Concert Review: The Three Faces of Wolfgang

Mostly Mozart tours the composer's symphonies.

by Paul J. Pelkonen

Pianist Richard Goode. Photo from Frank Salomon and Associates © 2016

Fifty years ago, Mostly Mozart was born. Its mission: bring Mozart's music to Manhattanites in the dog days of summer. The idea of an indoor (and air-conditioned) summer festival proved popular with concert-goers. In recent years, the Festival has veered from this mission, incorporating Beethoven and even Brahms in its programming. However this week's program, conducted by Louis Langrée and featuring New York-based pianist Richard Goode was true to the original mission: it was all Mozart.

Concert Review: Evolution Calling

Bach and Mendelssohn are featured at Mostly Mozart.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Stephen Hough. Photo by Stanley Fefferman.

When attending a concert at Mostly Mozart consisting of standard repertory works by Johann Sebastian Bach, Felix Mendelssohn and Mozart himself, one can be hard pressed to tease out a connection between abstract classical compositions from different time periods. The challenge becomes greater over the course of a long festival, made more so when one's occupation consists of writing reviews on a classical music blog.

Happily, this week's penultimate Mostly Mozart program (seen Wednesday night) consisted of threee works that made a coherent whole. Conductor Andrew Manze chose Mendelssohn's concert arrangement of Bach's Third Orchestral Suite, the younger composer's own First Piano Concerto (played by Stephen Hough) and a Mozart favorite, the ubiquitous but forward-thinking Jupiter Symphony. The choice of Mozart's last symphony seemed particularly apt, as the Jupiter anticipates at what would become the strange world of 19th century Romanticism.