Showing Many Colors of Mozart
With the 250th anniversary of Bach's death in July, and much of the music world obsessed with that commemoration, it might seem slightly contrary for the Los Angeles Philharmonic to suddenly mount a small two-week festival devoted to Mozart and "friends." But for the vast majority of musicians and their audiences, there is never anything contrary about encountering Mozart's music, and any friend of his is a friend of ours.
Most of the festival centers around the pianist and conductor Christian Zacharias, who is not only in charge of programs at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion this week and next with the orchestra but will also appear Monday at the Gindi Auditorium in the Philharmonic's chamber music series (an additional orchestral concert Friday will be led by violinist and conductor Augustin Dumay, and does, in fact, include Bach as a Mozartean "friend").
Zacharias, a German specialist in Classical and early Romantic repertory, is not unfamiliar in America, but he is far better known in Europe, thanks, in part, to the fact that his label, EMI, often only releases his CDs overseas. He is a tasteful, satisfying player who shapes every phrase with subtle, personal nuances and has an electric sense of rhythm. One could say much the same for his conducting, if it weren't so bizarre.
For the festival's opening program Thursday night, Zacharias began and ended with two great Mozart favorites, the ravishing Piano Concerto No. 22, K. 482, and the ambitiously energetic Symphony No. 36 ("Linz"), K. 425, mature works written when Mozart was in his late 20s. The "friend" in this case was Schubert (not literally, since he was born six years after Mozart's death, but spiritually). Zacharias played six very minor German dances by Schubert on the piano just before intermission, then conducted Webern's orchestrations of them just after.
It was an evening to marvel in colors. Mozart was such an extraordinary musical dramatist that his abilities as a colorist can be forgotten. His palette of instrumental pigments was rich and original. He lived in a time of instrument invention and he was captivated by new sound. He bathed the E-flat concerto in the glow of winds and was especially drawn to the new clarinet. The symphony takes its outdoorsy, celebratory character from oboes, bassoons, trumpets, horns and timpani.
