Mostly Mozart Could Be Much Fun

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The New York Sun

Gosh, the Mostly Mozart Festival can be fun. On Saturday night, violinist Joshua Bell joined conductor Louis Langree and the Festival Orchestra for a concert tinged with the exotic – and with jollity.


Opening the festivities was Mozart’s Overture to “The Abduction from the Seraglio.” This is his “Turkish” opera, and a romp. The overture is the romp in miniature. In this account, Mr. Langree displayed the qualities we have come to know as his hallmarks: crispness, buoyancy, high energy, briskness, mirth. The middle section of the overture was sly; and the sleigh-belly return to Mozart’s main music was tingling. (Actually, that sleigh-bell impression comes from the triangle. Rarely is that instrument so consequential – you almost have to wait for the Liszt E-flat-major piano concerto, after the Mozart.)


Mr. Bell first appeared in another Mozart “Turkish” work: his Concerto No. 5 in A major, whose last movement includes a Turkish – perhaps I should continue to write “Turkish” – interlude. To open the concerto, Mr. Langree called forth those same qualities I have praised; his orchestra was tight in its ensembleship. The violinist entered with a pure, sweet tone, and, quickly, a tasteful trill. He would go on to play the first movement with character and vigor, without sacrificing purity. This movement was not note perfect, and soloist and orchestra weren’t always together – but this was music-making at a high level. Mr. Bell’s cadenza was virtuosic, but not unduly showy.


The second movement, Adagio, is one of Mozart’s best, and Mr. Langree handled his part beautifully: with grace and elegance. As for Mr. Bell, he exuded what I dare call civilization, with a touch of romance (though romance is, really, a component of civilization). The Adagio has a cadenza, too, which is relatively rare for a slow movement: In it, Mr. Bell was ruminative and free, but mindfully Mozartean.


The closing Rondo is unusual: It’s marked “Tempo di menuetto,” not Allegro, or some form of Allegro, and it has several sharply contrasting sections. To begin, Mr. Bell was admirably unhurried. And when it came time for Mozart’s first minor section – earthy – he was delightfully swaggering. And when it came time for the “Turkish” section – also in a minor key – our performer was … well, “Turkishness” itself. The Austrian audience of the 1770s would have loved it, and the Avery Fisher Hall audience should have loved it, too. Returning to Mozart’s main theme, Mr. Bell applied some smart rubato – and he ended the movement with a perfect near matter-of-factness.


Mr. Bell has always been an excellent Mozart player, and he proved himself one again during this festival. We also saw, once more, that he has been superbly taught (chiefly by Josef Gingold, in Indiana). And I might remind readers that his recital last April at Carnegie Hall was one of the best of the season – violin, piano, voice, whatever.


But he wasn’t finished on Saturday night: After intermission, he returned for a seriously fun piece, Sarasate’s “Zigeunerweisen” (“Gypsy Airs”). Mr. Bell was a Gypsy in the finest style, and that style includes tastefulness (a Bell constant).Yes, he tore into the music lustily – but he kept his head. He never got near vulgarity. What Sarasate calls for is elevated Gypsy fiddling. Mr. Bell was accurate and pleasing in the violin’s high, high register, and he revealed other technical skills that were eye-rubbing. But the technique was always subordinate to musical expression.


Mr. Langree managed the orchestra’s part with great care, for which my hat is off, because the accompaniment can be a nothing, and a conductor may even resent having to stand there, waving his stick, while the soloist shows off. But Mr. Langree evidently figured that if you were going to do the job, you had to do it right.


The concert closed with one of the best Hungarian folk-oriented pieces, Kodaly’s “Dances of Galanta” (using melodies collected from one of the composer’s hometowns). Individual players have a chance to shine here, and the Festival Orchestra’s did themselves credit. The French horn player had some trouble, but his instrument, we remember, is merciless. Mr. Langree delivered an exceptionally clean performance of the “Galanta” dances, and we might have welcomed more richness, and some more color. The Kodaly had some of the tightness and cleanness of Mr. Langree’s Mozart.


But that is no catastrophe.


And neither is it catastrophic to demonstrate that classical music has a helluva lot of fun in it. The players may be formally dressed, and the audience may dress stiffly, too – but music cannot, must not, rule out fun.


Mozart didn’t!


The New York Sun

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