I believe\u00a0most musicians and lovers of classical music\u00a0can recall the moment when they first\u00a0fell in love with classical music. My moment was a record that featured two musical\u00a0works both by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791) one of the featured composers at\u00a0a performance of the Kansas\u00a0City Symphony on Friday evening March 30, 2012. This concert was the 10th in the classical series for the 2011-2012\u00a0inaugural season\u00a0at the Kaufmann Center for the Performing Arts.<\/p>\n
I had purchased a recording of the “Concerto for Flute and Harp” (featuring the famed flutist Julius Baker)\u00a0by Mozart because I was studying the flute and simply loved (and still do) this piece of music. On the flip side of the record was the Symphony No. 41, called the “Jupiter,” by Mozart and I listened to that piece until the record wore out. What I learned\u00a0about was\u00a0form and symmetry and really perfection in music (especially the last movement of the symphony).\u00a0Mozart composed an amazing amount of music for the very short time he lived. Commentary has been made that\u00a0often his scores were free from multiple\u00a0corrections (or markings) as\u00a0he seemed to write out of divine inspiration and his music still speaks to us\u00a0over 200 years after the fact. When Mozart wrote this music he was at the height of his compositional powers\u00a0but\u00a0quickly approaching the end of his life,\u00a0financially broke with a sickly spouse and enduring\u00a0the recent death of a\u00a0daughter, aged six months. I have a new granddaughter, named Claire Ann, and I cannot imagine what it would be like to lose a child so very young, but obviously this was a\u00a0more common place occurrence\u00a0in that day and age but\u00a0no less painful.<\/p>\n
So why is the Symphony no. 41 nicknamed the “Jupiter?” Well Mozart did not name it that, but\u00a0most probably Johann Peter Salomon did.\u00a0Salomon was an oboist and violinist who was not only a composer but a well-known\u00a0music promoter at the time of Mozart and Haydn. In the last two minutes (remember that noteworthy last movement)\u00a0of the “Jupiter,” Mozart\u00a0composes a five-part fugato (think fugue-like with musical\u00a0voices entering at different times), which at that point in the history of music had never been done. J.S. Bach\u00a0had only done a three-part fugato. Since it would be very difficult for an individual to process five melodies\u00a0simultaneously, Salomon thought surely only a great god such as “Jupiter” could hear this majestic\u00a0music, hence the nickname.\u00a0Salomon has the wrong God of course,\u00a0but the inspiration for the music is\u00a0clearly of Divine origin. As for the performance by the orchestra it was excellent. The strings\u00a0played as one and were convincing\u00a0in their shaping of\u00a0the musical phrases and dynamics and the winds sounded sweet and sublime. Being a wind player (but now only a winded player!) I enjoyed their precision the most (sorry sometimes\u00a0I am\u00a0unashamedly biased). The brass and tympani provided\u00a0the appropriate punctuation without being annoying or in the way. Well done.<\/p>\n
The opening piece of the concert, “Water Music,”\u00a0was a world premiere composed\u00a0by Daniel Kellogg, born in 1976. I have often considered that\u00a0the history of classical music ended with the death of Dimitri Shostakovich in 1975 but continue to be proven wrong when hearing new and challenging pieces of music. Yes some of the new music is bad but then so was some of Shostakovich’s as well. I\u00a0also judge new music based on my wife, Rita’s reaction to it. She\u00a0does not pretend to be knowledgeable about classical music but is very open to listening and learning about it. We\u00a0both liked the piece and I thought it conveyed what it set out to do musically, describing three different fountains in the City of Fountains. What I liked about\u00a0the piece is\u00a0that the music sounded challenging to play but was not unrealistic to play. So often new music disregards what the instruments can really do effectively and convincingly. This was not the case. Also I think composers\u00a0of new music are compared to past composers and styles of music because the listener is trying to fit it in with a template of what they already know. However certain\u00a0combinations of instruments do\u00a0produce pleasing sonorities and they are still\u00a0worth exploration. The blocks of orchestral sound were very reminiscent of Jean Sibelius, the late romantic\u00a0Finnish composer. The Kansas City Symphony played with great concentration and dedication\u00a0in conveying the composer’s intentions and the brass shown marvelously\u00a0particularly the principal trumpet, Gary Schutza.<\/p>\n
So what is\u00a0left to say is that it is so easy to take for granted musical talent especially pianists. There are so many gifted performers on this instrument and the featured soloist, Yefim Bronfman,\u00a0on the Bela Bartok Piano Concerto No. 2 is one of those. Bartok is indeed\u00a0one of his specialties.\u00a0It is often\u00a0said that if you want to catch the best part of an NBA basketball game just watch the fourth quarter because that is when the players really begin to play some great and intense basketball. Well if Mr. Bronfman had\u00a0had that attitude of saving\u00a0his best for last,\u00a0he would have perished on the stage because the Bartok Piano Concerto\u00a0No. 2 starts with an unbelievable display of virtuosity from the pianist. Game on! I was not familiar with the work but was pleased to hear it. Bela Bartok is known for his use of folk songs within the context of his musical scores and he also writes these fabulous movements of music that he called “night music.” I wonder if he could sense the coming conflict of World War II in his music because there is a very\u00a0dark seriousness to the music\u00a0with very\u00a0few\u00a0playful moments. The orchestra seemed a bit distracted from the\u00a0earlier world premiere but they\u00a0refocused (thanks to conductor Michael Stern)\u00a0and the\u00a0last movement of the Bartok was the most pleasing to listen to as a dialogue between soloist and orchestra. Once again I will point out the work of principal trumpet\u00a0Gary Schutza as ear-catching. Bravo!<\/p>\n
Please take the time out of your busy schedules to support the arts in Kansas City. It is so much better than reality TV!\u00a0 If you or someone you know may need counseling, please contact Lamar Hunt Jr. or see his website at http:\/\/lamarhuntjrcounseling.com\/<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I believe\u00a0most musicians and lovers of classical music\u00a0can recall the moment when they first\u00a0fell in love with classical music. My moment was a record that featured two musical\u00a0works both by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791) one of the featured composers at\u00a0a … Continue reading