Post by erik on Sept 4, 2013 6:08:08 GMT -8
The final one for this year of summer concert-going at the Hollywood Bowl.
Los Angeles Philharmonic
Nicholas McGegan, conductor
Nathan Cole, violin
Carrie Dennis, viola
Mozart: OVERTURE TO "COSI FAN TUTTE"
Mozart: SINFONIA-CONCERTANTE FOR VIOLIN AND VIOLA
Beethoven: TWELVE CONTREDANSES
Beethoven: SYMPHONY NO. 1
On the podium last night was Nicholas McGegan, the founder and conductor of what is arguably the premiere period-instrument ensemble in America, the Bay Area-based Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra. The night began with the overture for Mozart's third and final "Da Ponte" opera, "Cosi Fan Tutte", with its sharp pre-Rossini accents. After a short pause for some orchestral reconfiguration, McGegan came back out with Mr. Cole (the orchestra's First Associate Concertmaster) and Ms. Dennis (the orchestra's Principal Violist) for Mozart's Sinfonia-Concertante In E Flat For Violin and Viola, essentially, of course, a double concerto. The skills required out of the soloists for this work were many, but both of them excelled, especially given the fact that this is one of the longer works in Mozart's concerto repertoire at 33 minutes.
Following intermission, McGegan came back out to conduct the Twelve Contredanses of Beethoven, which, like the dance music Mozart himself often wrote, were designed for the purposes of making money. In Beethoven's case, they were each composed over a period of some eight years (1792-1800); but while they were money-makers in their time, they had an impact on the composer beyond the mere financial angle. One of the dance melodies was familiar to those who had heard the composer's 1801 ballet "The Creatures Of Prometheus", and the finale of the Eroica Symphony.
After this, it was to the composer's First Symphony, which, somehow, managed to still sound revelatory, even though it was a product of a 30 year-old composer with one foot still in the 18th century and the Haydn/Mozart style of symphonic composition. McGegan kept the L.A. Phil on its toes, especially in the tricky third movement, which, though marked Menuetto, is actually the first burst of what we would know as the Beethoven scherzo form, hence presaging his later symphonic scherzos and those of Franz Schubert.
For the fourth concert in a row, the heat of the day persisted well into the night, which I hoped wouldn't create problems for our soloists in the Sinfonia-Concertante. It didn't. And thus for me, another summer of concert-going to the Hollywood Bowl has come to a close--a great way to close it with the core of the Viennese era.
Los Angeles Philharmonic
Nicholas McGegan, conductor
Nathan Cole, violin
Carrie Dennis, viola
Mozart: OVERTURE TO "COSI FAN TUTTE"
Mozart: SINFONIA-CONCERTANTE FOR VIOLIN AND VIOLA
Beethoven: TWELVE CONTREDANSES
Beethoven: SYMPHONY NO. 1
On the podium last night was Nicholas McGegan, the founder and conductor of what is arguably the premiere period-instrument ensemble in America, the Bay Area-based Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra. The night began with the overture for Mozart's third and final "Da Ponte" opera, "Cosi Fan Tutte", with its sharp pre-Rossini accents. After a short pause for some orchestral reconfiguration, McGegan came back out with Mr. Cole (the orchestra's First Associate Concertmaster) and Ms. Dennis (the orchestra's Principal Violist) for Mozart's Sinfonia-Concertante In E Flat For Violin and Viola, essentially, of course, a double concerto. The skills required out of the soloists for this work were many, but both of them excelled, especially given the fact that this is one of the longer works in Mozart's concerto repertoire at 33 minutes.
Following intermission, McGegan came back out to conduct the Twelve Contredanses of Beethoven, which, like the dance music Mozart himself often wrote, were designed for the purposes of making money. In Beethoven's case, they were each composed over a period of some eight years (1792-1800); but while they were money-makers in their time, they had an impact on the composer beyond the mere financial angle. One of the dance melodies was familiar to those who had heard the composer's 1801 ballet "The Creatures Of Prometheus", and the finale of the Eroica Symphony.
After this, it was to the composer's First Symphony, which, somehow, managed to still sound revelatory, even though it was a product of a 30 year-old composer with one foot still in the 18th century and the Haydn/Mozart style of symphonic composition. McGegan kept the L.A. Phil on its toes, especially in the tricky third movement, which, though marked Menuetto, is actually the first burst of what we would know as the Beethoven scherzo form, hence presaging his later symphonic scherzos and those of Franz Schubert.
For the fourth concert in a row, the heat of the day persisted well into the night, which I hoped wouldn't create problems for our soloists in the Sinfonia-Concertante. It didn't. And thus for me, another summer of concert-going to the Hollywood Bowl has come to a close--a great way to close it with the core of the Viennese era.